After a fabulous 3 day stay in Nancy, we for up early Saturday morning and caught a 44 minute train to Thaon les Vosges and had the smoothest train ride yet .. Roll on roll off with no stairs or elevators required!
By 9:15am we were on the bike path along the canal all the way to Ormoy (just East of Vauvillers). The sky was heavy with rain clouds but for the most part we escaped rain and arrived at our chambre d'hote at 12:30 with a clap of thunder!
Maison Le Roux (http://maisonleroux.nl/) is run by a very interesting Dutch couple. Charlotte is a fabulous cook and Harry is a crazy Cyclist and x-racer. We had some great food and conversation .. but after we watched the last 5km of Saturday's stage of the Vuelta (Mom: bike race in Spain .. Like the Tour de France)!
73km 230m up, 320m down!
Sunday we woke up to heavy mist in the valleys and we were on our bikes by 9am.
We had a great ride as we finally left the canal paths and got on some real roads! They we mostly quiet country roads and it was not until we reached the canal path into Gray that we started to see some sun!
76km 682m ascent
Fortunately we caught the hotel manager before he closed the hotel (it is Sunday!) and got the keys .. then found a lovely restaurant around the corner packed with people! It was 1:45 and they were still happy to seat us (sign said they close at 2pm!). Marion had chicken tenderloin (?) and I had the Cod .. The sauces and food were fabulous! Everyone in the restaurant were ordering dessert so I did too! (It was good!)
Gray is an interesting town with the Basilique de Notre Dame on the hilltop of the old village and the Saone river meandering through the town with lots of boat traffic through a canal system and bridges.
Tomorrow we have booked a night in a museum in Arc-et-Senanes! Last room in town .. we get free access to the museum ..;)
