first pass
16.9.03 Pontarlier (france) - lac de joux
- col de mollendrux - lausanne, 130 km, 6 h
I had a look in my wallet and it was quite empty.
I spent the rest of my money the day before for some food, I had only 8 €
and a lot of swiss francs but swiss was 30 km's away (with also a hill between,
not really good with an empty stomach). I thought about if I shouldn't pay for
the camping ground, well I did that when I was younger but not anymore, so I
paid and had 2 € left for at least some fruits in town.
Pontalier

Pontalier is a nice quite town in the Jura. The Jura is a low mountain
chain in france next to the swiss boarder.
along the road

After a while I passed a nice castle on the mountain. I hadn't
the time to stop (I didn't want to go up hill but I guess I would have been
worth).
castle

After a while I had to go up to three passes. The first one
was the lower but I also started at a lower level. I reached Vallorbe and took
a right turn to Lac de Joux, a really nice spot which is not as busy as Lac
Leman (Genfer See).
going down towards Vallorbe

boarder between france and swiss

Lac de Joux

map

lakefront

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highest point
so far |
 |
I was tired after getting up to Col du Mollendrux.
I didn't thought that it is so difficult to ride up with luggage. From there
I had to ride down all the time, that was cool, riding 60 km/h without doing
anything.
After another hour I arrived in Echandens, a suburb of Lausanne. I found the
house of Werner fast but he wasn't there (well, I didn't tell him when I will
be there). I was walking around and after 5 minutes he came, funny. After a
talk and some food we went for another bike ride.

I cooked in the evening

having dinner

This night shouldn't be cold, but I had to
fight with another problem. I slept on a sofa, the landlord said to me:"
no worries if you want to sleep her, there is enough space, perhaps you want
to sleep on the sofa, if it fits you". Well, it is really small and so
I fall off a couple of times, but that was okay, better than being cold.
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