Category Archives: Via Francigena

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Via Francigena, Day 9/29: From Arc-en-Barrois to Langres

"As I make my slow pilgrimage through the world, a certain sense of beautiful mystery seems to gather and grow". A. C. Benson.

In this post…

    1. Introduction
    2. The statistics and metrics of the day
    3. The most memorable occurrences, moments and thoughts
    4. Video of the 2nd part of Stage 33, from Arc-en-Barrois to Mormant
    5. Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 34, from Mormant to Langres.
    6. Pictures of the day.

1. Introduction

Blog post about the 8th and 9th day published during the journey on the 2n August 2016
Blog post about the 8th and 9th day published during the journey on the 2n August 2016

This post complements the post I published on the 2 of September 2016 in which I described the experiences I had on the 7th of August 2016 while riding between Arc-en-Barrois and Langres, in France. I am not going to repeat the content of that post in this one again, but I will try to add a few highlights for each one of the stages below. I encourage you to read the previous post before continuing on this one.

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2. Statistics and metrics of the day

  • Date: Saturday, 7th of August 2016
  • Route: From Arc-en-Barrois to Langres in France
  • Distance:  46.29 Km
  • Departure time from Arc-en-Barrois: Around 12:00 noon.
  • Arrival at Langres: Around 15:45h (+ ~ 1h to find the tourism Information office and then ride to the pilgrim’s hostel).
  • Duration of day’s Journey: 4h 49min
  • Expenses this day: Total = € 22.54
    • €12.54 for food.
    • €10.00 – Accommodation
  • Overnight location:  L’Abri du Pelerin (The shelter of the pilgrim), Tel: +33 03 25 87 11 48
  • Type of accommodation: Pilgrim Hostel
  • Lightfoot Guide Stages:
  • Physical and body Stats: Link to the Garmin Connect Page for this ride
      • Duration (elapsed time): 04h 49min
      • Moving time: 3h 25min
      • Average Speed: 10.1 Km/h
      • Average Moving Speed:  13.5 Km/h
      • Max. Speed: 46.2 Km/h
      • Total Elevation Gain: 568 m
      • Average Heart Rate: 122 bpm
      • Max. Heart Rate: 164 bpm
      • Calories: 1,468 CAL
      • Number of Pedal Strokes (Cadence sensor): 11,166

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2. Most memorable moments and thoughts:

As I mentioned in my earlier Blog Post, I had a terrible night in the tent and ready struggled to breath. I presume it was the humidity that built up inside the tent during the night that triggered my asthma and prevented me from falling asleep.

In addition to a bad night sleep I also left the camping ground quite late as the tent was completely wet on the inside, so I turned it inside-out and let it dry under the sun for about 30 to 45 min before packing it in the bag.

Goggle Maps guided me to a forest and other than having to lower the bike closed to the ground once to go under a barrier, it was an easy ride. I did have a strange encounter with what I believe was a small lost dog (a Dachshund “sausage” dog) in the middle of that forest, but as I explained this encounter in the earlier Blog Post, I am not going to repeat it here again.

It was the right decision to stay in Arc-en-Barrois the night before as when I arrived in Mormant I confirmed that it is a tiny village with just a few houses. There used to be an Abbey there where Sigeric allegedly stayed during his pilgrimage, but it is now in ruins. There are some historic plaques telling the story of the site.

20160807_140117There is nothing to do in Mormant, so after taking a few pictures I resumed the ride and a few kilometres later I met Nicholas from Lancaster, the very first Francigena pilgrim, after more than 600 Km and 9 days into the journey. I was so happy to see I wasn’t alone in this journey 🙂

He had left Canterbury on the 11th of July 2016 (nearly 3 weeks before I did) and expected to arrive in Rome by the end of October.

He told me that after his brother died, a few years earlier, he walked from Lancaster to Canterbury in his memory and there was when he heard of the Via Francigena. He was dedicating the pilgrimage to the memory of his niece, who 40 years ago was abducted (or went missing) right after birth. He says that even after all this time, his sister is still grieving for the loss of her girl, so he was taking her little hospital blanket with him to Rome. Just one of the many interesting stories along the way.

If you watch the video of my ride after Mormant you’ll see that Google guided me to a point where the path was closed, so I had to make a “U-Turn” and that also meant I wasted some time.

P1010756As I arrived in Langres there was (obviously) a substantial hill to climb to get to town and I was already feeling very tired from the bad night sleep, so I looked for the Tourism Information Office and asked if there were pilgrim accommodation in town and they sent me to the “L’Abri du Pèlerin” (the Pilgrim Shelter), offered and maintained by the Catholic church, located nearby the Cathedral. It is a small place, only 2 rooms (although in the web site it says there is only 1). One room has 2 beds and was already occupied by a couple, the other 1 bed (the one I slept in). It has a bathroom and a kitchen and it cost €10 a night. There was no WiFi there.

