Music in Dole

We had a short ride from Arbois to Dole, and some of the straightest roads of the trip. The last 20 km were along a rail-trail that traced a straight line to Dole, and Holly actually put on a podcast to spice up the ride. We picnicked on an island in the Doubs River, also swimming in the surprisingly warm water, before arriving at Warmshowers hosts Laure and Fabrice's home, where we were staying in a small garden cabin. Since it was Solstice, and in France la Journée de la Musique, we joined Laure and Fabrice for their daughter Zélie's choir concert, then wandered around the old city, past Louis Pasteur's home and along beautiful canals, listening to other pop-up street concerts. We had a fun pizza dinner with the whole family - including Anouk (19 years old), Timothé (17) and Zélie (11) - and learned about their 6-month bike journey through South America 7 years ago, when Zélie was 5 (about Claire's age), and many trips since. Certainly Laure and Fabrice understood the ups and downs of travelling by bike with children, and had some great nuggets of wisdom to share. We hadn't planned on using Warmshowers so much in this last part of our trip, but since we had very much enjoyed making the connections when we started getting hosted again in Switzerland, we continued to seek out wonderful hosts to add to the richness of our experience as we approached the end of our trip.Read more