Besançon: On The Bicycle I

Daniel had been a close friend to Ernest and Nicole for at least twenty years, since their trip to Sinai in the 1980s. I had never got the chance to know him when I was a student in Besançon. This time, they were planning a 2-week cycling with other friends in the northern France in early August. So Ernest and Nicole invited Daniel for lunch on a Tuesday to exchange information. As the outside temperature was higher than usual, I suggested that we laid our table in the open air.

I had the honour to prepare dumplings for the hosts and the guest. My dish was not very successful as a result of the minced pork filing that Ernest had grilled to remove some fat. They were like cha siu (barbecue pork) buns with lean meat. But we still happily finished all the dumplings seasoned by soy sauce. Daniel was seated next to me. This smiling Breton of origin was as friendly as Ernest when I first met him. He used to be active in travelling by air and organizing monthly thematic dinners. Since recent years, he had opted for exploring the nature by bicycle in order not to cause more pollution to the planet Earth.

The next afternoon, we had an appointment with him at the Rivotte gate, the starting point of our cycling. Ernest excitedly thought that he was showing me some new scenery. Actually the cycling path was not unknown to me at all. I had already paddled on it with friends several times, especially during the summer 2002. The only difference was that the stony path had been neatly covered by tar thanks to the project of the cycle route.

To identify the Franche-Comté from other regions, one must not forget the greenery and the unique style of the church towers.

When I was small, I enjoyed fixing the pieces of a puzzle at home, which represented the scenery of the European riverside.

How blessed I was now to be able to see it in real.

We were cycling along the Doubs river, sometimes by the side of the canal. Spring was a good season to travel on the water.

We saw one barge after another.

I was not envious of the owners who must be millionaires. I had my own pleasure to travel with my two-wheel vehicle with three nice companies.

We stopped at a place where a part of the canal was closed off by gates so that the water lever could be raised or lowered. A lady was controlling the gates while two boats were waiting to be moved up a slope.

The owners of the boats had a German look, so we just watched the pouring in of water without any conversation with them.

We reached a small tunnel. As there was some construction work under it, we were not allowed to go through it. We decided that it was our final destination. We paused to have some snack when some horsemen came out from the forest nearby.

After they had ridden past us to continue their route, we noticed a signboard indicating that horsemen were forbidden on the cycle route...