This GPS file represents the route I took between these two locations during my Via Francigena pilgrimage by bike from Canterbury, in the UK, to Rome, in Italy.
The route contains mistakes and tracks I may not recommend you to take, so it is important to read the respective posts for more context.
Use of this resource at your own risk.
Greetings EyeCycled Friends,
quick post just to let you know that I did not abandon the Blog… 🙂
I am working on writing Via Francigena content, editing the videos and sharing this experience with you, but progress has been slow due to life’s demands. Please, subscribe to be informed of new post or like our Facebook page.
On the 12th of August 2016, the 14th day of cycling between Canterbury and Rome, I completed the 1st 1000 Kms of daily bike riding of my life.
I know, compared to cyclists that cycled around the world, some of which with 100s of 1000s of Kilometers in their Odometers, just is just a drop in the ocean, but for me it was a pretty special moment in a nice location.
The pilgrimage has ended now and I am back in the UK to my “normal” life. I end up having cycled 2,043 Km when I arrived at Saint Peter’s Square in Rome. Was an experience I will cherish forever, but I somehow don’t think it was the experience of a life time. Not ready for the grave yet… 🙂
New challenges are definitely on the horizon.
Thank you your time!
Day started slow, with me having breakfast in the hostel with the items I had bought the day before. Coffee, sugar and the basics were all available in the kitchen already. Was a beautiful day outside and from the kitchen window I could see the tower of the cathedral. I also took the time to photograph every page of the guest book for later reading as I did in previous hostels. Some of the messages are really nice
I had to cross the town which gave me plenty of last minute photo opportunities, so it took me a bit longer than usual to leave.
The first destination of the day was Torcenay, stage 35 in the Lightfoot guide. As per the road route given by Google Maps I would have to go back several kilometres and then turn to Torcenay only to have to ride it all back!to get to Champlitte (Stage 36) after arriving in Torcenay. I am sure the walking route makes a lot more sense than the road one I took.
The ride to Torcenay was pretty uneventful and flat. Few small hills to climb on the last 2 or 3 kilometres before the town. Torcenay is a small village and as I expected there was nothing open to get my pilgrim’s credentials stamped… except the post office 🙂
So, I got my stamp from the local post office, no complains.
There wasn’t anything really worth looking at, to be honest, so I headed out of town just to find that the water fountain I had seen as I rode into town wasn’t potable. What a shame! Thankfully I still had a full bottle, but it would have been nice to be able to refill.
Next destination was Champlitte as mentioned before. The route traced by Google Maps had about 80% road and 20% dirt tracks. Most of the dirt tracks were OK, but some 5 Km of them were really challenging with a lot of stones / rocks on the ground and sand, which made me have to dismount and push the bike several times as there was no traction in places.
Champlitte is a lovely small town and as I arrived one of the 1st things I saw was the impressive museum of the town (no sure what the museum is for). Unfortunately the tourist information office was closed, but I managed to get a stamp from a Bar/Hotel/Restaurant over the road.
I did a little break in the town to eat an apple and drink some water before leaving to Dampierre-sur-Salon.
It was about 3 Km after Champlitte, that something quite unexpected happened. I was riding downhill, doing perhaps 40 Km/h and gaining speed to tackle a big climb I could see ahead in the road, when I felt something biting me on the inner right leg. In one of those split second moment reactions I just tapped the insect away without even looking at it properly, I was afterall riding down quite fast on a busy French D road. Could have been a bee or a wasp. The event almost knocked me out of balance. Thankfully, perhaps due to my quick reaction, whatever stung me apparently did not have time to do a proper job, so it did hurt for about 5 min and then was OK.
Upon arriving in Dampierre-sur-Salon I went straight to the tourism information office, which thankfully was open, got my stamp and continue to pedal. I did take a few pictures, but I did not find a lot of pictures worthy things to capture.
The next destination was a town called Gy (yes, that is no type, simply Gy), stage 38 in the Lightfoot guide. The route Google Maps traced took me to some small single roads that , although narrow, had good tarmac. The route had also an unexpected surprise though. At some point Google instructed me to leave the road and take some dirt tracks following alongside a little river. At some point the dirt tracks simple ended and there was also a big barrier which made it impossible to cross even of the tracks continued. I analysed the map and could not see any alternative other than going many kilometres back the way I came, however I decided to stop at a impressive property I had seen just before leaving the road to ask for directions. The (presumably) care takers of the property were very nice and told me there was an alternative way to get to Gy. They also said that it wasn’t the 1st time this had happened as 2 years earlier some people on horses were also attempting to get to Gy and made he same mistake. If I understood them correctly apparently these horse riders were also doing the Via Francigena.
After the detour I was finally able to reach Gy, with my Garmin Edge 810 freezing up on the last 2 Km before reaching Gy and making me lose all statistics for the day (thankfully the GPS track was capture by my backup GPS watch).
I had ridden almost 95 Km at that point and was pretty tired, so I decided to give myself a treat and stay in the lovely Hotel Pinocchio, which was apparently was the best hotel in the town. If you have to blow the budget, do it in style, so the dinner that followed was also great 🙂
After a wonderful night at the Hotel Pinocchio, the day was a bit cloudy with a light rain shower as I left. I first went to the Tourist Information Office to collect my stamp, as it was closed when I arrived the day before.
I then left in the direction of Cussey-sur-l’Ognon, stage 39 of the Lightfoot guide. Like in days before Google Maps traced me a route that included some dirt tracks within forests. The difference with these though was that it:
After the adventure of going through a trackless forest on a heavy touring bike, I was happy to arrive in Cussey-sur-l’Ognon. I took a few pictures of the village, but could not find a single place to get a stamp from, so no stamp from Cussey-sur-l’Ognon on my pilgrim’s credentials.
