Pilgrimage from Besancon to Ornans 01/07/07

It was another late start today…

Dan and I were still recovering from our big Friday night so we were quite happy to be moving slowly.

It wasn’t until around noon that we finally started out of the city but within a couple of kms we thought we better stop for lunch. At 14:00 we started proper. We thought we had 33kms to walk till Ornans, which is where we wanted to spend the night, so it wasn’t looking like we would make it.

After 9kms we saw a sign to Ornans which read “15kms”. Checking our maps we were extremely happy to realize we had miscalculated and that we did in fact only have another few hours walking ahead of us.

It has been good having someone to talk to again. I was starting to go a little crazy walking by myself ;)

Ornans is a wonderful little town with the feeling of being a summer holiday hotspot.

We rocked in at 8pm and Dan decided to get a beer….Yes, only Dan :) After an hour of lounging round we then headed out of town to find a campsite.

We thought it would be quite easy to find a suitable place along one of the many walking tracks in the area but of course we were mistaken. There was nothing other than thick forest or paddocks full of cows. We were soon running out of daylight and to make it worse it was just starting to rain.

Right on dark we found a patch of plantation pines and setup there. They offered us just enough cover to get the tents up without getting too wet.

Besancon 30/06/07

Today was a complete write-off!

The only reason I got out of bed at all was because the reception kept on calling me to pay for another night. It didn’t help that I kept saying “ill be right down” and then I would roll over and go back to sleep :)

So at around 2pm I finally dragged myself down to the reception and figured while I was up I better get to the supermarket to get some food. It will be Sunday tomorrow so if I miss the shops I will probably starve to death in the hills.

I then decided to get another couple of hours sleep and at about 18:30 started getting hungry. Dan was only just arising himself so we went to get pizza.

Being Saturday night we knew that we should really go out and party again but neither of us was up to it. I figured that if we didn’t party once in a blue moon that would be OK. Luckily for us tonight is a blue moon :) After a couple of glasses of red wine it was back to bed for an early night.

Renee has decided that every full moon she will say a prayer and send me out some good vibes. It was really nice to know that while I was lying in bed looking out the window someone was sending me some good energy. Thanks lil p :)

Pilgrimage from Oiselay-Et-Grachaux to Besancon 29/06/07

I woke up to my alarm at 05:30 but it was freezing cold and my legs were still hurting. There was no way I was getting up yet!

I ended up sleeping till around 9am and then, knowing that I wasn’t going to make it to Besancon before lunch anyway, I took my time packing up and leaving.

It’s funny…I wanted to grab a cup of coffee but the first two towns I got to only sold food!!! I couldn’t believe it!

I ended up finding a coffee at a hotel in Cussey-Sur-L’Ognon. The owners were extremely friendly and said that they quite regularly get pilgrims coming to stay. They also showed me a route to take to Besancon that would keep me off the main roads.

Following their advice I was soon within the suburbs. Besancon is quite a big city and it took me almost an hour to find the city centre. Dan must have been tuned in because he called just as I was arriving. It ended up that he was only five minutes down the road.

We decided to go grab a beer (my first in about 4 days!), and then went back to the hostel. His foot seems to have healed fine and he is in much better spirits.

Being Friday night we figured we had to go out and party so after a few pubs we ended up getting extremely shitfaced at one of the local dance clubs. It was great!

I didn’t get home till around 5am…

Pilgrimage from Grenant to Oiselay-Et-Grachaux 28/06/07

Noel had to leave for work at 06:00 so it was a 05:30 wake up call. He made me a wonderful breakfast but since he didn’t speak any English the conversation was quite limited.

I was in great spirits as I started walking and managed to get about 10kms before having my first rest. I wanted to get within about 20-25kms of Besancon so I could arrive there by Friday lunchtime. This would give me time to track down Dan.

When I left Grenant I was under the impression that Besancon was only about 60kms away. This meant that I was planning to walk 35-40kms today.

While I was having my rest I started calculating the kilometres on my map. Every time I did Besancon was getting farther and farther away :( It ended up being about 80kms from Grenant! Lucky I had an early start. I was now looking at walking 55-60kms…

I tried to make 30kms before lunch but it wasn’t to be. At 26kms my legs said enough, so I set up for a picnic lunch. I was soon fast asleep and woke up freezing cold. Putting my thermals on and jumping into my sleeping bag soon fixed that problem and I ended up sleeping there for 3 hours.

It is strange though…here I was, the middle of a summer day in the South of France, wearing thermals and wrapped in my sleeping bag. Something was just not right!

When I started going again my walking legs had done the runner, so I was left to hobble. I started getting blisters and it wasn’t looking like I was going to make the 55km mark.

Another 5kms on and my legs came good again. This was a relief. I still had plenty of time so I rested a lot and ended up walking around 56kms.

I found an empty paddock at 22:00 and collapsed! I was buggered!

Pilgrimage from Rolampont to Grenant 27/06/07

Today was what being a pilgrim is all about. It was great!!!

