Out of Jura, Down Through Bresse, and into Rhône-Alpes (20-28 September, 2014)

We left Granges-sur-Baume with our second guest cyclist on our trip so far, Sonja (Jeff's sister-in-law and Bodhi's aunt and hero).  This made for some great company.  One thing we learned as we rode down and out of Jura: bread is not so important there, unfortunately - we rode through seven or eight villages before we found a boulangerie.  And then, they only bake fresh bread in the morning.  (Elsewhere in France there are bakers everywhere and they sell AM and PM fresh bread).  On the other hand, we enjoyed the lesser-populated countryside and the quiet country roads.  As we neared Bresse, we looked forward to a visit from Katy's parents, who had rented a gîte to be able to spend a week with us (and especially Bodhi!)

Sonja happy to be back in the saddle.  Sonja previously rode from Guatemala to Argentina (2010-12) with Jeff and brother Jason (now Sonja's husband) on their Alaska-to-Argentina ride.

This guy gets the better of Bodhi, who happens to love cats at the moment.

Old town hall in a small Jurassien village.

Note that the ubiquitous French symbol, the cockerel, sits on top of the cross... some kind of state-over-church statement probably not by accident.  Seen at the church in Présilly.

Our campsite near Orgelet.

A gorgeous morning in Jura as we roll away...

Stopped for a rest in the small village of Loisia.

... where Bo took advantage of the playpark.

Rolling country as we move southwards.

Katy and Sonja arriving at St. Amour.

Fantastic ivy-draped house in St. Amour.

At the plaza in St. Amour.

In Cormoz, in the Department of Ain, Bodhi's grandparents on Katy's side came and met us for a week.  They rented a house through the website Gîtes de France, a very useful tool for finding lodging in France (hint hint for anyone that wants to visit us).

Breakfast at the gîte (pictured L-R: Jeff, Sonja, Maureen Murray and Phil Murray).

The charming gîte, constructed in the local Bresse style of colombage.  

The old (partially renovated) farmhouse that adjoins the gîte.  Houses in this part of Bresse are typically of this style. [Bresse,  a former French province as it were, is a geographical denomination, not political, since it is now divided between the departments of Franche-Comté, Bourgogne, and Rhône-Alpes.]

This one is notable for its 17th-century "Moorish" chimney, only one of a handful in the area.

Pictured here are quite possibly our favorite French pastry thus far, and a cyclist's dream: croissant d'amende (almond croissant).  A flaky, dense, marzapan and chocolate filled pastry that is very sweet and loaded with calories - and delicious.

You can see Bodhi made himself at home at the gîte...

Bo and his Granda at the Château de Chevrieux.  Every year in late September France celebrates the journée du patrimoine, or National Heritage Day (actually a weekend): Almost all of France's cultural and historical monuments become free-entry-for-all. 

Great expansive views over Bresse from the partially-restored ruins of the château.

Sonja and Maureen in the prison keep.

Bo runs about the grounds.

These guys set the scene with a variety of folk-music styles.

Artesenal basketweaving amongst other things.

Wrapping up a great afternoon at the castle.

Everyone together at the gîte.

A big goodbye to Sonja as she's about to board a train return to Luzerne - although she'll be visiting us again soon, in Ardêche!

Louhans, a nearby town in Burgundy Bresse that is celebrated for its market.  Pictured here is the cathedral in Louhans, with its distinctive patterned rooftiles...

Maureen and Katy along the Louhans arcade, which ages-past would have been the hub of the original market.

Stephane meets Bodhi.  A good friend of Jeff's, Stephane swings by the gîte for a day and night,  He is from Lyon, and he hitchhiked and wwoofed from Quebec to southern Argentina a few years ago.  Jeff, Jason, and Sonja first met him on the docks of Carti (a small Caribbean island in Panama), and then Jeff returned to see him in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Argentina as he cycled (and Stephane hitched) through South America.

Bo hits the streets with Nana and Granda.

Heading out now, we continued south through Bresse, passing more of these distinctive homes.

Collecting route information in Bourg-en-Bresse, while Bo and Katy hit the playpark:

This was our campsite, now out of Bresse, in a remote area northeast of Lyon near Chatenay . It happened to be on a popular hunting weekend, which means we heard the yelping of hunting dogs and occasional shots in the distance.

Our first views of the Ain valley on a splendid morning.

Stopped for a rest in Loyes.

The dark side of France, like Mordor even.  This is the Bugey nuclear power plant in the nearby Rhône valley.  France has 58 nuclear power plants in operation and receives 75% of its energy from nuclear fission.  Grim.  See Reseau Sortir du Nucleaire, a stop-nuclear movement in France.  www.sortirdunucleaire.org

Rolling, with Bodhi in his bikeseat.

The splendid River Ain.

A hot day, Bo couldn't resist a dip in the frigid Ain, which is rushing down from the Alps..

In the end this shallow pool was a bit warmer and the little man ended up at his favorite place.



We crossed the Rhône shortly thereafter, cycled a heavy-transit area in the outskirts of Lyon, and climbed up a few hundred meters to our next wwoof stay in St. Savin, Isère.

WWOOFing in Jura: A 100% organic, almost self-sufficient family (10 September to 19 September 2014)

Our arrival in Granges-sur-Baume was met with gorgeous weather.  This made for a pleasant stay and working conditions.  Moreover, the family with whom we stayed have three kids (ages 3, 10 and 12), so there was plenty of play time for Bodhi.

