The landscape in these pre-Alps, the Auvergne-Rhones-Alpes is pleasantly small-scale, mixed and relaxed. It pleases me. The forests and groups of trees, small meadows, the rolling hills, the small villages and hamlets, the winding roads, it feels like a nice balance between nature and culture. As soon as the third dimension, the hills and mountains, are added, nature is more powerful than culture. Then man has to adapt more. Interesting. You see the same thing with rivers and their unpredictable forces. So you have more and less dominant and dynamic landscapes. I think about this as we ride into Hotonnes. The tree bike is nicely shaded and in front of the Vival supermarket the informal bar is already open. There we meet the second-in-command of the commune of Haut Valroney, which includes, in addition to Hotonnes, Songieus, Le Grand Abergement, petit Abergement and Roffieu. Twelve thousand hectares in all. We give a tree, a forest book and exchange data. It is around 9:30 when we, Daan and I, jump on our bikes to start this Sunday leg, Sanne follows by car, Richard is at home working on the route and booking the next places to stay. There are three “Cols” on the program today. Hotonnes, our starting point, is at 636 meters. It starts downhill but soon becomes climbing to the ‘Col de Cuvillat’ at 1073 meters, then follows the ‘Col de Pisseloup’ at 968 meters and as the third col, the ‘Col du Sappel’ at 794 meters. In between the cols there is quite a bit of downhill, so the total number of altimeters rises nicely. I think we climbed almost a thousand meters today. And that through a beautiful landscape and with an acceptable warmth because there was a slight wind today and we started reasonably early. After the second ‘col’ we eat a sandwich along the road and Daan and Sanne change bikes and cars. After the third ‘col’ we think we only have to go downhill but that is not to be. Hautcour lies on the other side of the river ‘Ain’ and that means a steep descent and a steep climb. Especially that last climb is tough. The tree bike does well, even though I have to stop regularly to let the bike ‘catch its breath’. But Sanne’s bike squeaks during braking, a high and unpleasant sound. I have to have it checked anyway. Around five o’clock we reach our destination and park the tree bike next to the Marie of Hautecourt. So we succeeded again. The tree still gets water, the batteries go along and we drive back to Geovreisset. A little Sunday night. A drink and a bite to eat. Fine. Meanwhile, the newsletter that will go out in the next few days is being prepared. Tomorrow some forty-fifty kilometers via Bourg-en-Bresse to Montrevell-en-Bresse. And then we’ll be right back on schedule. Great right?