I dont like Mondays (or Sundays)

Sunday 25th May

Nothing to report today. Sunday and pretty much everything is closed. We used the day to get a few places sorted for the next couple of days. First - found the wool shop. Next - found Courtepaille and Buffalo Grill for dinners for the next 2 nights. Lastly had a wander around centre ville. It was Mothers day and we sat and had coffee at a boulangerie, and watched as many men wandered in and out in search of something for Mothers day. The boulangerie was sold out of yummy cakes so they didn't have much choice. 

One of the entrance gates to Pontarlier.

Pontarlier - this was once an abbey and then a hospital.

The Tour de France is coming here 26th July.
We will be home by then so hope to see some familiar sights on the telecast.

That was really the extent of our day. We headed out for dinner around 7 and wondered if the restaurant was not popular as it was nearly empty. The crowds started rolling in though after 8. 

Monday 26th May

Today we decided to visit the village of Lods, listed in our beautiful villages book.  It was a lovely drive in along a rocky gorge but when we got there we found Lods to be not at all interesting - every now and then we do get one of these nothing villages. There was another village only 5k away called Nods - we didn't go there. 

We continued on past Lods and found ourselves in the village of Vuillafans where we were a few years ago for a hillclimb. Nothing at all like we saw it that day - no shop, no bakery, no cafe. And they'd put posts along the footpath where we parked back then - no parking! Then on to the next village of Ornans where we stopped for morning tea.

This was the main bridge over the river in Ornans.

An interesting sculpture.

1953 and the bridge would have been under.

Now what!?! A looping drive back to Pontarlier looking for somewhere for lunch. That was really annoying - nothing open on Monday either. Doesn't anyone eat lunch on Mondays? We eventually found a restaurant in a village (Morteau) that had centre ville well hidden - I think you needed to be a local to find your way in. We sort of knew where we were trying to get to but it seemed like every road was one way, the wrong way. We eventually found a car park and walked in. Lunch was OK and from there we drove back to Pontarlier down a valley following closely along the Swiss border. 

The church in Doubs. It was very white which attracted our attention,
though the photo doesn't show that.
Can't tell you what the insides were like - it was locked which is unusual.