Again, a varied hike starting over sloping agricultural land, later on more and more through forests and mountains. A part of the walk runs along the Swiss border. The trail ends in Saint Hippolyte in the Jura. Along the way, many parts of the GR5 have changed compared to the original trail. Most of them are small parts that make the trail more beautiful, but in the beginning near Dasle there is a new trail of many kilometers that we didn’t take.
Today is a special stage. The first trek through the Jura, we pass the 1,000-kilometer mark and reach the Swiss border today!
But today is not Monday, it’s Tuesday; one rest day has unexpectedly become two… Sunday evening we enjoyed beautiful but violent thunderstorms in front of the tent, drifting past us hour after hour. Except for one big shower, we escaped the storm quite well. But around midnight we were awakened by strong gusts of wind and loud splashing on the tent. The sound of torrential rain on a tent can be intense, but moments later the rain turned into hailstones the size of gumballs and there was a continuous deafening thunder and flashing around us. At one point we thought the hail was going to smash right through the little tent and we held our hearts. Next to the tent was a mountain of hail, but fortunately the tent withstood the force of nature very well. The rest of the night it continued to rain for so long that we barely got any sleep. So we turned off the early alarm clock and decided to start hiking a day later.
This early Tuesday morning we take the first bus to Dasle, to pick up the GR5 again. With our backpacks on we walk out of the village. At the edge of the village we get the chance to pick some of the last cherries hanging on a tree along the path. Who knows, it may be the last fresh cherries of the season. A few kilometers further, the road markings suddenly send us to the right, where our navigation sends us to the left. The sign next to it says that, in consultation with the French Hiking Federation, an adjustment to the GR5 has been made and the trail now runs west to Saint Hippolyte, instead of east. The new trail passes by Mandeure, and that’s exactly where we got on the bus this morning. In addition, the new route is quite a few kilometers extra, which would make today’s hike really too long.
So we decide to follow the ‘old’ route and turn left. Fortunately, this route is also still marked well and leads us through a wide, mountainous landscape into the forests of the Jura. We pass beautiful limestone formations, including the impressive Pont Sarrazin with its meters-high natural bridge. And, of course, another legend about a kidnapped fair lady. We have encountered such stories many times on our route. Apparently it was a lousy time for damsels back in the day, but it does make for amusing stories.
This is where the first climb begins. We follow the little river la Doue for a while and a bit further leave the river again, to make the climb to the Swiss border. Yeay, after the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, a little bit of Germany and France, this is now the 6th country we visit. So cool to arrive in Switzerland on foot!
We walk along the Swiss border (sometimes a bit over it), follow it for about 4 kilometers and then walk back into France, deeper into the Jura. The last 7 km or so we descend continuously, but the paths are easy to walk and by 5 pm we arrive at the campsite in Saint Hippolyte. Now we really entered the Jura! We’ve had quite a few altimeters, but it’s great to be in a mountain range again.
