Jura Day 18

We each had four blankets as it was very cold overnight.  Breakfast was bread, butter, jam, and cheese, with coffee or tea.  Today was to be another day with no accommodation at the end, so we had to reach the bus stop by 13:55.  We made our way along the grassy track that led west and down from the metairie.  It was windy and cold, but the wind dropped as we descended.  This then led us into a forest section, still descending, before it changed into an old road, finally coming out onto a new road.  We decided to follow the road, rather than go back into the forest on the Jura Crest trail.  We reached a village and joined the Jura Crest trail as it was marked along a country road.  After a kilometre the trail was signposted heading into the forest; we again kept on the road, which was much faster walking than going over slippery stones and roots in the woods.  The sky to the west did not look very promising as we made good time, finally joining the trail again.  After about a kilometre the trail veered off into the woods; we again kept on the road which would lead us directly to La Vue-des-Alpes, where the bus stop was.  It started to rain, and we put our jackets on, and covered our bags.  The road was marked (for cyclists) with the kilometres to La Vue-des-Alpes, and as we hit 2km, the rain got heavier.  With just under 1km to go, the rain became torrential.  We decided we would get even wetter if we stopped to put our waterproof trousers on, so kept going.  We reached the col and walked into the cafeteria, dripping water everywhere.  We had about 45 minutes before the bus, so had some hot food and drinks.  The bus arrived on time and we travelled down to La Chaux-de-Fonds.  We had a hot chocolate while waiting to check into the hotel.  We turned up the radiators in the bedroom and have got everything drying!