Month: August 2021

We woke early and got downstairs quickly (well quickly for us anyway). Despite a poor night sleep for me due to some flies and mosquitoes in the room, I felt pretty good after some coffee and bread and toast.

Day46 Morning Update

We left to another cool morning but it was significantly warmer at this lower altitude than it had been the last few mornings.

The sunrise was brilliant and colorful and lit up Mont Blanc like a beacon in the distance. As our host mentioned last evening Mont Blanc is the “cream on the top” of the summer alps.

The morning wove through small suburban villages and corn fields. But for the second straight day the path was mostly downhill so it went quickly.

Eating lunch today under a tree was relaxing but a bit cool with a coming wind. We feasted on grocery store salad and a pasta dish. You can only eat so many sandwiches.

Unfortunately most of the rest of the day was walking through the extensive suburbs of Lausanne. Walking into a city often means walking through industrial areas and poorly kept areas that are often trashy. The walk into Lausanne was no exception. Some of the time it was along a nice creek at least.

After a couple of hours into the city limits we decided to detour from the VF and cut off 5km. We wove our way through the city streets to our destination.

We booked the nights stay at the Jeunotel which is the city youth hostel. This place is huge and felt quite empty when we arrived. That soon changed however when bus-load after bus-load of teens (school kids) began arriving. The place is loud and hopping now.

We’d always intended to mail our tent and a few other items back from the last stop in France. That turned out to be Saturday however so that plan was scrapped. We did manage to get to the post office here in Lausanne however and that chore is done. So we’re officially tentless now. The bonus is that our packs are also lighter just in time for our Alpine crossing in a few days.

As part of our post office trip we negotiated the bus and underground metro services in town. I’m always a bit intimidated by bus lines for some reason. I’ve never had a bad experience, but even in London I tend to avoid them. I wonder why? The underground metro in town is the world’s steepest and moving from the train to the platform is disorienting for a second. Our chore completed we headed back to the hostel.

There is no kitchen here in Jeunotel, but they do offer a cheap meal. I think that will be our destination. The experience here will make up for living high-on-the-hog the last few nights. I’d take a picture but somehow I think an image of cafeteria food might not be worth posting.

Well, it’s time for bed now. The natives have settled a little bit. Wish us luck in sleeping!

This morning the alarm sounded at 5:30am and honestly I was already awake. We both share in the writing of this blog, but by that single statement, those that know us have already correctly guessed that this is Mark writing.

Morning Update Day44

We did the daily routine of dressing and packing as quietly as we could knowing that the other guests in the hotel would not yet be awake. Checking the forecast when we stepped outside it would be in the 40’sF (eat your heart out family in the sweltering south -haha) and Allison whipped out her gloves for the first time this trip.

From the start we knew this was going to be a “different” kind of day. For starters we were going to be entering SWITZERLAND! Yay! Secondly we were going to be going downhill most of the day. That was going to be odd.

Thirdly we literally had no idea where we were going to stop for the night – neither lodging nor even the town. South was our direction but we’d had no luck up to that point finding an opening or more accurately getting a response from people.

So we headed off knowing that we still had our tent if thing didn’t look promising by the early afternoon.

The first part of the day was spent walking through the last small ski villages in southern France. Grassy ski slopes were dotted about as well as hibernating ski school buildings and ski rental shops. This area must be hopping in the winter.

Then came the big event, we strolled down a nondescript street that became a cinder path and suddenly we came to the heavily armed and manned Swiss border full of tank traps, inspection stations, custom and immigration agents waiting to pounce on two unsuspecting pilgrims.

Crossing the border

Well, actually it was about the opposite of that. At the border was an informational placard telling the history of the border and two steles to mark the division of the two countries. Not a soul was around so we crossed the border unnoticed except by a cow in a nearby field.

Next we heard some chanting, or was it hollering, or perhaps? What we heard was hard to describe. A mans voice in the distance was repeating a tone loud and clear but irregular. Between phrases there was a banging noise that was rather harsh and unpleasant.

As we drew closer we began to suspect that this was no chant or holler, but rather a rhythmic call by a farmer to his cows. The banging noise was a wooden spoon on an old pail. This farmer was coaxing his herd out of the barn, down the street and into the field. He’d blocked our advance by a thin rope and of course the string of cows. As he passed he bid us welcome and bon marchez. Our only remaining obstacle was the large carpet of recently laid cow manure across the street. Folks, let’s just say, there was no way to avoid it.

Being in Switzerland took some getting used to. Gone were our familiar VF signs and the red and white stripe. In there place were a myriad of signs for various trails and paths all with times instead of distances posted. We did however find our path marker.

Emerging over a hill we were both surprised to see the outline of the Alps in front or us. “Surprised” is not really the best word. When I saw them I was both shocked and terrified at their size. A shiver literally ran down my back at the enormity of the range so clearly in front of us. It stopped me in my tracks.

After walking along a beautiful but steep revine following the river, we followed a cinder and hard packed clay path through forests that were peaceful and cool. Here we stopped for lunch and decided to get serious about a plan for tonight’s lodging. We tried a few numbers, again to no avail. We then noticed a posting for a farm guest house in the village of Dizy 2km off the prescribed path.

One quick call later and we’d nailed lodging, and dinner at a family farm. BINGO.

Our 28km walk for the day ended with a steeply downhill stretch just before the town of La Sarraz followed by a climb back up into Dizy.