I woke up at 6am to the sound of rain so I rolled over and went back to sleep. When I awoke again at 9am the rain had stopped so I set off by 09:30. It was only 10kms to Langes so I was still confident I could make it there before the shops shut at noon. I needed to get a map.

I had a pleasant stroll down the canal and made it to the city limits by 11:10. Once again the city was built on a hill so from here it was straight up. My stroll suddenly wasn’t so pleasant :) Upon reaching the top I was faced with an impenetrable wall between me and the city centre. The only entrance I could see was being repaired and was blocked off. Not knowing whether to go right or left I took a guess and unfortunately ended up going back downhill. It did however lead me to another entrance so it was another hard slog back up to the city. I made it just in time, managing to find a shop selling maps right on noon. I then had a quick look around. Langes is a cool little town.

From here it was another pleasant walk through the forest. It kept threatening to rain but luckily it was holding off. I got another 25kms before coming around a corner I spotted Grenant bathed in a pool of sunshine.

The town was picturesque and was emanating good vibes. I had a feeling someone was going to offer me a place to stay so I thought I would head to the church and see if I could find the priest.

I didn’t even get that far. About 50m into town a group of guys spotted me and came out to see what I was up to. They couldn’t speak any English but were extremely friendly and before long I had half the village around listening to my story. Luckily one of the women there was a retired English teacher so she acted as my translator.

Then showing great hospitality I was invited in for cherry pie and wine. It wasn’t long before I had offers of a shower and a bed as well. What a great town! Thank you all :)

Noel was the man whose house I stayed at. His family was away for the night so I got a room to myself and an extremely comfy bed. Pilgrim heaven!

Pilgrimage from Chaumont to Rolampont 26/06/07

I was wrong!!!

Not only did it bucket down last night but it was windy as well. I didn’t pack all my stuff up last night as I was a bit lazy so most things are soaked! Luckily I was not silly enough to leave any electronics out so there was no real damage done. I still wasn’t very happy though.

We left the camp ground pretty late as I had tried to make an attempt to dry my stuff out. It didn’t work…

As we left we met a cool Kiwi couple who were touring around Europe in a van, we decided to do lunch. Of course there was no better place we could think of than McDonalds.

The girl was a nurse and hearing of Dan’s rotting foot, much to Dan’s dismay ;) , told him he should not walk on it for a few days to dry it out. So he will train it about 120kms down the road to Besancon.

I figured that before I started walking I needed to dry some stuff out so I headed to the laundry mat. I made a bit of a scene as I spread shit out everywhere but the best thing was when I put my shoes in the dryer. Everyone thought I was mad but luckily I had checked with the owner before and she didn’t mind :)

I was also sick of walking hungry so I stocked up on food from the super market. The extra weight wasn’t nice but it beat being hungry.

The walk was great. I was back along the canal and the rain had mostly stopped. I made about 30kms before once again finding a motorway bridge. Thinking that a bit of noise was worth it in exchange for staying dry I camped there.

Pilgrimage from Mussy-S-Marne to Chaumont 25/06/07

I was awoken at 5am this morning by cars whizzing by about a feet away from my head. It appears that this small little road isn’t so quiet in the mornings. I also didn’t get much sleep as the trucks above make a real racket and I think someone had to change their tyre above me.

I got going around 05:30 and made it to the first town at 07:00. Just in time for the bar to open but surprise surprise, no food :( The bakery was also having a day off so I had to survive on a Snickers for breakfast.

It was still about 15kms to Chaumont, the next big town, so I was really hoping one of the towns in between would be able to supply me with some nourishment. I only ate a single kebab yesterday as well…

It was not looking good. I was still about 4kms out of Chaumont and I felt like I was going to pass out. My body was aching, I was tired, and I felt like I was about to throw up my only source of energy, the Snickers I ate for breakfast.

And then it started to rain. It pissed down! The only good thing about it was it took my mind off vomiting :) And then to really top it off, the last 1km into town was straight up hill!!!

So as you can imagine, by the time I got into town I was a wreck. The first place I spotted with food was a bakery and I went and stuffed myself. It was great!

The food warmed me up a bit, which was well needed as it was freezing! I wasn’t expecting it to get this cold here in the summer.

Then I went to town to try to find an internet café. The whole place was deserted! It didn’t take me long to realize that they had had a festival the night before. I asked one of the only shops that were open what was going on and the shop keeper explained that because of the big party last night most of the shops wouldn’t open.

After finding a hotel which was kind enough to let me use their internet I went to try to find Dan. There was a caravan park on the edge of town so I thought that would be a good place to start. It was a good guess. He was just setting up as I arrived.

Dan’s toe is rotting away because of spending too much time walking in the rain so he trained it the last 25kms. It’s not looking so good for him…

I figured because I hadn’t been eating much I should go and eat something nice. The staff at the hotel had been so friendly today I went back there for dinner. I had Salad, foie gras (naughty I know but God it tastes good :) ), fillet mignon, a cheese platter and of course chips. It was amazing.

I wasn’t so sure about camping earlier today as I thought it might rain again, but when I went back after dinner it was all blue sky. It looks like I made a good choice…