Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-07-24
OYER The ALPS.
Our Cyclists in the Heart Of the
Juras.
Incidents Of IOlling Up and
"Coasting" Alpine Heights.
Struggled Away Villages in the Grape
District, Picturesque Wedding.
Beautiful Geneva Its Background OF
Mountains. Prscipices, Forests
ard Villages.


In the hear. Of the Jura. With tr@nen
,loas mountain. on every aide. the EIyel
bicvci. marty ia to-uiyht .uesmped For z,
mile. We tniled ro-dav over very lanz grades
,hangh seldom d,.adfullv steen ones Tn,
maiority nrohably walked al least half th. dis
tance although thi, was not really necessary
a, the surface of the ROAD was .impIy uar
feer .mooth a, A aoor and hard as A rock
Building such A hiehway over these noun
tsipx +, certainly one Of the prandesr piece,
of engineering In the world. In place. grea,
shelves are blasted in the solid rock of the
mountain side. so that booking upward TO,
forty or 6ft, feet is a perpeudicular stretch
of solid one on top of which grows thick
forest. while in the gorge far below the
rinoling Of marking .team /, as en.rvatinu
10 a heated cycIsr a. hniment after a tough
ride The distant yiew.h hayeaDso been superb
yrsndar than ANYTHING of which the White
Maintain. c.o boas, perhans We would he
in a yailev.-lookinr upx ard the winding OF
the road cnuld be MAINLY di.e-rued. with
may be a -oriukIi.o of one or two houses
and an tb, highest uoi,r a cross wa. nn,,e
certain ia he .eeu. one nsrticularlv impres
.iye view comes TO mind: we were riding
through onite a, extensive valley in The
center of which rose an enormous mound
AN amateur mountain. \. il were. On the
Summit of thi, .tood the crumbl;py remain.
of an anoien, rhsteau All ,b,t Was lef, NJ
an .u.inn. stropyhold erected nrobahlv hv
the ,;anl. or Romans --fr,m rho very tan az
,yb,,h cross an rommn, .vsry.bare
,,a,ced t,,. nj, 'Tt.e sitp,,inn wa uat4-,l
fort;6cation ami the ca.tl4 in the
old,n time must have neon ws,l
,igh imnregr.hle From the en,t
,ancas the yiews were yrana command.
iny a. they oftan Womb g, vast eYna,sa
Sl,,,smsnt. bsr. and tbara reliavsl ,h,.
,nono,onnu. usttipy nf v,eon t,ees in,er.
runtea now and then by steep and cragoy
cltes Snnerb panorama. apn.a,ed at eyrry
tnrn Nothinv eouli he more delightful
than our ride TO-DAY over Rop,e Nationals n,
< tn convev a slioht ide. of the length of
the GRADES hi. town ia vropned at tho foo,
Of a hin NOT one bit l.ss than i miles long
that II. 10 saw We "coasted" that distance
L,.r , mountsi, i,to tho vilIag, witbout
m.tirg mntion +, nrooel M, wheel.
thouyh oft,imes nut.iny cn brakes
This ,ettlement ia som..hst different
from sny vet seen. II is seated in a long
hnt rarrov valley 40 that the princinle
s,ras, ia tho onIv one in town Af.er
en,ar;,g tho villags ua certainly wh.elad
. miIe before resching onr bntsI
.bich show. what n Ienv,bv Mac. this i.
proh,blv ,be,a are : 600 neonle living here
s5 mil.s from anv railroad imuri,oneJ nv
hills the mpre mention of which makes
horses and cyelers .hud,ler. American tonr-
i.ts never cross these monn,aius: we are
travelling through A region seldom seen by
f,reiyners the he,uties of which are not
widely known. Itfs.asy to see that .trang-
ers are rarities by the crowds hi III flock
aroupd us in every Village Our every act
is carefully observed and ANYTHING particu-
l,riy Fright get. A mprmur of applause. II
would highly amuse the people at home could
they see hy what motley crowd we are fol-
lowed when on the street In fact, We have
come to consider ourselves asa sort of
travelling show, exhibiting at the places On
The dates ss arranged. Las, night. for in
stance, at Poligny-the most miserable town
vet seen in France. by the wav-a large
thr,np followed half a dozen of us out for
stroll after dinner. We stepped into store
for a moment. and the crowd which in that
brief time "a hored was almost alarming,
wouId have been unite 40 had we NOT kunwn
III IN To he friendly. for it Allied The street.
Looking cut. it va. noticed that several
youur children were being lifted above the
heads 10 nave n XlUlpse OF fNA Americans.
What sigh. We are Our friends at home
would surely think so could they look upon
our weather beaten couutenances and
clothes.
Yesterday two Scotchmen who have been
touring through France ius. behind us over
took the party. and they tell amusing stories
of their experiences Their salutation was,
Are YOU the famous twenty-six?" and then
.1 n.
vas talked of but the visit of the American
wbeelmen.
A week axo we were a, Fontainebleau
ius. outside of Paris Since then we have
ridden daily. passing almost across France
until we are now within few miles of the
Swiss border. A particularly interesting
sight was that at Nemours-a country we'd
ding procession lust as oli-fashioned pictures.
owned in every household. represent it,
A violinist and cornetist led. folowe ed by the
beamiug couple, after which came throug
OF frie ds, The bride was attired in white.
and looked just as happy as American brides
are wont to do. psrsding the street not
SEE ming to cloud the pleasure of tha
occasion ia the least
Two very noticeable th gs in travl Ilirg
throus this country are the scarcity of farm
"a
three miles and not pass house, but every
quarter Of a milo men and women are seen
at work in the fields Il seems that the
farmers live in villages, sometimes two or
three mtvs from the work. Tue reason
for this it hard TO understand; one thing is
certain. hoSeyer.a and thst is it does not seem
10 affect the cultivation of the land. which
has all along been in an appsrentl, high state
of {. rtliity. For several days se were pass
ing through lhe grape district, ard it was 4
pleasant as vel as astonishing sight To
see every hillside greeu with thousands
ef carefully trained vines. They are not
alloved to gree t, sneh size as 10 America,
but svery VIE i kept trimmed so that it is
not larger tnan cur raspberry bushes. and
nth cord bound ta stake. Many we're
the regrets that the delicious fruit was not
rip. but cherries arr. snd on those we have
several times feasted. To SIT on quiverlng
limb, with quantities of juicy black cherries
just wi'hla reach is an ideal position.
But few yoaHg men are seen in the vii
lagos, and we have learned that the most Of
them are in the army. Women transact the
affairs of living, While the men are trained
to kill each other. The most of the hotel.
stopped at in France have been in charge a.