15 Besançon to Pontarlier
1143 m climbing
6h 12m elapsed
23
69.59 km
5h 29m moving
47% off-road
Best day so far
The route today follows very closely the the official walking route, I only took a bit of a detour just after Besançon in order to be off the roads a bit more and then later on just before Pontarlier to avoid a slope I felt I wasn't going to be able to cycle up (poor excuse). The main challenge with following the walking route is the Nouailles Gorge, more of which later.
Climbing out of Besançon
I knew the climb out of town would be pretty steep but these steps were pretty hardcore, just one of the issues when following the walking route by bike.
The view over Besançon
After 30 minutes of climbing the road forks and you can follow it to a look out over the entire town.
Old railway tracks
Just after the village of Foucherans, you start heading back downhill through a forest and emerge onto an old railway track. The great thing about it is that it is only slightly downhill, and paved.... perhaps a little sad because I just went for it... covering 5km in 10mins even with a couple of stops for photos. I kind of felt that I needed to do that knowing what was coming up...
The Nouailles Gorges and the Source of the Loue
The route continues up the valley of the river Loue, only going slightly uphill, past some beautiful villages such as Vuillafans and Lods. As you go further along the walls of the valley in front get steeper and steeper and you begin to think "how do I get out of here"... well there's a road and then there's a path. They diverge at Mouthier-Haute-Pierre.
Today I chose the path, which on various [websites](https://www.visorando.com/en/walk-the-nouailles-gorges-and-the-source-of-t/) is desribed anywhere from intermediate to difficult as a walking route: I've kind of got used to "hike-a-bike", part laziness/safety when the slope off road gets too steep but also part is that fun feeling I get when I'm actually pushing myself a little. Today was going to be a test of the latter.
There's a fine service road down to a small hydroelectric station from Mouthier-Haute-Pierre where you can cross over to the other side of the valley and the path starts. It was there I met the first walker on his way down: "Attention monsieur, c'est trop dangereux". "Peut-être" was my response with a Gallic shrug and I left him shaking his head. The next walker was a little less apprehensive for my fate but still made it clear that I wasn't being particularly sensible.
Anyway the route isn't in anyway fully cyclable but as a walking route it's certainly not difficult. As a "hike-a-bike" route you need to be prepared to carry the bike for a few hundred metres over the course of a few km. This is one of those times where you can fully understand why bikepackers use "inline" luggage... panniers or anything sticking out to the side just don't work when you're needing to carry the bike. Another thing of note is that I was wearing gravel bikes shoes with SPD cleats recessed in them and they were a bit "skiddy" at times... might be better with more full on mountain bike shoes with very recessed cleats.
After an hour or so of extremely pretty but at the same time reasonably demanding climbing / walking / cycling / carrying I got to a track that marked the top of the "tough path", only to find a mountain bike rider heading down where I'd just come from... he looked like he knew what he was doing but downhill is probably more difficult (=dangerous) than uphill with bikes. I hope he got there.
The path is 100% worth it... beautiful forests finished by visiting the source of the river. I was so glad I took it.
However I'd drunk most of my water for the day by that point (and was only a little over half way). Fortunately there is a shop by the car park a few hundred metres up the hill from the source that sells water, coke and general tourist tat.
Final climb to Pontarlier
After downing what I think was perhaps a litre of coke I was certainly up for a bit more exercise and sure enough there wasn't long to wait.
Overnight: Pontarlier, Hotel Saint Pierre
After the climbs today I needed a good rest and this hotel was just fine. Right on a nice square and good people, helping me put the bike away for the night. Would stay here again but then again I thought Pontarlier was a little dull: I shouldn’t have abstained from the absinthe.