Day 39 - Parc Morvan

Last night the campground in Avallon was fully booked.  They were turning people away.  It was busy and noisy.  Two different hiking / Church groups were there - lots of singing and praying.  And the group just beside us had lots to say, well past 10, past 10:30 and even past 11, and then they finally went in their tents.  It is LOUD when there is a group outside your tent 😳

Tonight is completely different. We have the entire campground to ourselves (so far). It is at the top of a very long steep hill, basically in the middle of the Parc, Dun Les Places. (Map below)

Lovely views. 

Below view is basically from our tent: 

We started the day riding into the Parc in a light rain, up, up, up and away. 

(Cat in field) 

The Parc is an interesting mix of forest, farm land, small quiet (empty?) villages and logging. Many of the tree stands have been planted (neat rows) and some are in the process of being harvested. 

Lots of climbing today. Only 33 kms but over 800 meters of climbing. We are tired and happy to have the campground to ourselves, shower and relax while our stuff dries. 

Did I mention rain? Because "AccuWeather" said no rain in the next 4 hours this morning, and then it rained on us for about, the next 4 hours. A few stops while we huddled under trees or other shelter, but mostly we just carried on. As Olga would say, "what you can do?"

Definitely threatening rain again this evening, but for now we have sun. (Spoke too soon, the skies opened just as we had dinner ready, but I had the cloths line down and we were able to get everything in the tent, including us, just in time.)

The Parc was pretty, some little rivers and lakes and farms. 

We had a young female deer on the road ahead of us for a while. It was a very quiet road, we hadn't seen a car for ages. We slowed our place to watch her on the road's shoulder. Suddenly two cars were behind us. Luckily we slowed them down because the deer felt trapped and ran along beside the road until she found a clearing. It was nice to encounter nature. There are so many birds here in France, but so little other wildlife to see. This is only the third deer we have seen, and, not kidding, I have seen only 2 squirrels. Two!? No wonder the dogs are so docile. 

All in all it was great cycling today. Good surfaces and very few cars. We didn't see anyone else on a bike, anywhere. 

And of course, there is always a steeple on the horizon. 

And the ever-present pain au chocolat and pain au raisin. 

But the hills were many and we definitely earned those calories. 

Thanks for climbing the hills with us. 

Google map of Parc Morvan below. 

Blue arrow last night. 

Green arrow tonight. 

Red arrow tomorrow night.