Off from the campsite on the outside of Pontarlier after some breakfast and a skip up the highway dodging the commuter traffic.
Today we leave the country of the golden lion (it took some time for us. to realise that the flag of a gold lion rampant with red claws claws and tongue on a blue background is the flag of the Franche-Comte. After passing through the Windy Gap between the Château Joux and the rest of the escarpment we get coffee. Onward the reaugmented group climb steadily and eventually get to Les Fourgs just above the border and get the first beer of the day. It is not cheap, a possible harbinger of the border and the next few weeks expenses. A few metres and a km or so down and we encounter the abandoned Douane base on the road. Had we been challenged we would have had to confess to several slugs who were hiking with the fortunately still sealed ham slices! The Swiss seem not to mind, the butterflies do not change and abound around the verges, there is slow change in architecture more related to altitude and the possibility of snow than to nationality. The scenery is wonderful limestone outcrops and fields including the Gentians used to flavour some of the products of M. Guy who we visited yesterday. Ray and Tim are confused, to them gentian is violet! A result of medical education, but it turns out the flowers are yellow. We eventually top out just under 1200m and descend into Saint Croix.
It should be mentioned at this stage that although we hope to spend the night in Saint Croix we have No information about this. The tourist office lady tries hard but fails, there is no campsite or reasonable accommodation.
PLAN B. We get on a train. This goes with a bus ride to somewhere we will get to tomorrow! about 500m from the bus stop is a very nice campsite in Orbes. Where we will be tomorrow. The bus and train back to Saint Croix tomorrow on Saturday may hang together. We shall see, but a safe haven with a good supermarket at the bus stop is ours for three nights while we negotiate this tricky bit of Switzerland.
Another change in the country side is, while the yellow arrows continue pointing to Rome, there are pedestrian walking signs and peculiar turnstiles in the footpaths.
Enough for now,a long day and an early start tomorrow.