It was Sunday and those that have been to France know that trying to find anything open on a Sunday is a challenge, but thankfully, as I arrived quite early, after a shower there was still time walk to the town centre where I found a mini-marked opened and buy some food which I prepared in the hostel.

As I was leaving the hostel to walk to the town centre that evening, the bells of the Cathedral started to ring and this is what they sound like.

I had a good night sleep there. It seems camping isn’t really my cup of tea.

I hope you enjoy the videos and the photos.

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3. Video of the 2nd part of Stage 33, from Arc-en-Barrois to Mormant

Video Length: 4 min 42 sec

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4. Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 34, from Mormant to Langres.

Video Length: 8 min 53 sec

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5. Pictures of the day.

Click on any picture for full detail

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If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment or send me a message through the contact form.
Please subscribe to my Blog and/or to my YouTube channel if you don’t want to miss the next one and help me spread the word by liking and sharing my Facebook Page and Tweeter feed also.
Thank you for your time!


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EyeWalked! Canterbury to Shepherdswell

EyeWalked?

Paulo at the Canterbury Cathedral
Paulo at the Canterbury Cathedral

Yes, I know… you thought EyeCycled.com was only about cycling. Well, you are not wrong. This is an exception. Hopefully an interesting one. Still, if you only want to see cycling material on EyeCycled.com, then look at this post I wrote (opens in separate tab) when I cycled from Canterbury to Dover on the regional cycling route 16 on the 8th of June 2016.

On the 14th of June 2019 I drove to Canterbury to attend the Pilgrims Workshop. The workshop was one of the events organized by the Confraternity of Pilgrims to Rome as part of the Canterbury Pilgrims Festival which happened between the 12th and the 15th of June.

While the workshop was great with some great presentations given by pilgrims who walked the Via Francigena and other routes, as well as insights into historical aspect of pilgrimage in Kent, this post is about the walking pilgrimage between Canterbury and Shepherdswell that happened on the 15th.

I will not write much here though… I will let the pictures do the talking…

IF…

… after seeing the pictures you are interested in knowing more about the historical significance of what you saw, I have added a number of online links below that you can visit to understand.

Enjoy!


In this post…

  1. The Pictures of the walk
  2. The route and metrics
  3. Want to know more?
  4. Video of the group walking the path
  5. The Pilgrims Feast (after the walk)

The pictures of the walk

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The route and metrics

OK, there is a little part missing at the beginning, something like 1.3 Km, as  I forgot to turn the tracking on when we left the cathedral. Adding this distance to the 23 Km tracked below you should expect to have to walk around 24 Km if you follow this route.

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Want to know more?

The table below provides links where you can find out about the places in the picture above (may be updated after published).

