on a bike-canoe, penniless with his chicken, he has been crisscrossing France for five years

Felix Billey is a lover of freedom. Since 2019, the young man from Besançon (Doubs) has been traveling the roads of France with his bicycle-canoe and his small hand-built caravan.

He let himself be carried away by a childhood dream. In 2019, while returning to his parents’ house, Felix Billey realized that he did not have his keys. His parents are on vacation for a week. He then decides to go on the road for a few days with a bike-canoe and the start of a caravan under construction… Five and a half years later, the Bisontin is still roaming.

“I left when I finished my studies, before starting to work. I said to myself, come on, I’m going to experience leaving with nothing and then I’m going to find out what I need”, testifies the young man, now 30 years old.

I still don’t know where I’m going and that suits me just fine.

Starting from Besançon in the Doubs, Felix began by following the Doubs, then went to Maçon (Saône-et-Loire), Lyon (Rhône), then to the Jura, the Vosges, Switzerland and the French Alps. “Then I went down to Drome, Ardèche, Haute-Loire and Lozère,” he lists. Currently, it is on the banks of the Loire. “I make lots of twists and turns. It takes me time”.

Felix lives on zero euros per month. “To eat, I get invited or people give me basic things,” he delivers. The thirty-year-old doesn’t ask, people give to him spontaneously. With his boat, he easily creates a bond: “It allows me to move forward and get into the water, but above all it’s an “ice breaker”. It’s what means that somewhere, I live without money. My credit card is my canoe bike is my social network and I even have to hide to be left alone.”.

The young man nevertheless eats in a fairly basic way. “I try to have a base: rice, pasta, cereal. Afterwards, I do a little gathering, fishing and my hen makes me an egg.”. When he doesn’t meet anyone, Felix has to get creative. “The search for plants takes on its full meaning. And during Covid, I was picking up supermarket trash”.

Our colleagues from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes met him this summer.

Through the meetings, Felix was able to improve his house. People marvel when they see him pass by and share planning tips with him. “It makes me encounter the crazy side of people who share their ideas with me,” he delivers. Three years ago, during a meeting with several craftsmen in a village, he succeeded in making his caravan floating. “There’s nothing useful about it, but if we stop at the useful, life is dull and monotonous,” argument-t-il.

This bike-canoe is a dream, I let myself be carried away by my dream and it wakes up the dreamers. When they help me, it can come out.

June 2019. Felix was passing through his town of Besançon.

Building your house means developing yourself, for Felix. “I build my house, my way of thinking. I build myself along the way through struggles and encounters”. When it is cold, the Bisontin moves less. For him, this season is favorable to introspection. “You shouldn’t be afraid of boredom, of loneliness, so it encourages you to use your imagination. It’s not pleasant at the time, but it allows you to digest things better.” he emphasizes.

After a year of homelessness, Felix meets a peasant who offers to give him a chicken. “And so, I left with her. I had to make her a cage because she was being attacked,” he says. Thanks to this funny companion, whom he named Chépa 1, Felix always has eggs.

“It’s quite funny, it changes the trip. I always say that I live while traveling and the chicken reminds me of that,” he emphasizes. With his animal, the young man cannot move for too long. “Otherwise, she sings and you have to settle down. It’s my way of living and when I stop somewhere, I’m in my garden”.

It’s a company. She has her habits, it’s very familiar. She stays near the trailer.

A year and a half ago, Felix met people who owned chickens and roosters. His hen, Chépa 1, mated with a rooster. She gave birth to a chick and then unfortunately was eaten by a fox. The young man therefore left with the chick, Chépa 2, who is today the new hen!

The trip is not Félix’s primary objective. “The goal is not movement. I can stay a month in the same place, if I feel good there, it’s completely normal”. With his bike-canoe and his caravan, the young man can both move around and relax. “It’s heavy for a bike, but for a house, it’s very light and very fast”.

When he manages to get his vehicle and his house safe, he visits his relatives for Christmas or other occasions. “Sometimes, they are the ones who come to see me. I don’t try to cut myself off from others”.

Felix still doesn’t know for how long he will continue to live like this. “It may stop overnight, or not.” he thinks. The young man lives day by day. He does not set any objectives: “The goal is not to make it last”. As long as he feels good, Felix will continue.