A modest 18km day, but the easy days are often the hardest.
At last we feel like we are on a camino, meeting a German father and son at the Youth Hostel in Péronne last night who are doing the section as far as Reims, and tonight at the rural B&B, the same Germans, plus a Belgian/Brit and a Korean who are doing segments. Needless to say there has been much exchanging of information, with us being the bearer of bad tidings, as we have determined in advance that the go-to hotel in the next stop, Tergnier, is fully booked. We have already made a booking for an alternative (another rural B&B), so we have been helping share iPad access to google maps and the digital versions of accommodation lists I created from the information posted on the Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome website. Doing our bit to ensure that the Camino provides!
We are now in the areas of the WW1 front line controlled by the French army, who interred their dead in national cemeteries rather than at the battle site; therefore the constant reminders are no longer present. However, as the result of a minor navigation error, we found ourselves on a small rural road, and in the middle of nowhere was a very small community cemetery, but it had four graves of Royal Flying Corps airmen – presumably shot down behind the front line. Of the four, the youngest was only 18, and he was a second lieutenant. The oldest was 22.
Last night it was a Youth Hostel, and the first time we have been given a discount due to our VFV credential. The entire savings were spent on dinner: pate & baguette, pasta main course, rum baba for dessert, Perrier, and a half bottle of Bordeaux, all for CAD15. That would have covered the wine and Perrier back home!
Tonight we are in an old farmhouse (and working farm), the B&B Le Val d’Omignon, and judging by the visitors book, there are numerous pilgrims ahead of us doing the entire VFV in one go. I need to search to see if any are keeping blogs!
Daily km: 18
2saunter 