The farm reminds Allison of her grandparents farm in PEI. The sell a lot of produce at a roadside stand in front of the house and of course they have cows. The house seems to be a revolving door of friends and family as well as farm hands.

Postscript: I don’t often brag about any one accommodation. Most have all been wonderful and our hosts have been awesome. But if you are in the area, you HAVE to take this small detour and make this Ferme (Gite de la Venoge) in Dizy stopping point. Great, and I really mean Great, home cooking.

Our night ended yesterday with a note from Gilbert. He hoped to see us again and I responded with an invitation to walk with us today. I woke to a message saying he’d love to join us.

So we woke and readied ourselves with breakfast and the usual packing. At 7am Gilbert arrived and away we went.

The trail was mostly flat and wooded and for a time followed an old rail line. Off the side of the path was a rare natural phenomenon that we likely would have passed by but at Gilbert’s suggestion we detoured off the path and down a steep grade to see an odd site. The trail led to a hollowed out rock gorge that resembled a sink hole. It is a geological oddity because of a play of hydraulic pressures and underground caverns and their interaction with a nearby stream. The water here actually flows in different directions depending on the rainfall. It was fascinating and beautiful.

Some way further along the path we came to a long dark creepy tunnel. No light came through so we stepped into the darkness. Fortunately as we progressed, automatic lights flickered on to show us the way. We made spooky music sounds in the echo chamber of the tunnel.

The region is renowned for its water sports in the mountains stream la Loue. Fishing and kayaking are very popular and we saw several campsites as well. You can understand this when you see the beautiful scenery.

We passed through the beautiful village of Ornans home to the famous painter Gustave Courbet. Courbet led the Realism movement of the 19th century made way for the Impressionist movement. He insisted on painting “only what he could see” and rejected the formal rules of the romanticism of the past generation. His pictures however are dark as was the end of his life – spent in exile in Switzerland.

The village however was picturesque, dotted with bridges and cottages at the riverside and framed with chateaux and the cliff faces of the mountains behind.

As we wound our way along the river we had great and extensive conversations with Gilbert. He would say I did all the talking and Allison all the listening. This will come as no surprise to those that know us. To be fair, Gilbert is a crest conversationalist as well and we heard many of his stories. We covered many subjects including physics, religion, politics, global warming, as well as our personal lives, etc. The kilometers flew by.

Gilbert left us at Vuillafans after walking a full 21km. He met us at the next village after retrieving his car and gave us a nice gift of bread and some local cheese. For his overwhelming kindness and generosity as well as spending so much time in meaningful conversation, Gilbert received a Key. Gilbert, I hope you will use the key I gave you to open that door we spoke about.

Most of the day was on level terrain, but as soon as Gilbert left us it turned steep. And after our second visit from Gilbert it turned steeper still. What a way to end the day.

We ended up on the gorgeous village of Mouthier-Haut-Pierre. We were unable to get in touch with the alberge so we’d made reservations at a hotel. When we arrived however there was no one there. Thumbs down to Hotels.com who have twice left me in the lurch with regard to hotels. I dare anyone to try and reach someone to help them. Very poor customer service.

After waiting about an hour a worker at the attached restaurant showed up and helped us get into the hotel and to our room. It has an amazing view.

What a day. I took so many pictures because of the gorgeous scenery. I hope you enjoy this sampling.

We ended the night with a very fancy dinner at the hotel. We really have to stop eating like this but last night we cooked a stir-fry for ourselves so I guess it is ok!

Rest days are a blessing and a curse. Our bodies and minds really appreciated the rest day, but starting up again sure is hard. You’d think with toned muscles and a nice rest that you’d be invigorated and ready to go, but the opposite is true – it is for us anyway.

Morning update Day41

The morning started our chilly and the streets of Besancon were all but deserted when we headed out early this morning. We were there shortly after the doors opened at the earliest rising bakery – pun intended.

But today all we wanted was some bread for our lunch. We had a steep start right off the bat, so we didn’t want to load up with food. There was a grocery in the town ahead that we’d be passing just about lunch time and we had been forewarned by our next host that we needed to bring dinner and breakfast with us.

Leaving Besancon my hip and feet were complaining right from the start and the thought of a climb was not exciting me. I think Allison was also hesitant. But as we walked along the River prior to the climb I couldn’t resist the beauty of the morning. It was cool and crisp. The Doub River was flowing swiftly and the sound was like heaven to me. Looking up, the Citadel towered above us. It seemed insurmountable, but we knew that’s exactly where we had to go.

We turned the corner away from the river and the climb came at us like a steam train. I honestly don’t recall my pack feeling as heavy as it did this morning. My hip groaned and my knee complained. A second later I looked up and Allison was a good 50m ahead and above me.

But as I warmed up and my body gave into the reality that play-time was over I started to feel better. Soon, in a clearing I was astounded to see that we were looking down at the Citadel. It looked so small and “ordinary” from that vantage point.

The rest of our day was like this. Steep climbs followed by long slow descents, slowly gaining altitude.

I am making this sound like a final day on Everest. In reality we’ve climbed steeper and more difficult climbs and more will come in the next weeks, but today was just unusually difficult for some reason.