LinkShort Description
Wikipedia page about CanterburyThe Canterbury area has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Lower Paleolithic axes, and Neolithic and Bronze Age pots have been found in the area.
Canterbury was first recorded as the main settlement of the Celtic tribe of the Cantiaci, which inhabited most of modern-day Kent. In the 1st century AD, the Romans captured the settlement and named it Durovernum Cantiacorum.
The Romans rebuilt the city, with new streets in a grid pattern, a theatre, a temple, a forum, and public baths.
Although they did not maintain a major military garrison, its position on Watling Street relative to the major Kentish ports of Rutupiae (Richborough), Dubrae (Dover), and Lemanae (Lymne) gave it considerable strategic importance.
In the late 3rd century, to defend against attack from barbarians, the Romans built an earth bank around the city and a wall with seven gates, which enclosed an area of 130 acres (53 ha)....
Visit Canterbury SiteThings to do in Canterbury, places to stay, shopping, events, food & drink, etc.
Wikipedia page about the Canterbury CathedralCanterbury Cathedral is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, leader of the Church of England and symbolic leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion. Its formal title is the Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Christ at Canterbury.
Founded in 597, the cathedral was completely rebuilt between 1070 and 1077. The east end was greatly enlarged at the beginning of the 12th century, and largely rebuilt in the Gothic style following a fire in 1174, with significant eastward extensions to accommodate the flow of pilgrims visiting the shrine of Thomas Becket, the archbishop who was murdered in the cathedral in 1170. The Norman nave and transepts survived until the late 14th century, when they were demolished to make way for the present structures.
Wikipedia page about St Augustine's Abbey.St Augustine's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery.
The abbey was founded in 598 and functioned as a monastery until its dissolution in 1538 during the English Reformation. After the abbey's dissolution, it underwent dismantlement until 1848. Since 1848, part of the site has been used for educational purposes and the abbey ruins have been preserved for their historical value.
Wikipedia page about the St Martin's Church, CanterburySt Martin's was the private chapel of Queen Bertha of Kent in the 6th century before Augustine arrived from Rome. Queen Bertha was a Christian Frankish princess who arrived in England with her Chaplain, Bishop Liudhard. King Æthelberht of Kent, her pagan husband, allowed her to continue to practise her religion by renovating (ca. AD 580) an existing church which the Venerable Bede says had been in use in the late Roman period but had fallen into disuse. As Bede specifically names it, this church was dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, a city located near where Bertha grew up.
Wikipedia page about PatrixbournePatrixbourne is a rural English village south-east of Canterbury in Kent, mostly taken up by agricultural hills. Along with almost contiguous Bekesbourne to the north it makes up the civil parish of Bekesbourne-with-Patrixbourne in the City of Canterbury district
Patrixbourne, St Mary's ChurchThe village of Patrixbourne lies on the route of the Pilgrims Way, the trail that led untold thousands of weary medieval feet towards Canterbury Cathedral and the shrine of Thomas Becket. But the villge long predates the arrival of the pilgrims; at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086 there was a church and four mills in the village, then called 'Born'. The manor was in the hands of a Norman lord called Richard Patric, whose family came from the Calvados region of France.
Wikipedia page about WomenswoldHistorically, Womenswold has been recorded with various spellings, including Wymynswold[2] and Wimlingswold.[3] A further one may be Wymelyngewolde [4]

The church of St, Margaret of Antioch covers all three hamlets, in Womenswold proper rather than the woodland, cereal and pasture fields within its bounds. A small mediaeval building without any side aisles, it is part of the Barham Downs group of churches.
The church building is unusual, in having no side aisles and a large Chancel, where services are usually held on the comfortable chairs that were installed in place of Victorian choir stalls.
Wikipedia page about ShepherdswellVillage social life centres on the local Grade I listed church 'Church of St Andrew', and the village hall which is hosts events including charity jumble sales and a pre-school playgroup. The village pub is the Grade II listed Bell by the village green, near to the church
St Andrew's Church, ShepherdswellSt. Andrews Church occupies a site of continuing Christian worship since at least the Domesday Book, 1086. It was thought to have originally been a wooden Saxon Church that was replaced around the 12th century with the two-celled Romanesque church.

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Short Video of the group walking the path

Just 29 seconds (not in the YouTube channel)

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The Pilgrims Feast (after the walk)

As you saw in the pictures above, we took the train back from Shepherdswell to Canterbury and the walked from the Canterbury East train station to the hall where the pilgrim’s feast was being celebrated. A celebration of medieval music, dances and food. It was good to be able to rest our tired feet, meet other like minded people, fill our bellies with delicious food  and have fun.

You’ll find here a few pictures and some videos recorded during the pilgrims feast (none of them are in the YouTube channel).




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If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment or send me a message through the contact form.
Please subscribe to my Blog and/or to my YouTube channel if you don’t want to miss the next one and help me spread the word by liking and sharing my Facebook Page and Tweeter feed also.
Thank you for your time!


Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night? (Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give).
You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly.

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Via Francigena Day 8/29: From Brienne-le-Château to Arc-en-Barrois, France

"The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities", Stephen Covey.

In this post…

  1. Introduction
  2. The statistics and metrics of the day
  3. The most memorable occurrences, moments and thoughts
  4. Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 29, from Brienne le Château to Dolancourt
  5. Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 30, from Dolancourt to Bar-sur-Aube.
  6. Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 31, from Bar-sur-Aube to Clairvaux
  7. Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 32, from Clairvaux to Châteauvillain
  8. Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 33 (1/2), from Châteauvillain to Arc-en-Barrois (Mormant)
  9. Pictures of the day.
  10. Pictures of the Guest Book pages in the pilgrims hostel of Brienne le Château.

Introduction

Blog post about the 6th and 7th day published during the journey on the 23rd August 2016
Blog post about the 8th and 9th day published during the journey on the 22 of September 2016

This post complements the post I published on the 22nd of September 2016 in which I described the experiences I had on the 4th of August 2016 while riding between Brienne-le-Château and Arc-en-Barrois, in France. I am not going to repeat the content of that post in this one again, but I will try to add a few highlights for each one of the stages below. I encourage you to read the previous post before continuing on this one.

