3 nights in a teepee, new friends, new work done to make the business of our guests more sustainable, kilometers of hitchhiking without waiting more than 10 minutes … The Tour de France Hopineo continues smoothly in this month of August, always rich in discoveries and learning. Our stop at the Nid des Anges (Angels’ Nest) will still feed our inspiration that does not stop imagining new projects …
Countrysides of Lozere and Ardeche have marked this adventure of their stunning natural landscapes as well as the richness and the kindliness of its inhabitants. Hard not to appear silly in front of such happiness and fulfillment of ourselves. Thank you life !
3 nights in the teepee of La Butinerie.
[one_half]The Facebook profile of La Butinerie, a stopover accomodation in Lozere, is called “Friends of La Butinerie” How, indeed, do not become friends with Christine and Bernard? First Bernard wears a cowboy hat in brown leather, as Mahery! Then he loves raptors, like who? Mahery!
[/one_half] [one_half_last]Christine is rather discreet and develops an incredible workforce, as Justine. And finally, our new hosts are simple people, “without sycophancy”, happy, enjoying life and nature lovers; like us!
[/one_half_last][box type=”note” ]And, let’s not forget, Christine and Bernard have been the first to contact Hopineo asking us to come over on our Tour de France for responsible tourism. The day we received this email after our intervention at the Festival Travel Differently (ABM) will remain etched in our memories. It was the first that came to us via the contact form of the website![/box]
The meetings :
- Families of hikers and their donkeys (a solar panel installer, an electro-technician aware of renewable energies …) ;
- Jean-François Castagnet who is making a 170km walk to support ELA (like Zidane) and two sick children;
- Jacline: Newly retired from his career as an art teacher, she’s coming from Nevers, walking!, where she picked up her young horse Lexic. More than 500km to reach her eco-village to-be in Pont-du-Gard, for taking the time time, without constraints or arrival date. This is the starting point for the preparation of the horse for the equi-therapy. A project to follow!
In addition to the contemplation of raptors and horses with whom we shared the field where our teepee was, we worked for two days on the one hand on the methodology of marketing at La Butinerie for various specific clientele (Belgian, mountain bikers, canyonners, various hikers …), and also on the establishment of a system for rainwater recovery.
[/one_half] [one_half_last]La Butinerie will soon replace its septic system by phytopurification and would take the opportunity to reuse the 5000L tank to recover rainwater. It is Justine who thus took over her recommendation of early July for Les Bruyères d’Erquy, went in her researches in depth and adapted it to a stopover accomodation.
[/one_half_last]Rythm ajusted, expertise “on progress”.
After more than a month and a half of travel and successive missions, we now assume fully our respective functions: Justine has an increadible capacity of research, analysis and synthesis for substantive issues
(rainwater recovery, building with straw, dry-pit toilet, phytopurification, etc …). What would take me 2 hours to find, she finds it in 45 minutes max !
She impresses more than one and now, in each structure, we are always waiting impatiently for her resitution. They allow to understand the topics in a synthetic and intelligible wat, to appropriate them, and provide the keys to go further, and make you want to take action.
This is not me saying this, it is our hosts!
For my part, I chat, trying to understand the problematics of our hosts, make it my own and rarely manage to restrain myself from saying “we” about the structure when I present our recommendations, may it concern the development , the communication or the development strategy.
When Mahery says he “chats”, in fact, he analyzes brilliantly the issues and the situations. In a few hours, he can deliver a recommendation of 10 pages, as if he knew the structure for months. Impressive!
Justine.
Our complementary feeds gradually an expertise we imagined to develop during the Tour de France, but far beyond we were planning. Our successive hosts give it us back a hundred times and each time and they confirmed every time the validity of the mission we have set. And we’re only half of the journey …
From Lozere to Ardeche, there is only one step. But not the least…
[one_half]From Prevencheres, where our friends Christine and Bernard live, to Saint-Andre-Lachamp, where Valery Briot and his Nid Des Anges is, there are 60km.