About 2/3 the way in we stopped for a break. As we were sitting there Gilbert stopped to talk to us. He is just recently retired and loves to walk in the quiet of nature. Now here is someone who would love long distance hiking. He did say that the Camino Français is too crowded for him. So of course we had to tell him about the VF. He was amazed that this trail went right through his town. We said our goodbye and Gilbert continued on his way. Just before we were going to pack up, Gilbert comes jogging back to say he has a friend who might be willing to provide us lodging for the night. He called and left a message on their home answering machine basically saying an American couple would be calling them later.

Gilbert’s story – amazing generosity.

The trail had been primarily woods through the day. It was lovely. The shade and beauty of the forest is hard to beat. It made the remaining climbs more bearable.

We ended up staying with our original plan as we had a reservation and we were both just worn out. It is so difficult to get back into the groove. We marched up to the building to find a sign on the door saying to call a phone number upon arrival. So we did and not 5 minutes later a gentleman showed up and gave us the grand tour.

He spoke only French but spoke so slowly and deliberately for us that we grasped just about every word. He wasn’t satisfied however and had his grandson called over to make sure we were ok. When he found out that we’d tried to stop at the grocery the town away but that it was closed he immediately decided that he would drive us into the next town to get supplies. This was overwhelming.

We went crazy in the store buying supplies for a shrimp stir fry – something completely unlike what we’d been eating and something we’d never be able to carry in our packs. It was great.

The place we are staying in has quite a history. Inscribed in the wall is the date 1643. It was a smokehouse among other things and today is a gite and museum all in one. The alberge holds 16 folks and it feels odd to be the only ones here.

P.S. After we’d gotten settled at our lodging I received an email from Gilbert offering to come pick us up and offering us lodging for the night at his house. What an amazing experience this has been. Wow.

This morning started like many others…too early for my body. Haha ,at least the pleasant toll of church bells echos in the street, a sound that I actually enjoy.

Morning Update

After a breakfast of bread, yogurt, homemade jam, butter, fruit and, coffee and orange juice we headed out for the day along a country road.

Today we walked mostly on the road or farm tracks which are still used by all types of vehicles. Along the way we passed by an old tractor. Mark just had to take a picture. Take a peak at the following photo to see why.

One odd sighting we had was a huge group of deer assembled in someone’s field. Mark attempted to take a photo but we were just too far away. There must have been at least 40 deer huddled all together. I have never seen that before. And of course we saw many more cows.

Just prior to eating lunch we were greeted by a Bernese Mountain Dog who just leaned into Mark’s leg for some extra attention. His master was standing close by and the dog was very well behaved. As a matter of fact, all the dogs we have encountered here in France have been incredibly well behaved and trained. Whatever the standard training method is here, works.

Deciding where to stop for lunch is always a guessing game – one that we routinely get wrong. Today, we ate our lunch of tuna and bread and grape tomatoes on our handy tarp of a trash bag using a stone wall as back support. I know, so high class. It wasn’t a great spot and certainly not the most comfortable. But sure enough, after packing up and carting out our lunch trash, we shortly passed 2 benches in the shade. We certainly can pick our lunch spots.

As we wrapped up for the day we noticed the hills we’ve been encountering for the last few days are starting to grow. In the background the individual hills are merging to for chains. We are slowly approaching the Juras.

Our place of lodging today is in the little village of Buysey les Gy. And our hosts are Dominique and Dominic. I think we will both be able to remember their names. It is the little blessings in life that make your day, like the fact this place has a washing machine. I may have been a little too excited about that because I began our load of laundry before Mark was finished with his shower. Yes, that meant a slight lack of hot water. Sorry honey.

We joined our hosts for dinner and had some fun conversations. The daughter-in-law is an English teacher so we had some much welcomed help in our conversations. The family seems very close and it was a joy to be with them. Allison was particularly happy that the cheese course had two hard cheeses to choose from. This is a growing joke between us since I like all cheese but most in France (and there have been hundreds) have been “stinky” soft cheeses.

We started dinner with a scotch followed by a tomato and egg vinagrette, pate and bread. The next course was an avocado, carrot mixture. The entree was pork and scalloped potatoes followed by the cheese course. We ended with a caramel cake with peaches and then coffee. Can you say “satisfied”

Tomorrow we hit Besancon and have another scheduled rest day, our last in France.

A word about the Word of the Day

The feeling the morning after tent camping is an experience that anyone who has done it doesn’t need explained. You aren’t the MOST comfortable but you survived and the best thing to do is start moving.

So we packed up our tent, thankful that there’d been no dew fall so everything was dry. We had two crickets in our tent and we joked that we’d better be sure to get them out or we’d have chirping backpacks all day.

Morning update Day3

On the road again, we made our way into the little village of Grandchamp. Sometime in the last km’s a strange thing had happened. We crossed an imaginary line in France and the people just changed. We’ve had zero complaints about the hospitality of people in France. Oh sure, there was the odd sales person who was brisk, but in general we have been warmly received everywhere we’ve walked.

But in Grandchamp, as we were stopping to tie a shoe, I said Bonjour to a man sitting outside his home. We exchanged the normal pleasantries “Yes, we were pilgrims”, “we’re walking all the way to Rome”, “yes, it’s been a very rainy and cool August”, “You slept in the woods last night??” and then…..it happened….he asked us if we’d like a cup of tea or coffee. It struck me that this simple act of generosity was very genuine. Also…after camping a hot drink sounded lovely.

