The Annual Bike Trip - Day 3

The next morning, after breakfast at the hotel, we headed down to the train station.  The train we were catching is known as the “Ligne des Hirondelles”, or Line of the Swallows.  [At this point Gérard had decided to return to Lyon as he had been feeling under the weather.]  Unlike most of France’s railway system, it is not electrified and is not fast.  Instead, it consists of a couple of cars, each of which has a diesel engine so the train can go in either direction.  It is really a remnant of the days when many small towns had train service that stopped at each town.  It also crosses old stone and masonry arched viaducts and passes through myriad short tunnels as it winds its way through the mountains from town to town.  At one town, the train stops to load and unload passengers, and then switches to another track leaving town to continue the journey.  The whole trip was very scenic, but we were so enthralled that apparently nobody took pictures.  I did manage to get a couple of photos off the system’s website. 

Crossing an Updated Bridge

Crossing an old Masonry Arched Bridge

We finally reached Morez where Gérard caught a train to start home, and we changed trains to continue on to Pontarlier.  Upon arrival, we assembled ourselves in front of the station to continue on our way.  The day’s trip was quite short, and aside from a short visit to another dirt road, fairly uneventful.

Preparing to Leave the Gare at Pontarlier

Explaining about the Railroad and Gare at Pontarlier

We arrived in the small town of Malbuisson, a tourist town sited on a lake terrace above Lake Saint-Point.  The setting reminded me a bit of the Canadian Okanagan area.  In addition to tourism, Malbuisson has one of the last cheese factories to produce Comté cheese in the traditional fashion in big copper cauldrons.  Comté is Anna and my favorite cheese is also apparently the best-selling cheese in France.

On the Road to Malbuisson

We checked in at the hotel – our room had more-or-less separate sleeping areas for each of us.  We made dinner reservations at a near-by restaurant and then had a beer on the hotel terrace.  We then did a bit of resting and unpacking.  After that we walked along the roadway towards our dinner restaurant and checked out the menu.  David went across the street and bought a bottle of local red wine called Arbois, made with an obscure grape variety called Poulsard.  This grape produces light-bodied and a bit lighter-colored red wines.  He always tries to sample at least one local wine on these bike trips.

At the appointed hour, we walked down to the restaurant for dinner.  The dining room was quite full, with all kinds of groups, including what appeared to be extended families.  We had a pleasant dinner before walking back to our hotel while attempting to get some evening photos out over the lake. 

Our Dinner Table

Roger Pointing at my Lamb Shank Dinner

Above is a somewhat blurry evening shot of the lake from near our hotel.

Aside from Gérard’s departure, it was a fun an interesting day – only 19km for the day, but the train ride and varied scenery and terrain made it a great experience.