[/one_half] [one_half_last]It may seem not much, but here, given our experience of the previous days, it can be long -hitchhinking!
[/one_half_last][box type=”note” ]Bernard, who has gave us the great honor to introduce us as his friends when he meets others, takes us to Les Vans pretexting he has to get there for the weekly market. But we understand, it’s first and foremost to help us that he pushes us halfway to our next destination; and we are very touched.[/box] [one_half]
And as if we needed to be reconciled with the raising thumb (while, not at all! We still love it), the trip to Saint-Andre-Lachamp is done in a jiffy.
- Yan, a researcher in micro-technology who is going back to Grenoble, drops us to Lablachere (land of Pierre Rabhi and Terre & Humanisme Association).
- Lensi drops us to Planzolles, apologizing for not doing the 5km left because she is late for a meeting (we will understand later that it was a meeting with the staff of… Pierre Rabhi).
- And finally Christian, bare foot and shirtless in the village, hailed us from afar to offer us spontaneously a ride to our destination …
This latter heard us talk with our host of the evening on the phone, who was about to pick us up while trying to explain where in the 27 hamlets of the village is his Nid Des Anges. We join with Christiant his wife Ulrich and his daughter Melody,
[/one_half] [one_half_last]qui bronzent sur leur terrain exposé plein sud, qui n’attend plus que la construction de leur résidence secondaire. Mélody étudie à Paris l’ethnologie dans le cadre des habitats partagés. Nous ne sommes pas sans nous revoir… comme dirait l’autre 😉
[/one_half_last]Le Nid des Anges. Where there is a desire, there is a way.
[one_half]Valery Briot is modelled on his cottage, let’s say it frankly, on his masterpiece: close to the nature, sensitive and inspiring. A native of Vienna (in France), at 20 yo., his dream was born: to offer hisown version of hospitality with a straw house completely eco-designed source of well-being, in the Ardeche.
[/one_half] [one_half_last]We will tell his story in the structure form on this website but it is not without relief; straight though …
We met him in his 37th year. Manaly, his daughter is 4 years old; this is the third season that the Nid des Anges is open. We visit the cottage, amazed.
[box type=”note” ]It’s beautiful! Everything is designed, redesigned and faithful to the philosophy of the contractor:
a box at the entrance to relieve the guests of their phones, tablets and other computers; electrical conduit to avoid radiation; large windows to let in the light; recliners, music, meditation or quiet discussion room; local wool bedding; solarium; refined and ecological choice of equipment. All exclusively from natural materials.
Quiet, calm, and well-being.[/box]
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Customers comments in the guestbook are accurate and full of praise, even on the hostess and house mascot: Mikado, a goat, which comes and goes as it pleases.
We look forward to spending a few days at this place. Probably next time with family or friends, or even with the eco-tourism seminar Hopineo … who knows!?
It is necessary to narrate this encounter? Manaly very quickly adopted Justine. Valery sublime organic meals with fried figs for dessert, while gaving himself over to the quite strangers we are. The current flows. We thank him very much for his welcoming, for the example, and for inspiration.
[/one_half_last]Heading south.
[one_half]Sunday morning, Valery’s Moke (a car close to the Mehari) drives us to Lablachere. No farewell, only good-byes. Let’s head the exit of the little city and then, south.
Joëlle the eco-skeptic, a 3km walk under the sun, Ludovic and Agnes, two vacationers from the Yvelines (parisian surburb), Jeanne and Laurence on their way to their campsite and Marion, a distant cousin of our friend Ludovic Hubler (TWAM), a few strides on a rise of over 15% and we arrive “home” in one of our best friends’ place, Julien.
It’s time for lunch ! So we thought we arrive in the evening. Hitchhiking really works !!
And since then, we work hard…!
Last hopinnovations : floor covering with peach stones | butterflies sanctuary | Fermacell boards | homemade jam | pure wool bedding | spelt ball pillow
Last structure : the Eco-Lodge of d’Ensarnaut
Last video : Encounter with Anne-Sophie Hochet and her Auberge des VoyaJoueurs
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