On day three Roland had to return home and left me in France. I continued my trek in direction of Contrexeville, close to where the famous french table water Vittel comes from. It was a torching hot day with little shadow and 36 kilometres ahead, leading me to stretching the borders of my mental and physical abilities.
Found a private castle with pretty french vintage cars lined up
Arrived at a beautiful B&B in Contrexeville and a Pizza place at the spa.
Day four had a forest hike, a trail that wasn't and a creepy place in store for me.
If it weren't for the way markers...
Halfway (view) point, just another 15 klicks to go.
Arrival at Bourbonne, found a nice affordable hotel and served myself typical french food for dinner: cheese, sausage, olives, baguette and fruit with a glass of wine.
On day five I asked myself: Why am I doing this? A hot walk mostly on tarmac. But the people in this region are awesome. Got a lot of motivational words, fruit and refreshments without even asking for it.
I can see my finish line. On top of the hill lies the village of Varennes sur Amance where I will stay in a hospice dedicated to pilgrims. They don't charge for the night but a donation is expected. I was welcomed with homemade apple juice.
Dinner and breakfast:
Day six: Just another 30 klicks to go... along big and small places of worship, fields and meadows, roads and forest trails.
There is a trail... somewhere in there
Fountain and 'laundromat'
Lake / reservoir Liez managing the water levels of the water channel of the rivers Marne and Saone, a very advanced technology and architectural wonder from the 18th and 19th century building a waterway between Paris and the Mediterranean Sea.
At the crossroads of the Via Francigena to Rome and The Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela in Langres, my terminus for this section hike.
Langres in sight
Lake Liez - now in the far, it had been a long way up...
The city of Langres, founded by a Gallo-Roman tribe around the 1st century, and crossroads of twelve Roman roads had been a prospering center of religious movement in the middle ages.
Another hospice for a donation and a usual french style meal.
180 kilometers in 6 days is not too shabby given that I had a bum knee, now on my way home on day seven, a 9 hour train ride with 5 changeovers.
My way of St. James until now:
Obwohl es für mich fast unvorstellbar ist, dass man das Wetter als 'zu heiss' empfinden kann. Die 36 km sind bemerkenswert, soviel habe ich glaubs noch nie geschafft. Gerne bin ich auf deinen sonnigen Pfaden virtuell mitgewandert. Und wenn ich an deine vorherigen Touren im Regen zurückdenke, sonnig kommt schon viel attraktiver rüber.
ReplyDeleteGratulation zu deinen 180km, das ist doch schon mal eine respektable Teilstrecke!
LG Werner
Danke, lieber Werner! Die Hitze war gar nicht mal so das Problem, aber die Luftfeuchtigkeit. Nicht nur, dass man schon im Stehen ins Schwitzen kommt, es zieht auch all die blutsaugenden Viecher wie Mücken, Zecken und Bremsen an. Ich kann aber inzwischen bei jedem Wetter, ob 5 Grad und Regen oder 35 Grad und sengende Sonne um die 30 km machen, solange die Knie nicht versagen... diese sind sozusagen meine Achillesferse ;-) LG SonjaM
Deletegreat pics as usual...re the creepy place, it was definitely not a place to linger. I've seen camp spots with such dilapidated "dwellings" in my travels and I of course started hearing banjos or the hairs in back of next stand up. I move swiftly on to someplace else.
ReplyDeleteDom, It looks like something out of a Stephen King horror scenario, and there was a lingering smell of decay. I guess that hunters or poachers use this old waggon. Cheers, SonjaM
DeleteThat is quite the hike! And wonderful scenery. I think I’d take the walk through the woods over tarmac any day. What made it “spooky”?
ReplyDeleteRichard, the spooky effect was that all windows were barred like a prison waggon, and there was a disgusting mix of decay,, mold and rust emanating from there. Cheers, SonjaM
DeleteWOW, beeindruckend. Ich stelle mir gerade vor, wie herrlich es sein muss, mal ein ganzes Jahr lang einfach nur ohne Ziel zu wandern. Wohin der Wind einen hintreibt. Mal bleiben, mal direkt weiter gehen ... und vielleicht auch über das Jahr hinaus.
ReplyDeleteIch bin schon froh, wenn ich mal 1-2 Wochen am Stück für mich wandern kann. Familiäre Verpflichtungen lassen sich leider nicht immer ganz ausblenden.
Deletewow! 180km, was fuer eine Strecke in so kurzer Zeit. Die Fotos sind sehr, sehr schoen, obwohl ich bei der Hitze wohl nur irgendwo im Schatten gelegen haette (mit dem Baguette etc neben mir).
ReplyDeleteIch war selbst überrascht über die Kilometerleistung, aber das Terrain war einfach und die Tage lang. Viele kleine Pausen unterwegs und genügend trinken helfen da. Zudem hat mich einfach der Wunsch nach einer Dusche am Abend voran getrieben. Die Füße haben trotz Hitze wunderbar durchgehalten.
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