France
La Vôge-les-Bains - Le Creusot
Beautiful but challenging ride through the green and rolling landscape of the Vosges and the Doubs.
La Vôge-les-Bains - Le Creusot
* 128 km * 1,774 meters of elevation The hardest stage so far ran through the Vosges and a stretch of Doubs, a region that reminds me a bit of the Voer region but at a ‘next level’. The slopes are less steep, but longer. I see the Vosges as the ‘sweet spot’ between mountains, meadows, and forests.🌳 This morning I left La-Vôge-les-Bains under a carpet of mist, which gave cycling through these forests a special dimension. Nothing can compare to the smell of a damp forest slowly awakening. Wet peat soil, moss, and underbrush: if I could, I would bottle this scent and market it as a perfume under the name ‘Fôret pour homme’ or something like that. Don’t look for big cities in this region because there are hardly any. Most villages are only two streets wide and there is not a living soul in sight. In the greenery around these hamlets, however, there is an abundance of life. I saw deer, buzzards, red kites, donkeys, goats, sheep, and cows. In between, I also heard something rustling that looked like a wild boar. 🐗
