Day 17 - Delemont to Colombier

I woke up at 6am to sound of heavy rain as promised in the forecast. Our room for the night was 6 beds wedged together side by side making us look like the Seven dwarfs (only that there were 6 of us tall folk.....), and loads of wet clothes hanging all around us, yet we all slept well. Next time I woke was 8am and the rain had stopped. At breakfast we were promised a possible dry morning with rain in the afternoon. So we moved as quickly as Wiseman's can in a morning, ate as much as we could, put our wet clothes on, stocked up with food in Lidl and headed off about 10.30.

The first 20k were along the river valley through Moutiers and turning left at Court for our first serious climb. The 20k to Court was gradually up hill climbing to an elevation of 675m in Court from 550m in Delemont. The route was on a main road but through some lovely gorges. The road had cycle paths between the villages and towns but not in the towns. I must say that the drivers in Switzerland are the most arrogant and impatient drivers I have met. After the fantastically patient drivers from Holland, Germany and England to suddenly have drivers overtaking through towns on blind corners when they are not allowed to cross the central white line was very disappointing at best, and incredibly dangerous at worst. Several times drivers coming the other way had to break hard or drive off the road to avoid a head on collision. We always used the cycle paths, which were good, or rode in 2 groups of 3 where there was no path to make overtaking easier. The drivers attitude may also explain why there are relatively few cyclists in Swiss towns compared to Germany, Holland and even England.

When we reached Court we started the big climb, I did not think it would be too hard, just a climb of 650m. My first comment was "this looks steep". It was. It started with a 10% climb and then got steeper. I started the climb first and stopped to take photos. Chris and Kate were next to pass me, Chris out of the saddle fighting the weight of the 2 heavy panniers, Kate like Nairo Quintaro (winner  of the king of the mountains at this years tour), floating up the hill behind him. Then Sarah, looking very comfortable. Rachel, next, what I did not realise was that Rachel could not use her bottom gear also she has only two gear rings in the front gears , I.e, a compact gear set, this meant she was always fighting the bike. This also meant her bottom gear would not have been as easy as mine even if it worked! She was also carrying her pannier which included her make up bag, not light. Next was Paula, who had started walking!!!!! However I was only cycling at 4-6kph, which is walking pace.

The climb was brutal, it got steeper. 10 -  14% for 5k with out a break. Worse than stelvio pass, alpe d'huez and the Galibier. Apparently my quote was "This makes the Alpe d'Huez seem like a piece  of p***!"

After a couple of Ks Rachel was struggling so badly I had to take her pannier, that was 5 panniers for me. It had now started to rain and had got cooler, it dropped to 13C. My back ached, and I was suffering badly, I could not stop, as I knew I could not start again, as it was too steep. Eventually the slope got easier and I saw Chris, Sarah, Kate and Paula waiting for Rachel and me. Kate had won the climb, her only comment was "I am getting cold waiting for you lot!"

The last part of the climb was quite easy and we all crossed it without any problem. The first part of the descent was slippy and we all took care. After regrouping we descended the last part of the climb,
 Chris and Kate went first, I gave them  a couple of minutes headstart then chased them down. The
highlight of my trip so far. was flying passed them both at 60k giving them a huge fright! Gravity winning!

By the time we arrived in Grenchem it was warm, and we breezed into Biel/Bienne cruising along the main road. Biel/Bienne is where the language changes from German on the East to French on the West, but to avoid offending anyone Paula just spoke English!!

We rode along a cycle track to the north side of lake Biel, and we stopped for the children to have a swim in the lake. By the time they had got in, it was raining again and Paula and myself were hiding under the the train train track. We wanted to go as far as we could so we pressed on to Landeron for a good, but expensive dinner served in the lovely old part of town.

It simply poured down when we left the restaurant, but stopped soon to provide some amazing views of lake Neuchatel, we passed through the town of Neuchatel before finding a hotel in Colombier. It was quite late (9.20) so bargaining power was limited, 300 Swiss francs (about £220) for a very ordinary hotel for B&B seems pricy, but this is Switzerland!

We had ridden more than I had hoped as the forecast had been awful. Tomorrow would be the last ( but hardest) day!

Today's stats
Distance 99.7k
Time 5.33.05
Average speed 17.9 kph
Climb 1115m ( by far the most)
Total distance 1427k