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Velomagg in Montepellier (34 Herault, Languedoc-Roussillon) is another of the growing number of city bike hire schemes which have blossomed throughout France - and which potentially offer a different way of visiting many of France’s cities. It has also given employment to those creative people who dream up catchy logos and names for such schemes!

It all started in Paris with the Velib’ Scheme - an amalgam of Velo (cycle) and Liberte (free), which has been a tremendous success.

Vélib’ is a Self Service “bike hire” system available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Multi pick up and drop off location allows you to pick up your bike from one service point and drop off to another.

You need to subscribe, but for visitors there are 1-day and 7-day subscriptions and after the first 30 minutes you pay by the half-hour - e.g. a 90-minute hire will cost just €3 and you can pick up and drop off your bike at any of the hundreds of self-service stations across the city.

The Velib’ scheme has been based on a similar scheme VeloV in Lyon (69 Rhone, Rhone-Alpes) France’s second city. The combination of these eco-friendly and fitness focussed schemes is now spreading throughout France:-
VeloCite in Mulhouse (68 Haut-Rhin, Alsace) and Besancon (25 Doubs, Franche-Comté)
Vhello in Aix-en-Provence (13 Bouches-du-Rhone, Provence)
Le Velo in Marseille (13 Bouches-du-Rhone, Provence)
Velo in Toulouse (34 Haut Garonne, Midi-Pyrenees)
Nantes (44 Loire-Atlantique, Val de Loire)
Rouen (76 Seine Maritime, Normandy)
Bordeaux (33 Gironde, Aquitaine)
Velostan in Nancy (54 Meurthe et Moselle, Lorraine)
Velo+ in Orleans (45 Loiret, Centre)
Velomagg in Montpellier (34 Herault, Languedoc-Roussillon)

This is clearly a popular scheme, mainly aimed at local residents but may also offer a different way of seeing some of France’s major cities from a different perspective. However, I would recommend choosing a city with good cycle lanes and paths - you do get the impression that traffic in many of France’s cities is not very forgiving with errant cyclists - so do not try cycling around the rond-point of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris!!

Inevitably there are some urban myths developing - such as the fact that there are always plenty of bikes at the bottom of the Butte de Montmartre, but none at the top - for obvious reasons. And you can get caught out in busy locations if you cannot find an empty slot in which to return your bike!

Over at Spittoonextra.biz there are these great photos and article on this cheese from Jura close to the Swiss border.. It is a raw cows’ milk cheese (ie. Vacherin from “vache” the French for “cow”) and it is an Appellation Controllee cheese with quite strict rules - namely that the fresh milk must be got to the dairy every day; it may only be coagulated (thickened) with rennet; no artificial rapid heating;and the wrapping in a strap of spruce wood and the wooden box are a requirement (as well as a marketing ploy I suspect!). The wooden box is quite important as the cheese will continue to mature once it has left the dairy.
He should of course have looked to match it with a local wine such as Cotes de Jura, where a grape called the Savignin is used. No relation to Sauvignon, it is thought to come from Austria. It produces bone dry quite aromatic wines, which would cut well against the creaminess of the Vacherin. Savignin is also used for the famous Vin Jaune (Yellow Wine) of the Jura.

Click here to read Spittoonextra’s posting

My main worry about the cheese though is that it looks as though an ordinary knife or cheese knife will not do - going by the picture you need more of an old chisel that’s been languishing in the workshop - although it is a soft cheese - maybe the rind gets a bit tough!

Not far away is a good English run B&B in the village of Sens-sur-Seille (71 Saone-et-Loire, Burgundy) -see their website at www.bandb-burgundy.com

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Keywords: France,wine,cheese,vacherin,doubs,jura