Tag Archives: Arc-en-Barrois

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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Via Francigena, Day 9/29: From Arc-en-Barrois to Langres [GPX File]

This is the GPX file created by my Garmin Edge 820 during my jorney from Arc-en-Barrois to Langres, France, on the 7th of August 2016.

This is the route I took for stages 33 (2nd half) and 34 in the Via Francigena Lighfoot guide.

This route is the raw file downloaded from Garmin connect and contains my navigation mistakes on that day.

Use at your own risk!

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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 8/29: From Brienne-le-Château to Arc-en-Barrois, France [GPX File]

This is the GPX file created by my Garmin Edge 820 during my jorney from Brienne-le-Château to Arc-en-Barrois, France, on the 6th of August 2016.

These are the stages 29, 30, 31, 32 and half of stage 33 in the Via Francigena Lighfoot guide.

This route is the raw file downloaded from Garmin connect and contains my navigation mistakes on that day.

Use at your own risk!

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Via Francigena, days 8 and 9: From Brienne-le-Chateau to Arc-en-Barrios and Langres

 

  1. Day 8, Brienne-le-Chateau to Arc-En-Barrois
  2. Day 9, From Arc-En-Barrois to Langres

Day 8, 6/Aug (Saturday): From Brienne-le-Chateau to Arc-En-Barrois (80.52 Km)

After leaving the pilgrim’s house, which I am glad to say wasn’t haunted at all (or the ghosts were out on holidays) I went back to the Tourist Information Office to return the keys to the house.

I then cycled on pretty flats and straight line roads, some with a nice tree line, all the way to Dolancourt.

Dolancourt is a small village, so no wonder as I arrived there I found no place where to stamp my pilgrim’s credentials. One interesting fact was that as I was having a moment of rest in front of the town hall I could hear screams from time to time. The type of screams children (and some adults) do when having fun. I then found out there is a theme park in Dolancourt called Nigoland, right in the middle of town and the screams were coming from one of the park’s attractions, a vertical thrill ride.

After a few minutes of rest I moved on to the next destination which was Bar-sur-Aube, Stage 30 of the Lightfoot guide.

Few kilometres later I met a Dutch family on a cycling holiday having a pick-nick at the road side (Mum, Dad, daughter and son).

Bar-sur-Aube has interesting river views. As I arrived in the town the Tourism Information office, which I often sought for the stamp on the pilgrim’s credentials was closed, but it would open 20 min later, so that gave me an opportunity for a snack break (I often had a sandwich or some fruit with me).

With the stamp on the credentials, the next destination was Clairvaux, more specifically Clairvaux Abbey, where I found indications and signs of the Via Francigena, which in France is not that common. Time for some rest, pictures a quick prayer to thank for the strength and protection this far and then on the road again.

Châteauvillain was the next destination. Châteauvillain looked like an interesting village. Had a little water break and took some pictures. As I could not find any of the traditional places to obtain the stamp for the pilgrim’s credentials, I went to a Newsagent I found open. They often have stamps of their businesses with the name of the town in them.

As it was close to 17:00h already as I got to Châteauvillain, I had to decide if I wanted to stop for the day or ride a little more. I looked in the guide and the next step was Mormant, but from the description and available places to sleep it looked like a really small village. The few options of accommodation the guide was suggesting were in Arc-en-Barrois, 15 Km away from Châteauvillain, which is along the walkers path of the Via Francigena, so I decided to try my luck there. As I arrived in Arc-en-Barrois I got confused with the directions my Garmin Edge 810 was giving me and ended up cycling 5 Km more than needed 🙁

A good part of the ride from Châteauvillain to Arc-en-Barrois was on dirt tracks through a forest, which was a bit tiring and stressful as my phone decided to stop working and I couldn’t get Google Maps back on. I used the Garmin Edge for navigation the rest of the way, which thankfully had in its database the same small dirt tracks Google was guiding me through.

Thankfully the Tourist Information Office of the village was still open and I got the stamp and some advice from a friendly man working there. One of the 2 Gites he suggested was closed and the other was a bit out of town in the opposite direction. The only hotel I found in town was a bit out of my budget, so as I had seen a camping ground when I arrived in the village I decided to setup camp there.