As it turns out, the family live in a yurt two kilometers from Granges; we stayed in their house in the village and would cycle everyday out to their garden and yurt.

THE GARDEN AND YURT:

It didn't take long for Bo to end up in this seat.

The garden is exceptionally beautiful, with towering amaranth blooms and sunflowers watching over everything...

Our hosts, Pierre and Stephanie, make a point of having lunch outdoors everyday.

This is the yurt they live in; the three kids sleep in a much smaller yurt nearby.  The family generates power with solar panels, stores and filters rainwater for family consumption, and uses a solar heater to heat wash water.

One of our main tasks here was to harvest raspberries - twist our arms a little!  Thornless bushes, big juicy fruit, shady conditions, what more could you ask for?

Innocent, but guilty!

Robins and chickadees about the garden...

This chickadee gorges itself on sunflower seeds.

Tractor!  This was a long time coming: ever since Alsace we've wanted to get Bodhi up for a real tractor ride.  Here Pierre is taking Bo and 10 y.o. Malil on a potato-bed tilling.

Jeff using a grondinette, a fantastic and ergonomic French gardening-tilling tool.

Katy weeds the lettuce patch.

The garden is large, safe and interesting, so Bo and company run about all day.

Freshly-harvested pumpkins.  We made some nice soup with some of these.

Jeff digs...

...Bodhi runs about naked...

... and Pierre and Katy plant apple trees.

One of their 5 sheep.  Bo would run about the garden and BAAAHHH back at them all the time.

At play on the trampoline.

Legs don't reach the pedals, but Bo doesn't let that stop him.

Siloé (3 y.o.), Katy, Bo and Malil.

THE HOUSE IN THE VILLAGE:

It's hard to complain when your WWOOF site is perched near a canyon like this one.

The kitchen in the house where we stayed.  Pierre and Stephanie bought this house in run-down condition, renovated it, lived in it for years, but gradually moved out to the yurt.  Now they live almost exclusively in the yurt for 8 months a year, and spend the other 4 months in Morocco, every winter!  To make this possible, they homeschool their kids and grow a fair amount of the food they consume.  Completely committed to the cause, EVERY food item they purchase is organic.

They ran a small artesenal bread, beer and chocolate shop out of the house until about 4 years ago.  Pierre is a trained pastry chef, and he still makes plenty of artesenal bread and beer for household consumption.

One of France's organic agriculture certification labels (the other main one being A.B.).

Group dinner in the house.

Some examples of Pierre's excellent brew.

21, yes 21, pizzas ready for baking.  Our third day on the scene turned out to be "bread-and-pizza making day".  As we learned, four families - all friends - in the area, including Pierre and Stephanie , get together once every 3 weeks or so, and go in on a massive bread-making scheme together, using all heirloom organic wheat flour varieties.  They rotate the bread-making responsibility among the families, which is an all-day affair.  To take advantage of the heat of the bread oven, they also bake a gangload of pizza and have a group dinner afterwards.  A fantastic community event.

Siloé helps Jeff and Malil harvest apples.

Bodhi completely in love with Siloé.

This what a bread oven filled with 45 loaves of organic sourdough bread looks like.

Bathtime in the sink.

Storytime.

This map shows the complex geology of Jura.  Switzerland and the Alps begin just to the east of where this map ends.  Jura effectively consists of a series of parallel ridges and plateaus (and gorges)  rising in altitude towards the Alps.

Remarkable buildings in Granges-sur-Baume.

The local cheese shop.

EXPLORING THE AREA:

On a beautiful Sunday morning, we headed off for a 12km walkabout of the area.

We descended into the canyon into the medieval village of Baumes-les-Messieurs...

Bo fast asleep.

Baumes is set in an unreal location with towering limestone cliffs and the murmurings of the creek passing through...

The medieval monastery of Baumes-les-Messieurs.

We headed out of Baumes looking for the well-known local waterfalls...

...

This is very French behavior.  Sat outside on a warm sunny day reading a book.

Impressive all the same.

Climbing back out of the gorge we had some stunning scenery.

Lots of forest walking...

The little man ended up walking 1.5km unaided, over often rocky-and-rooty terrain.  Not bad for a 16-month-old.

... Way up high, in the sky...

Some of the countryside around Granges.

Pictured here in Vincent's saddle-making workshop in La Marre, a neighboring village.  Vincent's family participates in the above-mentioned bread-sharing scheme.

Bo on one of Vincent's western-style saddles.

On the second-to-last day of our stay, Auntie Sonja showed up, from Luzerne, Switzerland, with her bicycle!  

An unusual local feature is the Cabanes-aux-bergers, or shepherd's huts, that are found scattered about the fields.  Apparently there are over 300 spread over the general area.

They are of drystone construction, with broken vaulted ceilings, and meld seamlessly into the contiguous stone walls that surround the fields.

dated 1855.

An example of a hut built into a corner.  Shepherds would use these for emergency shelters, food and water storage, sleep shelters, etc., in the days when the Jura was more remote and less populated.

This one - teardrop-shaped - is found just 200 meters from the yurt.  It's the most impressive that we've seen.

Hunkered down in the hut during a rainstorm, which of course is what it was intended for.

Some complex and beautiful dry-stone technique here.

Sonja and Siloé.