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Statistics and metrics of the day

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Most memorable occurrences, moments and thoughts:

This was another long day in the pilgrimage, despite leaving Brienne-le-Château a bit later than I wanted to. I had opened the house in the morning to let some fresh air in and prepared my breakfast, so prior to leaving I had to make sure everything was the way I found it and then ride back to the tourism information office in town to return the key.

This day was a bit atypical in relation to the entire journey as I did not complete (or finished) a stage of the Lightfoot guide. That stage was stage 33, that according to the guide is between Châteauvillain and Mormant. Reason being when I arrived in Châteauvillain, around 4:30pm, I had to take the decision to stop there or continue to the next village in the guide (Mormant). I knew Mormant was a tiny village and looking at the list of accommodations, I also knew there would not be a lot of options of places to sleep. If I couldn’t find a place to sleep in Mormant, I would either have to wild-camp (not really my cup of tea) or ride another 30 Km to Langres, which would mean I would get there quite late in the evening. So I decided to take the safe route of riding to Arc-en-Barrois and, if upon getting there I couldn’t find or didn’t like any of the places to sleep I would then decide if I wanted to continue or not. I believe it was the right decision.

As I already wrote about the experiences of this day in the post I published on the 22nd of September 2016, I don’t think it would be productive to write the same thing here again. Some of the highlights of that post were the theme park in Dolancourt, the beautiful Clairvaux Abbey, the fact that the stamp for Châteauvillain in my pilgrim’s credentials was obtained from a news agent in town (the only business I could find open), the ride to  Arc-en-Barrois through a beautiful forest and the arrival there (getting lost and riding 6 Km more than needed again) as well as setting up my tent, which is all captured in the videos below too.

So, before continuing on this post, I invite you to take a look at the post mentioned above  (opens in a new tab) and come back to this post when done.

Oh, before I end this section of the post, when I arrived in Arc-en-Barrois, thankfully the Tourism Information Office was still open (which is quite unusual in France, considering it was a Saturday) and I was able to get my pilgrim’s credential stamped there. Right across the road from the office there is a very cosy hotel called Hotel du Parc, which I decided not to stay, as the rate there was above €60 for the night (against the €3 I was told I would have to pay in the camping site), but I end up going back for dinner that night as I could not find anything else open and I was starving. The meal and the beer were fantastic and the price was reasonable (€23).

Just as an unrelated footnote on this section, I have already published all the photos of this day’s ride in a Flickr album (link in the post mentioned above), but the pictures in that album are in a lower resolution because the computer I had with me during the pilgrimage struggled to process the watermark and get them uploaded. At the time I thought I would just upload them again when I came back in full resolution, but Flickr is no longer free now, so I have created an album in the EyeCycled Facebook page with the pictures (Facebook pictures and not high res either, but it is still free)  and that is the picture gallery you will find down below.

You will also find below the pictures for every page in the Visitors’ book of the Pilgrims Hostel in Brienne-le-Château. I enjoyed reading the messages previous pilgrims left in the books and I thought so would you.

I hope you enjoy the videos and the photos.

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Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 29, from Brienne le Château to Dolancourt

Video Length: 3 min 50 sec

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Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 30, from Dolancourt to Bar-sur-Aube.

Video Length: 3 min 59 sec

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Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 31, from Bar-sur-Aube to Clairvaux

Video Length: 3 min 20 sec

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Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 32, from Clairvaux to Châteauvillain

Video Length: 4 min 20 sec

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Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 33 (1/2), from Châteauvillain to Arc-en-Barrois (Mormant)

Video Length: 5 min 49 sec

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Pictures of the day.

Click on any picture for full detail

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Pictures of the Guest Book pages in the pilgrims hostel of Brienne le Château

If you did the Via Francigena and been to this hostel, will you find your note in them? (August 2016)

Click on any picture for full detail

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If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to comment or send me a message through the contact form.
Please subscribe to my Blog and/or to my YouTube channel if you don’t want to miss the next one and help me spread the word by liking and sharing my Facebook Page and Tweeter feed also.
Thank you for your time!


Do you like these posts? Why, then, don’t you pay me a coffee to help with the blog hosting cost and as a caffeine incentive to keep me going through the long hours of the night? (Suggested amount: £2.00 or USD $3.00 or 2.50€ or whatever you want to give).
You may donate through my Patreon Page or through PayPal directly.

Become a Patron





Please rate this post by clicking on the desired star (1 = Awful, 5 = Excellent)
[Total: 2 Average: 5]

Via Francigena Day 7/29: From Châlons-en-Champagne to Brienne-le-Château