The information given by the tourist information office was that the cost for camping would be between €2 and €3,so I was surprised when 2 ladies “knocked” at my tent the next morning demanding €9 for the night. I told them what the tourist information office had told me and the price “magically” went down to €3.20. It pays not to be quiet. The camping had good shower facilities, but there wasn’t much around. As it was late, I was hungry and had no food with me I decided to go back to that hotel I had found expensive and have dinner there.

The night ended with me back in my messy tent.

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Day 9, 7/Aug (Sunday): From Arc-En-Barrois to Langres (46.29 Km)

The next day didn’t start well. I didn’t have a good night sleep as my asthma decided to show up. In the darkness of the tent I could not really see what was going up, but the next morning I realised a lot of condensation had built up inside the tent. The inner wall of the tent (or inner skin as sometimes refereed to) was soaking wet and that is likely what triggered my asthma during the night.

It was a slow process to dismantle the tent and get everything ready as I wanted to let the tent dry a bit under the sun and this resulted in me leaving the camp site quite late (around 12 noon actually).

As the day before, after clearing the urban area Google Maps took me to dirt tracks through forests. Something a bit odd happened in the middle of the forest which to this day is still puzzling me. As I was on one of the dirt tracks in the middle of the forest, I saw a Dachshund dog (the “sausage” dog) alone by himself. The had a collar and looked a bit scared and disoriented. At 1st I thought it’s owner was in the forest somewhere and continued cycling, but kept an eye on the dog in my rear mirror. I was already 200m away and no person, so I stopped and got off the bike, and started to walk towards the dog. As I got near him he ran into the forest and I could not follow him. I was I did try whistling to see if the dog would come to me, but after a few minutes I had completely lost track of the dog. I honestly hope he wasn’t lost and that if he was he was found later on. I hate to think there was something more I could have done and didn’t.

The dirt path had some closed barriers and most had a clearance on the side which enabled me to get by, except one. Thankfully there was a bit of clearance between the barrier and the ground and I could lay down the bike under the barrier and get through without having to take the panniers off.

As I arrived in Mormant I confirmed that the decision to stay in Arc-en-Barrois the day before was the correct one. Mormant is a tiny village with just a few houses. There used to be an Abbey where Sigeric presumably stayed during his pilgrimage, but it is now in ruins. There are Via Francigena signs in the ruins.

Few kilometres after Mormant I met Nicholas, one of the few Via Francigena pilgrims I had met at that point and the first from Britain. Nicholas, is from Lancaster and had left Canterbury on the 11th of July. He expected to arrive in Rome by the end of October.

He told me that after his brother died, a few years ago, he walked from Lancaster to Canterbury in his memory. When he got there some people asked, “why don’t you walk to Rome?”, and that got stuck with him.

As the Lancaster to Canterbury walk was in memory of his brother, the pilgrimage from Canterbury to Rome he is dedicating 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 is taking her little hospital blanket with him to Rome. Just one of the many interesting stories along the way.

After Mormant Google guided me to a point where the path was closed, so I had to find a way around it, and that meant a quite substantial detour of several kilometres.

Like in Laon, Langres has a substantial hill to climb so you can get to town. As I arrived in Langres I was feeling very tired, from the bad night sleep, so after getting my credentials stamped at the tourist information office I asked for pilgrim’s accommodations and they sent me to the L’Abri du Pèlerin, offered and maintained by the Catholic church, right beside the Cathedral. It is a small place, only 2 rooms. One room has 2 beds, the other 1 bed. It has a bathroom and a kitchen and it cost €10 a night (no WiFi). There was a couple from France staying in the room with 2 beds and I was alone in the room with a single bed.

Thankfully, after a shower I was still in time to get the local mini-marked opened, which enabled me to buy some food to prepare in the hostel.

I had a good night sleep there.

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That’s it for days 8 and 9 of the pilgrimage. Have you contributed with your donation to my chosen charity already? Anything will help.

Thanks a lot for your time.

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