Day 11

Today we arrived in Pontarlier as planned. This meant doing a much shorter distance than usual - 50 miles (80 km) - so we've counted today as a rest day. It turned out not to be a great rest though...we didn't realise that Pontarlier was 800 metres above sea level!

The weather has also definitely turned for the worse. It has rained most of the day and it's quite cold - we hope that it won't be like this for tomorrow. Although it was maybe a bit too hot earlier in the week, we are already missing the scorching sun. The novelty of matching waterproofs wears off surprisingly quickly when it actually rains!

However we are excited to reach Switzerland tomorrow. There is always a great sense of achievement when you cross a border and you finally feel like you are making progress again. Pontarlier already looks and feels quite Swiss - if only the weather was better it would probably be very picturesque.

Tomorrow is quite a daunting day for us though. As it is one of the stages of the Tour de France (15th stage to be precise) it is quite long and very hilly! We'll get a good sleep, have a big breakfast tomorrow and give it our best shot. The Swiss Alps will be no match for Eurocycle 2009!