We obliged and sat for about 30min talking to him. Jean Pierre received a key for this simple act of kindness. He mentioned that, like in the United States, the south of France is known to be more opened hearted.

About an hour later we stopped to grab some nuts out of our packs at a cute little footbridge in the small creek (later to become a river) Salon. We watched as a bakery delivery truck stopped to make a delivery to the cottage next to us. It was interesting to see this truck through the morning so far as he distributed daily bread, pastry, and fruits through the village.

After the truck left, a gentleman from the cottage came over to us and …. offered us coffee. We had indeed crossed an invisible line of hospitality. This man, Jacques was a retired judge from Marseille. He was spending time in the country for a vacation with his 11yr old grandson.

So twice in our day we’d been randomly offered coffee. Perhaps we’re just looking more tired than usual, but I think it’s more.

Later in the day we had one more quirky encounter. We walked past a beautiful old waterwheel and peered through an open gate to take a photo. A shirtless 30 something man with a small sunflower in his long hair strode toward us asking if we needed help. Struck by his hippie appearance I glanced in the background to see several other tie-dyed adults hanging around. It turned out to be a 70’s themed birthday party. Groovy.

Finally we reached our destination for the night, the village of Champlitte.

Champlitte is special. It is the headquarters of the French and Swiss Via Francigena society. A young man, Jacques had agreed to meet us and had even asked if we’d be willing to have dinner with him. On our arrival, Jacques and his associate Vanessa met us outside our hostel.

Jacques is a Christian believer and directs the Francigena society in France (and Switzerland) went out of his way to act out his beliefs and help us on what was ostensibly his vacation day. He even took our truly filthy and smelly clothes and washed them at his house. Wow.

Jacques further treated us to a visit to the local castle which is now a museum of culture and art of the area throughout history.

We ended the evening by having dinner at a local restaurant which was fun. Inviting Jacques to eat with us was only fitting as he had done so much to assist us. Jacques received one of our keys. We even got to taste the local pear schnapps. How do you get a pear in a bottle? Wait, I know. Do you?

We are here. Today’s short day Langres to Chalindrey became a 22miler with a stop to Wild camp. Tomorrow Champlite. Safe and with water and food. All is well. More tomorrow.

This is all y’a get folks. Saving battery. Wild camping somewhere in the woods tonight.

More later…including the reasons why.

Luv ya all. We’re safe and happy.

Our morning began as others have. We woke, groaned as we got out of bed, packed, and headed off to our hosts table for breakfast. Here we were served bread (including a really yummy cranberry hazelnut loaf) with jam and honey and of course COFFEE!

We signed their book, received our stamps, and headed off for the morning. Our hostess saw us off and requested that we send her a post card when we arrive in Rome. I actually wrote that down on paper too so I will remember.

Since my ankle has been acting up the last couple of days, I decided to lightly wrap it. And that seemed to do the trick! Walking today was almost pain free!

Thank you to all who were sending up prayers and well wishes for me. Now Mark’s knee is starting to complain. I am thinking that our next rest day will be met with great enthusiasm.

Back to today’s events. You know the drill by now. We walked on the road and then mostly trails and fields today which was a welcome relief. After walking up some seriously steep inclines, we found ourselves on top of a reservoir. It was pretty spectacular. We ate lunch on a bench facing the water side after opting out of the first open restaurant we’d seen in days. It was a little fancy for two stinky pilgrims we decided.

We truly emptied out all our food supplies. We feasted on an avocado, split a little can of tuna in tomato sauce (mostly sauce), bread, and one fig each. Knowing we were heading to a large town where we could easily resupply made emptying out all our food less stressful. We have discovered that most of the towns we are traveling through do not have stores or food markets open either due to going out of business or being away for the summer. Yes, small grocery stores do actually shut down for the entire month of August in France.

Then we started climbing. Did I mention we began walking uphill? That pretty much sums up our afternoon. Sometimes steep, sometimes not but always up. Just before the endpoint we went steeply down for about 45min loosing all the hard work of the afternoon. Weep not for us dear friends. Our destination was a hilltop fortified town, and we got to recover all that altitude for a second time.

And then in the distance on top of a mountain was our stopping point. We were truly winded after finishing the climb into Langres. Entering a city through the Arc Gallo-Romain gate was impressive. Of course there are many other historic gates too, but I promise not to list them all. But for fellow history nerds, the city of Langres is worth researching or better yet visiting. It is one of the few cities untouched by recent wars.

Mark and I walked on top of the ramparts that surround the city and provide some spectacular views then we actually went shopping for food. After stocking up on food for dinner tonight, breakfast in the morning, and lunch tomorrow we headed over to the pharmacy for some assistance.

You all know about the tooth saga. Well, the super glue supply dried up. Obviously Mark needs some more but where to buy it in France is the question. We walked into the local pharmacy and apparently made the pharmacist’s day because she could not stop laughing. But she did point us to a store through her tears of laughter. Then Mark glued in his tooth and went back to show the pharmacist that it is possible to use super glue to temporarily replace a tooth. She now has a great story to tell at the end of her work day. She left us with the words “you are crazy”! This truism didn’t phase us….we’ve heard it before…often from some of you reading this vlog.

We hit triple milestones yesterday and today. At the end of today’s hike, we will have completed our first month of walking, We will have passed the 500mi mark, and sometime today or yesterday we passed the 1/3 mileage marker for our trip.

