Trip Report - L'Échappée Jurassienne (GR59): Day 6

STATS

START: Doucier

END: Chaux-des-Crotenay

KM: 19.46 km

TIME: 3:56:26

This was a bit of a shorter day (in terms of walking time) but one of my favourites. I think you'll quickly see why.

1.) I started the day with chocolate cake, from the awesome little bakery just across the street of my hotel. It looked like this and it was the absolutely richest and tastiest chocolate cake ever. (Note: Usually I'd eat this monster in two go's. It's very fatty and extremely sweet so it's good to eat half/half or in thirds. But I figured it'd be difficult to carry with me on a hot day since it was all melty cream and chocolate.)

 After the cake I started on the Rte des Cascades with the intent to rejoin the GR59 at the Cascades du Hérisson. I could've joined it a bit earlier if I took the other road (D39) but on the map the Rte des Cascades looked more interesting as it passes two lakes. (Note: Unfortunately I didn't actually get to see much of the first lake as it was a bit further from the road with a belt of thick greenery between.

The first lake as seen from afar: Lac de Chambly

After the lake the road, which had been hilly on the left, with the greenery belt (you can see it in the picture above) to the right, opened up a little more to the left, until I came to a wonderful field of red poppies next to a small settlement.

Then came the second lake (Lac du Val). It was absolutely gorgeous!

 There were a few people boating and walking next to it on the road was very pleasant. While the lake itself lay in sunlight, the hill on the right shaded the road and made it cool and even breezy at times, a very welcome environment after days of heat.

 

Apparently there's a whole Route des Lacs around the two lakes and more...

Half an hour later comes my other (beside the cake) favourite part of the day. I'd not have found this if I'd been doing the actual GR59 already so I'm quite pleased I took this cheat-y shortcut.

 

This is Parc Animalier du Hérisson. It's a small animal park with about 10 pens. The entry fee is about 11€ (which goes directly back to the animals of the park) and you get some animal feed (straw) with it. You can also purchase extra activities like a pony ride for your kids.

The animals were great and (some) funny.

Individual coops with birds (falcons and other local-ish raptors) above. Their names are engraved into the top of the little hut.

 

This very friendly donkey came to the fence to let me pet it! (This was in the petting zoo area where you can feed the animals. They also have goats, guinea pigs, bunnies, and horses.)

Oh, and ponies! 😄 (ready to be ridden!)

I moved on to the bigger ones...

American bison (below).

and found some lazy wallabies. There was no fence between me and these. I suppose they're friendly enough not to attack you (but I don't think you're supposed to pet them!).

and what the heck are these guys on? (Zoom in for faces):

 

They even had their two Great Pyrenees Mountain dogs in a pen with an explanatory sign. The sign explains how the dogs work at night protecting the park and the animals while they sleep during the day. I wasn't able to get a good picture of the dogs under their shelter so here's the sign instead:

 

You can probably tell from the amount of animal pictures how much I enjoyed this small zoo! (Which is definitely worth a visit! I spent about an hour and met lots of people with kids. Perfect weekend day out?)

But we're not done yet. This day was looong despite the low amount of kms.

After the zoo (where I had to buy some souveniers because... stuffed animals! Animal bottle-openers!) I came to a more touristy area. I had no idea it'd be so popular, but I suppose it was a Sunday, and apparently it's a hotspot.

Here are some pictures of the Cascades du Hérisson (Hérisson by the way means hedgehog. Not sure what those have to do with waterfalls.)

If these pictures (above) are cropped weirdly then it's because I was trying not to get any people on them!

A cool rock formation (above)! There were some big caves too (but soo many people!).

Just to the left of this picture's cut-off there were people tanning themselves in the sun.

To the right... more people who aren't shown.

This place was absolutely packed with tons of tourists. I loved the views and the shade in the valley but it was quite difficult not to step on anyone and find a free spot to sit. I was kind of glad to leave it all behind after I'd taken in the sights.

 

And the remaining ~5km of the day's hike were no disappointment either. There are three (four actually but one was a bit out of the way) lakes between the Cascades and my day's rest stop:

 

and the path became slightly less touristy. (Which might have had something to do with the 3-4 food places close-by catching all the people coming from the Cascades...)

 I even took a little break to rest my feet! (And almost got them eaten by some fish...)

Look closely to find the fish!

The rest of the way was a forest path of 2km. Not too bad but it still took me some time. I was feeling my legs, my feet, my backpack. And I wasn't really in any hurry either.

Now here comes the part that is not a favourite. (And a small rant. Sorry in advance. Skip the next paragraph if you want to remain untainted by rage.)

This day's "hotel" (quotes very necessary) was absolutely terrible. It's called Hotel Restaurant des Lacs and I would absolutely advise you to stay away from it if you can. The price is outrageous at 77€ per night and the rooms are dirty. There was dust. There were spiders. The shower was so tiny even I could barely fit (I'm only 169cm y'all) and the shower curtain clung to me whenever I touched it (which was impossible not to do). The bed had the worst mattress I've ever endured. It kept my imprint for hours and... some say my hips are still immortalized in it. The blanket was a poor joke. The walls were full of weird stains and the heating pipes rusty. Aaand the (east-facing) window had no curtains or any other way to block out light.

So I didn't have the best night here and didn't even try their food after reading some reviews. I hurried out as soon as it was feasible (around 7 AM) and will never return.

~ end rant ~

Next week we'll be looking at Day 7 of the journey! It's the pen-penultimate entry. (Day 9 will be the last!) I hope you enjoyed the journey so far and come back for more in a week's time! In the meantime you can follow me on Instagram: @jimneyhikes

- Jimney