Day seven

 

I set off late today (11:00) after shopping at Intermarche and finished riding in the dark at 21:30 having failed to reach an intended campsite before they closed at 19:00. The campsite was just before Besancon and seemed to be the only one. My legs felt stronger today and I managed a record 76km even if unintended. I rode through Besancon with my lights on as it was already dark and it looked like my kind of town. Had I seen a hotel I would have stopped but there were none on my route and so I had to find somewhere to wildcamp again. No time to edit the photos or post much more tonight so more tomorrow hopefully. The route today was the finest yet and I will post more details and photos when I get a chance. The photo below is just one sample of a very picturesque ride today.

 

Next day:

The wild camp was pretty awful on the city outskirts, next to a main road and tram line. I set up the tent in the dark on a grassy spot next to what looked like a park and not wishing to attract undue attention  reframed from using my head torch. As a result the long grass hid quite a slope and a huge hole where my back was when lying down. Needless to say my sleep was fitful as I regularly slid down towards my feet and awoke at 5:00 thinking it was light but it was just street lights. I was away by 7:30 and reached my intended campsite mid afternoon. It's now 17:00 and I am still waiting for my photos to download and have only just got the Internet half working. It takes about 20 minutes to download one photo, so I really wonder whether this blog is really worth doing. It sucks a lot of energy out of me, more than cycling. In fact the photos do not seem to be downloading at all which is really annoying.