Our Day31 Morning Update

This morning was difficult to leave the Colombier. The atmosphere where you can chat with others on vacation is heart warming. The family that owned and or worked there was amazing in so many ways. I enjoyed the welcoming atmosphere that they naturally share with all their guests.

The Meteo forecast app that we use here in France said rain for most of the day. Every day we look at the forecast and the only part which seems to be accurate is the temperature. It did spit rain which made us practice our quick change into our rain gear. I am not sure why we look at the forecast, but we do so every morning.

The overall hike today consisted of lots of roads…tarmac, gravel, clay, dirt, and even some woodland trails (my personal favorite). Even though it was a short day in distance for us both, we were ready to stop after 27 kilometers. When you start singing Christmas songs to entertain yourself in August, it is time for some self care.

We did pass through a town with a largish amusement park. It was fun to hear the stereotypical scream of kids riding the roller coasters and other thrill rides as we walked past the park as hikers. No such thrills for us, but greater joy I think.

We ended the day deep-seated back in Champagne country, namely BarSurAube. This town was a hub of commerce and importance in the Middle Ages. It flourished in the trade of wine and was an important city in its day. Its oversized church of St Pierre to which our alberge is attached was a main pilgrimage spot.

For our part we are staying at the presbytery here in town. It is a pilgrim hospice (to add to the types of places we’ve stayed) and costs a set 10Euro per person. That’s about $12 per night per person. It’s not a full service hotel of course, but it is a bed and shower and kitchen. What more do you really need? Bruno went out of his way to help us get settled.

Our night ended with a champagne dinner and some funny food. We had a charcuterie board as an appetizer.

Allison had a steak for dinner. I went rogue and ordered something in the Fondue section. It turned out to be another charcuterie board – this time with a candle to soften the cheese. Funny experiences to remember. Of course the tiny tea lights did little to stave off the cool 15C temperature outside…it was a chilly dinner.

Looking forward, 10 of the next 11 days will be walking less than 17.5miles per day .   It’s odd to say that that is going to feel like a break.  As we walk out of the “desert” today,  the VF will rejoin us.  We will be hitting more populated villages and hopefully more open stores.  Unfortunately, today is Sunday.   So we will have to wait  one more day to see if that holds true.

Actually we were provided for very well by our host families,  and we never lacked for anything but cold water.  But passing open supermarkets and pharmacies will be comforting nonetheless.   Because of the spacing between villages,  we will end our day at a campsite (our third for this pilgrimage). 

Today started out cool,  but the temperature quickly rose as the sun climbed and pounded down on us. I found another use for my cotton bandanna since we ran out of sunscreen. I pinned the bandanna to my cap,  and it worked perfectly throughout the day.

We found a shady spot to stop for lunch. It is amazing the temperature difference in the shade here. I would imagine it is at least 15 to 20 degree difference in Fahrenheit. We enjoyed our sandwich and nuts and dried banana chips. Then we  began to contemplate how to refresh our food supplies realizing it is Sunday.

We decided that the largest town around was Brienne le Chateau (site of the military school where Napoleon was schooled). It was a total bust. 

We finished a hot day in the sun after totaling 18.1miles (more than intended due to a busted search for water and food in Brienne le Chateau. And everything is closed on Sunday in France apparently. But thanks to a kind young woman relaxing in her backyard with probably friends and family , who filled up our empty water bottles. That was physically and mentally refreshing.

We tiredly stumbled into the campground,  and we were promptly turned away.  They were full.   There were two campgrounds in the area.   We had one last chance.  The opposite of our somewhat rude dismissal at the first place, the second one initially said they were also full but quickly stated that for pilgrims they would find a place.  Indeed, they found us more than a tent site but an actual room with a double bed.  We were in end-of-day heaven. So no tent camping after all.

I so wanted to hug the gentleman who graciously found us a room. I highly recommend Colombier as a place to stay. They are so helpful, and the hospitality is beyond what is expected.

This is a family run business.  The oldest daughter actually sat and talked with us for some time.  They were a homeschool family (rare in Europe) and had travelled through the Middle East and Africa together as a family.  It was such a cool story.  see bostrotters.over-blog.com

Well, we ended the day with a dinner at the restaurant near the campground. This is a hoppin’ vacation area with lots of boaters and beach vacationers at the adjacent lake. 

Before we begin the day let me give a shout out to our hosts Brigitte and Jean-Claude Dulieu.  They fed us well, and we had a wonderful night of conversation.  We saw their pilgrim book of all those they have hosted,  and Brigitte received a Key.  This gift seemed to be very special to her and later we understood why.  Since the story is a private one, I won’t publish it here.   It was an important evening and I’m glad we came.

This morning starts Day2 of the Coole Valley ancient route.  It will be like yesterday except even straighter.

We left our host house with an escort. Brigitte insisted on walking us down to the boulangerie to get supplies for the day.  She then walked us onto the Roman road before heading back home.  It was a sweet gesture and gave us time to say our goodbyes. 

Speaking of Roman Roads…today was a heads down, plow forward kind of day.  We didn’t speak with anyone because there was no one with whom to speak.   We didn’t stop to visit anything for a similar reason.  This was pure left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot, right foot… for about 16.5miles. 

There was a breeze at our backs in the morning,  so we actually walked backwards for a bit to get refreshed.  But by the afternoon it was just still and hot and exposed.   We had an extended lunch in the shade and then plodded on toward our next host house in Donnement. 

