Les Alliés

17 July 2015:  After several days of long hikes, ending around 6:00 pm, I was pleased today to reach my destination at 3:00 pm.  Les Alliés is a small village, without any businesses.  I'm staying at the municipal gîte d'étape (which does have WiFi!).  I was warned in advance that I should bring my own food; there is none to be purchased in Les Alliés (or along the GR5 between Villers-le-Lac and here).  So I have been carrying food that I bought in Villers-le-Lac for the past two days.  I look forward to carrying a lighter backpack tomorrow, after eating most of that food!

I will still start the day with 2.5 liters of water in my pack, all of which is needed over the course of a full day of hiking with temperatures in the 30s.  Sources of water along the trail, if one needs more, are very limited.  In some cases, it is simply necessary to knock on someone's door and ask for water.

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Departure from Vieux Châteleu:

The sun shone brightly as the randonneur confronted the trail...

Most of today's hike was quite pleasant, with shade and a light breeze. 

Mary, with her country experience, has pointed out to me that horses often stand head-to-tail, so that one horse's tail whisks away flies around the other's head. 

There are distinctive stiles (échaliers) that pass through the fences here – but beware of a weak plank!

This one looks unbreakable:

The Jura is famous for the pyramid-shaped tué chimneys over its farm houses   Surprisingly, however, I have seen very few such chimneys. Here is one that resembles a tué, but is rather small. 

Carroll marche toujours avec élan!

The afternoon trail:

Les Alliés:

The gîte d'étape is in the Mairie. 

Tonight's dinner, hand-delivered from Villers-le-Lac.  Note the beer: it turned out that I could buy beer at the gîte d'étape!