Besancon to Ornans

Drama on the via(duct)

The start of the last stretch in France - up and over the Jura mountains and on into Switzerland.

We made an early start, found a boulangerie and started the climb out of town.

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Today's date: 15.8.20

Weather: cloudy with sunny spells

Steps: 45,300

Distance: 32.39 km

Climbing: 576 m

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We walked along the river and grabbed a coffee in a cafe before climbing the toughest hills so far.

Once on the plateau it opened out and the scenery and landscape became varied again.

There was an airfield and parachutists.

We stopped at a boulangerie in Tarcenay and I was stung by a wasp.

In the afternoon we descended from the plateau into the beautiful wooded valley of the river Loue.

The via runs along an old railway and crosses a viaduct. The viaduct is used by climbers and two were hanging below the bridge, stuck. A woman had managed to get her hair caught in some way and was bent forward at an awkward angle, occasionally shouting in pain. Her partner was trying to free her.

Somebody had called the pompiers and 4 or 5 units arrived. There was much lowering of ropes and securing everybody before a pompier was lowered and delivered a crew-cut. It was great when the woman finally made it up.

We met fellow pilgrim Jesus at the scene. We walked into Ornans together and had a beer. Ornans is surprisingly large and busy. It has a holiday vibe with lots of bikers, cyclists and other visitors about.

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Camping Le Chanet

A nice site but a bit out of town. It didn't list a bar on its website so we did a precautionary trip to Aldi for picnic food before arriving. Supper was picnic and chips at the bar.

It is about 40km to Pontarlier which is our last stop in France. Ideally we would do about 20km tomorrow but it is a holiday weekend so we're not sure what will be open.

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