To pass some time we listened to some music and two chapters of Oliver Twist.  In fact we ended the afternoon listening to our kids childhood favorite “We Sing Silly Songs” …. Ok… maybe it’s about time we got out of this desert.  Perhaps it’s making us a little crazy. 

We took our last swig of very warm water about 1/4mi before the end with some heart pounding John Phillips Sousa pushing us forward…Good timing. 

Our host for the night has a larger family than do I.   Not many people can say that.   This place has a bonus feature…an indoor family pool.

Dinner was so much fun. Our hosts had friends over, and he had a wood pizza/bread oven. We had homemade and home-fired pizza. In addition we had a homemade cherry wine and a walnut wine. The walnut wine tasted like a port. The wine and the conversation was fantastic.

Tomorrow we emerge from the “desert” to rejoin the VF and camp.

Hi everyone. This will be a short post because today was kind of a slog with little to see.  We knocked out about 17.4miles though.

I had trouble getting up this morning, not because I didn’t sleep well, but because I took a Benadryl before bedtime since our host had a few cats.  So I was unusually slow in getting ready. 

But our host had a breakfast of bread, butter and homemade jam ready for us with a bowl of coffee each. Yea, it seems to be a thing here in France to serve coffee in a medium size bowl. Hey, I’m not complaining, everyone knows I’m good for a nice size bowl of coffee. In fact I might start using a bowl when I get home.

We said our goodbyes and promptly left the beautiful vineyards for the flatter countryside with the typical corn and wheat fields.  It was sad to come back to this, but we are refreshed from our hills and woodland walks. 

When we were preparing for this trip, one word of caution was repeated by those who’d travelled before us.  “France goes on vacation in August”.  Honestly it hasn’t been a problem until today.  We’d been looking for a morning visit to a patisserie for our eclair fix, but every town seemed to be closed.  Bakeries – closed; Bars – closed; Cafes and Supermarkets – non-existent or closed. 

Several had signs in the windows saying some version of “We’ve gone on vacation – see ya in three weeks”.  Knowing how much local stores mean to a community and how much people rely on them – particularly the elderly – I wondered how they managed.

When we hit Conde sur la Marne, we re-joined the VF and travelled alongside the Canal Lateral a la Marne. Fifteen miles later our day ended. Well, that’s really pretty true. Walking along a canal is just like walking on a treadmill except that the scenery doesn’t change as much.

The only detour that the VF took was through Vraux and that ended up being a bad idea. I’ve mentioned before our skirmishes with mosquitoes. The recent wet weather has made the perfect stew for them.

Well, those skirmishes turned into all out war today. Normally the repellent has done a good job of keeping the away. Today’s battalions of mosquitoes seemed to feed off the stuff. We returned to the canal as soon as we could, pausing only briefly on a bridge over the canal that for some reason had enough of a breeze that the flying biters couldn’t catch our scent.

Here we had our lunch.  It was a repeat of yesterday, sans the avocado, demonstrating how short on supplies we’d be become.  In fact afer lunch, we had only a tiny wedge of fake cheese remaining.  We REALLY needed to find an open store. 

Two short things to end our day.

1).  We arrived at a supermarket that was within sight of our hotel for the night.  We did our provisioning using a shopping cart into which we promptly offloaded our backpacks.  At the checkout, the clerk looked at us oddly and rang up her manager.  They had us open and inspect our rucksacks before we could leave.  I suppose they felt we may have pilfered an extra box of cookies somewhere. 

2)  Our “hotel” for the night is a budget one. In fact, to say it is a hotel room is a gross exaggeration.  It is more like a closet with a shower, toilet, and sink.  The latter three are in such close proximity that you could literally (if one were so inclined) shower, pee, and brush your teeth in the proper place simultaneously.  If that room is more than a square meter in size I’d be surprised. 

But hey, we are safe, we are healthy and we are happy. What more is needed?

Last night we were the guests of Mme Tordeux-Bremand. She has looked after pilgrims for many years and was so kind to us during our stay. Her daughter Agnes was also visiting, and we enjoyed getting to know them both for a short while. Mme Tordeux-Bremmand received a key for her generosity to so many.

After a cooked breakfast and a wonderful cup of coffee, we set off with some hesitation after packing and not finding one sock each. They are likely folded up in some other cloths….well, we hope so anyway. Luckily, Reims is only 2 days away. There will be a chance to replace them, so it’s not too worrisome.

The descent from Laon was very steep, knee-straining steep. Luckily the descent wasn’t too long. Before long we were out into the country and heading south toward Rome again.

Our day ahead would be yet another 20miles. Honestly, we both admitted that we were in a good routine. Twenty miles was starting to feel normal. I know that sounds crazy, but your body does indeed get used to it.

We travelled through the village of Martigny with its cool Art Nouveau church built after the destruction of the city during WWI. The standing angels caught my attention as a beautiful detail.

After this, it was a beautiful wooded and hilly trail with the occasional ruins of an abbey nature preserve thrown in.

A short walk farther we stopped for lunch, and that’s when it happened! We started our usual routine of preparing a baguette for sandwiches. Today we were having sausage and cheese sandwiches with some applesauce and nuts to top it off. The baguette made, I took a big bite into that lovely crunchy baguette….and then this happened….

