Today is the first day that I really feel that I am getting into a groove. This is very much helped by actually being on a EV route at last, so much better than crossing France which was full of deathly quiet villages with nothing going on and everything shut just when you needed whatever they sold to be open.
From a distance, they are pretty with nice pointy shaped church towers and most of them have gorgeous floral decorations all over the place. In their front gardens, hanging off bridges crossing water (which is usually the river Doubs). Some really go to town with gnomes and weird creatures, but for the most part it is all very tasteful and very colourful. The stunning weather has to help; that and not having young vandals that rip them to pieces of course.
So today I awoke in the very basic and not inspiring campsite. I had decided to take this trip one day at a time and decided that I was only going to Mulhouse which sounded pretty and 60KM away. All the way down the EV6, but finding it was a bit of a challenge. Everything was wet from the arrival the day before.
I had no food, but just when you are wondering what to do, you turn and there is a Super U. Wandered around the supermarket, feeling so uninspired and ended up buying a readymade sandwich, a couple of apples and then a super huge pain au chocolat and a croissant. Chatted with people in lycra who were there too. 4 nice people from Marseille doing a VTT route along the 'top' I followed the route out and then behold, a McDonalds. I have decided I like these because they always have a great WiFi connection, coffee that I like rather than the short bitter strong stuff the French make. I also had a McRoll with bacon and a steak patty.
Then I was on my way and what a morning it was. Just brilliant. I didn't have that far to go and just enjoyed the scenery. Main things were the never-ending herons that were just perched by the side of the canal like sentinels, I guess just waiting in case they could see a fish. Actually, not sure if they were herons, but they looked like them. (They weren’t, they were storks). Maybe a cignone blanche or a cormorant.
The riversides were teeming with life, and I thought I saw a beaver until I realised they were coypu which are massive rats, basically. Brought over from South America for their fur but abandoned in the great depression, they wreak havoc and are a total pest, but they look funny with their whiskers as they just womble about eating. They eat something like 80% of their body weight every day, or something mad like that.
I felt so good, so alive, everything working. Last night I felt a bit low after the rain, but it all disappears as soon as you hit the road. Stopped off just short of the campsite for a pint of beer, a fag and some sausage and frites. I am on holiday and need to be good to myself. All the food I am eating is a real chore, so WTF.
Chatted with lots of people in the bar and then continued on. So many Germans and I soon realise that this town has Germanic routes. Campsite is lovely, lots of space, a pool and just a nice vibe. Got a call from Alan to say he is having a nightmare in Italy, his £45 bike has totally broken down. I send him a message and then get on with my day.
In the late afternoon, I go out to see the town, which is chocolate box pretty, especially around the main square with a Germanic renaissance town hall and multi coloured buildings.
I take a few pics as I sup a hugely expensive beer outside the church there and ring my bestie Irina in Stuttgart who knows the town well.
Then to Super U to buy lots of food, including pasta for tonight. I can't bear the idea of retching tonight over crappy lentils. Need to check my accounting and note that Switzerland is gonna be expeno for sure. But I do need to actually see bits of the trip outside of the EV route.
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