Road trips – Haut-Doubs and Haut-Jura Regional Park (solo) –

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Haut-Doubs and Haut-Jura Regional Park (solo)

September 1999To start this three-week walk, head for the Jura. Departure from Paris around 11 am, Saturday July 31. "We" announce a dark day, endless traffic jams and other national disasters of comparable magnitude…

  ROADS  
IN SHORT
Walk lyrics
"Attention, delivery of milk"
(Danger sign in Switzerland)

Walk readings:
Gabriel leaned over the engine and turned on the throttle fully. The twin purred like a sated tomcat, no noise from upset mechanics disturbed this hymn to quiet power. Reassured, he let the speedometer needle drop to 140 and stop. relaxed until feeling in perfect harmony with his machine. A Norton 750 Commando does not behave like any bike. It is a mechanics as precise as it is capricious and those who never understood that one does not pull not on an English engine without having warmed it for a good fifty kilometers simply missed the pleasure. In the name of efficiency, they threw themselves on the banal Japanese hardware store and, at the same time, have condemned to death the best motorcycle manufacturers in the world (…) "
("The Octopus: Stop the tiling" by Patrick Raynal, Editions Librio, 10 FF)

E.M.

 A SUMMER 99 ON THE ROAD (1)
Haut-Doubs and Haut-Jura Regional Park
Back from a 3-week station wagon after 4,600 km of asphalt riding a 900 Trophy weighted down by my favorite passenger, the best plans from Moto-Net. Part 1.

A black day, where that ?


To start this three-week walk, head for the Jura. Departure to Paris around 11 a.m., Saturday July 31. "We" announce a dark day, endless traffic jams and other national disasters of comparable magnitude, but theAT 5 until Meaning is simply deserted. AT Meaning, rendezvous for a common stretch of road with Benjamin and his VFR 800 still so yellow – despite its at least untimely impact with a cyclist with Down’s syndrome, but he will tell you that better than me (Le Morvan, La Drôme, les Hautes Alpes, etc., it’s him!) … Difficult to find roads still untouched by our tracks in the region, but we still manage to find some good routes between Cherry trees, St Florentin, Chaource, Les Riceys and Châtillon sur Seine by the D905, D443, D17, D953 and D965 (who wins a superb "I love New Brunswick, but what I like most is La Vie Auchan" keychain). Then the very uneven coating of the D996 leads us to Dijon, to the rhythm of many very varied curves. (Excellent road to test any machine without complacency, this D996.) And of course, still not the shadow of a caravan or other rolling barbecue! After a sandwich / salad engulfed in Dijon, Benjamin regains his home while I continue towards the Jura massif.

The magic of the D472


The inevitable N5 and A39 to leave Dijon are always as bland as the other, just like this pitiful D405 at the exit of Dole, but from Snitch magic takes over: the D472 proudly assault the east of France, not stingy with many bends that gently but surely restore condition. From and around Pontarlier, in full Haut-Doubs, many roads are worth the detour: the whole D437 towards Morteau, Villers-le-Lac and Le Locle (Switzerland), the Swiss vineyards and forests between Neuchâtel and Fleurier, the border zigzags of the road to Ste Croix, without forgetting the very beautiful Col de la Vierge towards Goumois and Saignelegier. Avoid the Swiss N5 which runs along the north of Neuchâtel lake, boring and too busy. Ditto for the lake tour Malbuisson, unless you go out of season. Of course, you will not fail to honor the flagship of the local roads: the D67 over there Loue Valley (via Mouthier and Ornans), which is worth its weight in tubeless! And to vary the pleasures, go and hit one or two small white balls in the exceptional setting of the Golf des Etraches, a few kilometers from Pontarlier. Finally, leave the region by Mouthe, Mountain boards, The Red Lake Trouts (isn’t that a beautiful village name?), St Laurent en Grandvaux and St Claude (D437) will prove to be an excellent choice, as long as you wait until Haut-Jura regional park. If, by chance, the sky of this beautiful summer morning suddenly becomes blacker than the asphalt, a thick fog obstructs your view from more than 5 meters and the crossing takes on the terrible appearance of the end of the world, you you will have to be content to imagine the splendid Biel Valley, but it will be all the more striking! (to try also on a clear day). 

Descent to St Claude


Once the descent on St Claude Once started, let the beast slip away, which will land without batting an eyelid on the dry land of the city of the pipe, deeply embedded in the valley, where you will of course give yourself a little treat: coffee-cigarette-coca, or the infamous Theory of 3Cs. Continuing on Bourg en Bresse by the very pretty D436 – unfortunately endangered, because the 4-lane portions gradually blunt anything that looks too closely like a bend worthy of the name – be careful not to miss the D936 at Dortan. Avoid following Oyonnax : the D984 does not present much more interest than the village, and to get out of it you need a will of steel to find signs indicating something other than the highway (thanks to the local ZXR who put me back on the right path!) . The surroundings of Bourg en Bresse have nothing exciting, but by heading due west, the small roads of Roannais after Baujeu (which were in full facelift during this summer 99, and should therefore be in top form at the moment) will be able to rise to the occasion: D37, D8 and D504 until Roanne via The Echarmeaux, Classes, Thizy and Perreux. If you’re feeling peckish at Roanne, Don’t panic, there is a choice: a gastro menu at 200 euros at Troisgros, or a rillettes-cornich at 12 balls at Balto-PMU! After St Just en Chevalet, the nice little low mountain passes of the D53 will lead you to Thiers and its cutlery in vague decrepitude. And if like me you are looking to contact a friend who lives in the area, avoid the bar in front of the Post Office, where there is a directory but "sorry we don’t have the phone" !

Ascent to Montluçon


While the volcanoes of Auvergne hand me their pretty little passes and their dream departmental roads (we will come back to this in the 5th part of this "Summer 99 on the road"), I have to go back to Montlucon where waits for me at the station Emmanuelle, my favorite passenger, who for the moment has succumbed to the sirens of an old Corail in Austerlitz … Clermont and its surroundings for now (but since I tell you that we will come back to it!), and after a short break in Riom, directionCombine via less and less exciting roads (Chatelguyon, Manzat, St Gervais d’Auvergne, Marcillat in Combraille, Neris les Bains and Montlucon). Some nice portions on the D227 and the Gorges de la Sioule, but … we will come back to it. Then the D1089 crawls painfully to Montlucon, where happily awaits us a superb night in the open air with fish, wines and cheeses (bravo Thierry!).

Heading for the Atlantic


In short, the course for the Atlantic, because: 1. we are far from the Haut-Doubs and Haut-Jura announced in the title, 2. this part is more of a transfer than a real trip, and 3. when it is it’s too long for you to pick up and I hate to tire myself out for nothing. In short, therefore, the N145 Between Montlucon and Gueret is hopelessly straight and saturated with roller camping gas, also a hook by the D940 (or, better, the D940A) Between Gueret and Bourganeuf is needed. The N141 then opens the way to Haute-Vienne and its small forest roads, where the county roadmenders seem to be playing a very trendy little game at the beginning of August 1999: first to infinitely multiply the number of deviations from one village to another, then to cover with a thick layer of gravel all that could risk materializing the sacred concept of "practicable road". We still manage to make our way to Saintes, for a 3-day break based on breakfasts in the garden, Moorish under the chestnut tree and breaking waves on the Coast – unfortunately less and less – wild…

Eric MICHEL

© Moto-Net n ° 6 – September 1999

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