Well now for our day off in Reims on Tuesday, I hope to be sitting in a dentist office. Unfortunately, our Duolingo French lessons didn’t make it to “how to discuss dental repairs”. I’m going to be totally trusting Google Translate on this one folks.

The good news is that this is the tooth that I’d had a root canal on a few years ago. So there is no pain associated except for some rubbing on my upper lip. My French colleague from work Emmanuel is helping me find a suitable dentist in Reims. Thank you Emmanuel!

The rest of our day was relatively uneventful. After a broken tooth, even the cool deer encounter and short hail storm we walked through didn’t make it to the headline.

So now, we are resting at the lovely home of our hosts Jean Paul and Nadine Portet in Pontavert. He has a fantastic garden and also keeps bees. We are the first Americans that have stayed with them. “Apologies in Advance” to all future Americans for any damage we may do! 🙂

We loved talking to Nadine and Jean Paul through the afternoon. Nadine had told us over the phone that on Sunday she did no cooking, so she’d only be preparing some cheese and butter and bread etc. This was perfect for us since we really enjoy simple meals and had been craving something like home. Well, when we came down at dinner we were treated to a feast of eggs, ham, butter, bread, cheese, and from their garden: beans, potatoes, cucumber, and tomatoes. Oh Joy!!! To tomatoes from the garden, yum!!! It was so good. Exactly what we’d been missing. We were even treated to some ice cream with whipped cream after dinner.

What a way to end the day!

Sleeping last night in a pasture was so relaxing. Ok, it used to be a pasture but now the upper half is a building site of a new gite. I slept wonderfully! Mark…meh.

It is early morning again but what a beautiful place with all these rolling hills and a beautiful sunrise to greet us. We said goodbye to Bertaucourt and began our journey to Laon today. We found a place on the side of a path to enjoy our breakfast. It is amazing what satisfaction my growling stomach can receive from a chocolate pastry. The only way to elevate the experience would be to add coffee. Unfortunately, I had to use my imagination since no villages we travelled through today had any cafes.  Pretending my water tasted like a rich cup of coffee had to do for the day.

We mostly walked on well defined forest paths today. No bushwhacking our own paths today folks. And as I mentioned before, we love hills. Well, be careful what you ask for because all of a sudden today real hills with elevation appeared in our path and our climbing muscles went into shock.

Personally, we do love mountains.  Just the contrast from the flat open land would have been enough, but the joy of not knowing what is around the next corner is a thrill.

Our path took us along the Chemin du Abbeyes.  In a dark section of the woods, all of a sudden a large stone wall appeared.  A few hundred feet later we’d climbed to an overlook to view the abandoned Benedictine Abbey of Saint Nicolas.

After more beautiful woods walking, we stopped in a clearing next to some cows for lunch.  As we were eating, the owner of the field drove by with a fork lift carrying fencing.  We had a brief conversation, and he went about his work building a temporary corral.  Then with a call “la,.  la” and a tap of a bucket he was carrying, the cows came running. 

It was free entertainment for our luncheon. 

Soon enough after rounding a curve we spotted the clear outline of a cathedral on a hill up ahead.  When I say “up ahead” we are still taking about a 4hr walk away.  It was a sight to see!  I imagined medieval pilgrims being awe inspired by the sight. 

Just before we entered the city we passed a German WWI cemetery.  What a contrast the grey crosses made to the white marble headstones of the allied cemeteries we’d seen.  At the same time it began to rain lightly. 

Just as we were about to make the climb up to the city center, our heads hunched inside our rain gear, we heard an “Allo….Pelegrín…Pelegrín”.  A man (Guillian Herbecq) at his front gate heralded us and beckoned us to come over.  As it turns out, he and his three buddies will be attempting the walk from Laon next May.  He was happy to greet us, and he received a key for his pilgrimage.  We had our picture taken together. 

After saying our goodbyes, we again headed up the hill in the rain.  But moments later we heard a car behind us beeping.  It was Guilian.   He insisted on driving us up the hill and ended up giving us a quick driving tour of the city walls (beautiful views).  He even got us an early entry for the Gite in which we are staying tonight.  More about that tomorrow. 

The day ended with a tour of the Laon Cathedral and receipt of our stamp for the day. 

Our 32km day found us walking through more open fields and across the German Hindenburg Line into territory primarily controlled by the Germans for the greater part of WWI. In fact, our destination for the day, Peronne was itself part of that famous defensive work.

An early morning start.

Since we had a long way to go, we set the alarm early for 5:30am and began walking by 6:15. Making an early start is critical when hiking longer days.

We had the hotel make us some hard boiled eggs as a take-away for our breakfast, and we had purchased an eclair each…(ok, it was two each) as well. The air was crisp as we started off, and the blue skies were a refreshing change from the past week.

The early start however meant that whenever the trail went through overgrown areas we would get soaked with the dew saturated grass. This, as well as a way to avoid the ever present nettles, is another great use of waterproof pants.

Our feet, however, became soaked in just a matter of minutes. The high grasses and weeds were still nice and wet from dew and rain the previous evening. Not even waterproof shoes are immune to the amount of water we trudged through. But you continue on because that is what pilgrims do.

We once again saw no other pilgrims which is not surprising on this part of the VF. Our feet hit the pavement in anticipation.

