The signed GR145 takes a scenic route alongside the river Marne and its tributaries, and is significantly longer: 129km versus about 75km for the straight variant (I'll know the exact number when I get to Brienne tomorrow). There is also a new alternate route published by the Champagne regional tourism office, but after studying the … Continue reading Day twenty-four: Châlons to Le Meix Tiercelin, via Via Agrippa (aka the straight road) →

Actually, it was Condé-sur-Marne to Chalôns-en-Champagne to use the full names. Chalôns changed from sur-Marne to en-Champagne back in 1998. Clearly being associated with bubbly had a better marketing angle than the murky waters of the river Marne. The guidebook from the tourist office in Reims had icons of a coffee cup, supermarket trolley and … Continue reading Day twenty-three: Conde to Chalons →

Back on the trail again, and perhaps the url should temporarily be 1saunter, although it doesn't have the same ring to it. It does feel a bit strange not to have anyone to share wry observations with, but I'm sure Max appreciates no longer being the only victim of my "dad jokes". Today felt like … Continue reading Day twenty-two: Reims to Conde sur Marne →

I'm writing this on the TGV from Paris to Reims, so it maybe the fastest blog post I write. For anyone who perused the map of the vf, you will know that Sigeric never got any closer to Paris than Reims - which is precisely the reason we went. Actually the main reason was to … Continue reading Days off in Paris: 18, 29, 20, 21 →

As we enjoy a couple of rest days in Reims, maybe it is a good opportunity to give some background on the via francigena. The vf is significantly less well known than its cousins, the dozen or so pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela, of which the Camino Frances and Camino Portuguese are the best … Continue reading Days sixteen & seventeen: Riems →

We planned an early start in an effort to beat the forecast heat, even though this meant the likelihood of a coffee and pain chocolat was significantly diminished, as the BnB didn’t serve breakfast until 0800 on Sundays. As it transpired, the power went out during the night so we may have spent the €6 … Continue reading Day fourteen: Pontavert to Reims →

The usual night stop is Corbeny, but we had to creative using booking.com to find an alternative as the one and only hotel in Corbeny was full. It actually worked out ok as this was the last day of pre-planned diversions to battle sites of WW1. Today we diverted along a Section of the Chemin … Continue reading Day fourteen: Laon to Pontavert →

This is a second attempt at this posting, being drafted in Google Docs as my experience with wordpress has been extremely disappointing so far, hence the rant posting. At least Google Docs will auto save. Our day was long and arduous (potential word of the day). As we had to go off route to find … Continue reading Day thirteen: Moy l’Ainse to Laon →

A day going rouge in terms of route as we death for the sometimes elusive towns with accommodation. Often the town on the recognized only has one option, and if that is not available, cross referencing the accommodation list to Google maps is the next step. This was the case today as we went from … Continue reading Day twelve: Trefcon to Moy l’Ainse →

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 … Continue reading Day eleven: Péronne to Trefcon →