Day 9 Vesoul to Arras

Three quarters of the distance has been covered in rain and unfortunately that has been the defining characteristic of the trip. Only as I started to head west today did the sky clear and the air get dry. This was fortunate as i was delayed for an hour due to a road closure for the Tour de France. The gendarme told me it would be clear in 15 minutes - well it took over an hour for numerous official cars to pass. Then more police and the 2 front riders, then a break and a few police and the peleton. After yet more support cars we were allowed through, before the lorries.



This was the only photo for 2 days as it was wet for the photogenic sections. With this weather I don't think I could have managed Cambrai to Les Rousses as I did last year. I wasn't really travelling slowly more that I was cold and fed up with every stop involving wet gloves.

At one dry stop I checked the airbox drain and found that the engine side was almost full of oily water, so that was a job worth doing. In general the Alp was running fine but on odd occasions I felt a roughness. Was this a misfire or simply roughness of the road?

The Arras hostel was busy so not a lot of space. The shared room is €21 cheaper than being in a Formule 1, which equates to a meal or the day's petrol. So that's a real saving but I think in future I'll be limiting myself to the best hostels such as Les Rousses and La Clusaz.

498km