At Rocquigny the church and village were destroyed as part of the Hindenburg line of WWI. After the war ended, a church was built. The style is unique. It is now considered a transitional architectural style. Unfortunately, the construction was sub-par and the building itself was falling apart. So much so that in 2000-something it was scheduled for demolition. I’m glad it was saved. I found it pretty cool. It looks like it was supposed to represent a church steeple damaged by war. Well, that’s what I saw in it. Just before arriving in Peronne, we left Pays du Calais and entered the Somme department. Tomorrow we will leave the Somme and enter the Aise.

We stopped at Perrone for the day after calling and reserving a donativo to stay near the city center. Actually we arrived a little earlier than expected, so our hosts were not home. We called and told them we had arrived and would be in town having a cold drink. Our two hosts showed up personally to chat and provide us with the key and instructions. Somehow we communicated with our poor French and their small grasp of English. I am thankful for patience and see God working in my weakness.

Mark pulled another mark-ism by asking if we were to stay at the “casa Blanche” mixing Spanish and French. Honestly, I don’t know what I’m going to to with that man! Haha.

Remember dinner last night…that fancy feast we had? Well, we’re making up for it tonight with a microwave pizza. You can’t live high all the time.

Tomorrow and for the next two days we have some slogging to do. Our goal is to camp tomorrow night, with another 20mi day the following day and near Laon the day after. That’s aggressive, and we’re both ok if it doesn’t work. But this section is a little sparse of things to do and see and places to stay.

Actually today’s 26.7km was from Amettes to Villers-Chatel, but you won’t believe the ending of today’s story.

Honestly today’s walk wasn’t hard, but it had its moments. We awoke to a checkered forecast of 80% chance of rain, and it was quite cool. So, we once again battened down the hatches on our bags.

• Electronics in waterproof bags – check
• Phone in plastic zip lock – check
• Waterproof pants and socks on – check
• Rain jacket covering it all – check

Before heading out, we joined our hosts and enjoyed our “simple” country breakfast of prosciutto, croissants, toast, 4 homemade jams, yoghurt, juice, apples, bananas cheese, butter, cream cheese, coffee and tea….and leftover apple tart from dinner. Regarding the tart, we were told we had to finish it before leaving. Yes madame!

Allison and I took turns rolling each other out of the breakfast room to collect our packs – and we were off. As we walked out of town, the many signs reminded us of the importance of Saint Beniot Joseph Labre to the village of Amettes. More about him is included the History Bits tab.

The morning was cool and grey, but we were happy to find that the French weather forecasters are no more accurate than our own. It misted a few times and threatened to downpour more than once. But other than a two minute torrent we stayed dry.

After taking several pictures, I noticed I only had about three minutes of recording time left on our SD Card #2. So I took the opportunity to interview both of us…(yes, I interviewed myself). I asked a series of questions that I would repeat on several other occasions along our journey.

Soon after that video was shot, the clouds broke and the day ended in sunshine. It actually got a little hot. We walked primarily on roads today because, shortly after heading out of the village of Amettes, we had broken away from the “official” route. We took a detour toward our intended destination.

All along this portion of France we’ve been seeing private chapels. These simple structures sometimes have a small worship space large enough for one or two people. Sometimes they are exterior altars only. They are quite interesting and varied; some are plain and some ornate.

Since I was wayfinding using my GPS app (Gaia), we walked mostly on tarmac. The “official” route likely included more fields. Tarmac is hard on the feet, but it does allow you to go quite fast. We were booking! We ended up averaging 4.8km/hr over the whole day. That’s just under 3mph over 16mi. That’s a fast average for us carrying loaded backpacks, But we were not intentionally trying to go fast. Those of you that don’t know us should understand that Allison and I are both a little competitive. As a result, we often find our pace quickening as one unconsciously tries to get ahead of the other. Normally Allison wins.

Speeding along didn’t stop us from meeting this exuberant man, Maurice Johnson. He was joking around with us about the approaching rain. He insisted we approach St Peter’s square on our knees and whisper to Pope Francis that “Maurice is a good man”. Haha

We reached the village of LaComte and stopped at a bench to eat our chicken salad sandwiches for lunch. A short way down the street from our bench was a sign that I could almost read. It looked like it said Hobbit Town. I was sure that I was not reading it correctly, but the font was quite Tolkien-esque. So I walked over to read it.

Sure enough, the village of La Comte claims Hobbits to be real and to be their ancestral home. I couldn’t understand all the words but there was an old map, c 1400’s with Hobbitebourg clearly marked just adjacent to La Comte. Hmmm.

Ok…now for the grand finale. Why did we divert off the formal Via today? Well, we’d heard about this special donativo run by Jean (John) and Maria, two fellow pilgrims. They’ve actually done the pilgrimage to Rome as well as a bucket-list item of mine, Rome to Jerusalem. Oh…and their donativo just so happens to be in a nice house…ok…it’s a chateau.

It is crazy, but this is where we are staying and being fed tonight…for a donation.

Our dinner was such fun and mostly came from their own garden. We had a cantaloupe as a starter followed by zucchini, roast potatoes, and omelets. Next was a course of 5 cheeses, and finally a lemon meringue tart. The conversation was almost exclusively in French for the second night in a row but I pretty much caught only words and a phrase or two. Allison did much better.

After dinner we browsed through their book of photos from their pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Dominiq was with us again for another but final night.

Well, that’s it for today. Anything I can add now would be anti-climactic. So au revoir and good night.