Dijon, Champangnole, Genevé

Dijon was a truly fantastic experience; firstly my thanks must go to Rosa and Maja, as without their generosity and hospitality (and that of the many others I have encountered on my journey thus far) my trip would not be possible.
I spent the first day and a half resting in Dijon but shortly after was introduced, by Rosa, to Willy the owner of a local vegetarian Indian restaurant “Le Shanti” in the southern part of town. We arranged that I would come back and set up my couch-cycle in the bar the that evening, Willy also mentioned that I should speak with the massage therapist and pioneer Joel Saratovski. That night I made contact with Mr.Saratovski’s school and the following afternoon went in to demonstrate how the couch-cycle works.
The bike was well received in “Le Shanti” with about 6 -8 people enjoying a massage that evening. I was bought dinner and taken out for a second dinner by my hosts and some of their lovely friends, yes two dinners. At the end of the evening, much to my embarrassment, the girls managed to pay for dinner without me noticing. Friday morning came and time to say farewell to Rosa and Maja, they were truly amazing hosts and I was sad to have journey on.
The next morning, I shared breakfast with the charismatic Joel. We spoke about massage as a cultural phenomenon and he mentioned how he thought that if everyone gave and received massage regularly there would be no war and a great leave of social consciousness; to which I agreed.
After breakfast we made our way around the corner and through a door, I was unsure what to expect but as Joel opened it I was greeted by applause. A little knocked back by this response I began to set up the bike in front of the twenty or so massage students. The session began with me massaging Joel then him trying the couch-cycle for himself, he was reassuringly, playful with the couch trying different positions and appeared impressed by the way in which the couch performed. After this some the other teachers and students tried both being massaged on the couch and massaging with it themselves. The session concluded after a few jokes from Joel, one on the proximity of the front wheel to his nether regions when attempting to massage from the front of the bike, and requesting someone get him a stool in order for him to work on my shoulders and neck. I was then asked if I would like to receive a hand massage from both one of the students and one of the teachers, which I can say was excellent.
Early that afternoon I set off and began my 115km cycle, which I surprisingly managed to complete in 6 hours with a generous 45mins of breaks. I arrived in Champagnole, and feeling chuffed I bought some bears and made my way to the central park where I met 3 locals. After a few hours in the park I made my way down to the small village of Syam where I would be staying with Souad and her husband. A couple of glasses of wine and a hearty chicken pasta dinner later, I climbed in to bed for a well-earned sleep.
In the morning after saying goodbye I found myself with my biggest challenge yet, climbing up to Les Rosses. An ascent of 1,200m over 40 gruelling kilometres awaited me, after which I would descend 700 meters in an astonishing 30 minutes, as a result I arrived in Geneve by 4:30pm several hours before I thought I would. Geneve was great fun and I had a huge amount to do with my host Mickeal and his friends. My couch-surfing friend showed me the highlights of the city, from “Rouse”, a fantastic club on the riverfront, to showing me the best places to swim in the lake. He also showed me where in the main park I could do massage.
After giving me an amazing Moroccan feast Mickael recited an inspirational tarot reading which, after two truly extraordinary days, set me up to make my way back in to France, and back to the mountains.