So I continued to Besançon, stage 40 and the last stage of Volume I of the Lightfoot guide. The closer I got to Besançon, the greater the traffic on the road was. I also took a wrong turn somewhere and ended on a busy dual carriage way for a while, until I found a way to leave it.
As I arrived closer to the city centre I started looking for the Tourist Information Office and Google made me do a few unnecessary rounds and turns as it was following the directions appropriate for motor vehicles. As I finally arrived at the tourist information office and got my stamp I felt pretty tired from the stress in the middle of the forest earlier on and Besancon looked like a very interesting place, so I asked them for cheap accommodation and they suggested the city’s youth hostel, which was a different concept of a hostel for me. The first I stayed that offered me a single room with a private bathroom, a luxury in terms of hostels and with breakfast included for just €29 I thought it was a bargain for what it was.
An interesting story that developed as I arrived in Besancon, was that as I was leaving the tourist information office another cycling tourer was arriving. I tried chatting with her, but she just said she didn’t understand English and I left in the direction of the hostel. As I was checking in the hostel, she also arrived, so she obviously received the same advice I did. We smiled and said “hi” to each and I left to lock the bike in the hostel’s spacious bike garage and take my stuff to my room. After a shower and some rest and with the info provided by the friendly reception guy I went to the bus stop closest to the hostel to catch the bus to the city centre and as I was there waiting for the bus, there she came also. That was Nathalie and with all these coincidences it was just right that we became friends and explored the city together. Nathalie lives in Basel, Switzerland, and works as a nurse. She told me she cycled every day to work, but that this was the 1st time she was trying long distance cycling. Her destination was Nantes in the south of France, a trip of over 1,000 Km by bicycle. Not bad for someone’s first cycle-touring experience. It was a wonderful night in an interesting city and in the company of a new friend, perfect!
This concludes the post about days 9 and 10 of my Via Francigena experience. Although, as I write this, I have already arrived in Rome a week ago, I will continue to write as time (and WiFi availability) allows.
To conclude, as usual, have you made your donation to my chosen charity, Mind UK, one of the UK’s leading mental health charities? If not, why not? It wold be a good way to pay forward the effort I am putting here in reporting my experiences and you will probably not miss £10 or £20 in a month, right?
Thank you for your contributions, your support and your patience as I get through these posts.
OK folks… the suspense is over. The “mileage” on my cycling computer as I reached Saint Peter’s Square was…
I’ve also updated the table of guesses with all guesses I could find in Facebook and elsewhere. Not that many, but the post has been shared and re-shared many times, so I am finding it difficult to get all guesses. There have been 12 guesses I could find. If you did take a guess and your name doesn’t appear in the list (to see the last 2 click next) please get in touch.
| NAME | GUESS (in Km) | SOURCE (Facebook, Blog, etc) |
|---|---|---|
| Fernando Zambon | 2008.1 | |
| Ema Satchel | 2020 | |
| Gyula Mester | 2022.22 | |
| Luiz Motta | 2025 | |
| Vinicius Seth | 2053 | |
| Sandra Laranjeira | 2060 | |
| Marlene Samson | 2067 | Facebook Messenger |
| Romualdo Ricardo Acquesta Neto | 2085.8 | |
| Sandra Mara Santos | 2346 | |
| Marcia Teles | 2380 | |
| Aparecida Climaco Schaefer | 2462 | |
| Elenita Seth | 2827 |
I will have a better look later, but the preliminary result indicate that the winner is…. err… my son! 🙂 … with a difference of just 4.8 Km in 2048, or just 0.23%.
I know what this will look like… Foul play, but believe me, there was none!
I did ask him to take a guess and he did so on the 26th of August. At that time not even I knew how many kilometres I would still have to cycle and to increase the unpredictability of the competition I also got lost on my way to Sutri and cycled 8 Km more than I should have, but on the other hand, in my last day I had the advantage of following my pilgrimage friend Roberto, a local Roman, on the last 72 Km from Sutri to Saint Peter’s Square, which was a big help as I would undoubtedly get lost again if I didn’t.
So for now… Well done son! I won’t need to put the T-Shirt in the post afterall 🙂
I will confirm the result once I am back in the UK and rectify any mistakes that might have been made.
Thank you all for participating in this simple competition and for your support during the journey.
OK, this is a first for the blog, let’s see how this works.
When I get back home I am going to print a few “Via Francigena” (and Camino de Santiago) T-Shirts to sell through the blog, so I thought, why not get this started with giving one away to a lucky winner?
I took the 2 pictures below today at the exact same location. This isn’t a straight to Rome bike ride, so I am pretty certain this will be a 2,000+ Km bike ride. Also there is a degree of unpredictability given my undeniably dubious navigation skills.
So, here it goes… The person who guesses the closest number of how much will be in my Odometer when I get to the Saint Peter’s square in the Vatican City in a few days will be the lucky winner of a Via Francigena T-Shirt, which I will dispatch to anywhere in the world.
To participate, this is what you have to do:
I am not a big Tweeter user, but you can also Re-Tweet this post and write your guess as a Tweet if you want (need to check if I can see it, though).
That’s it! All you have to do to win a Via Francigena T-Shirt (or Camino T-Shirt, if you prefer) is to follow the 3 steps above.
Competition ends when I publish the picture of the final distance (mileage) in the Saint Peter’s square in a few days (likely to be in the EyeCycled Facebook page). Any entries after the picture is posted will not be valid, as per the time stamp of the picture.
Good Luck!
Now, this may help a little… These are the places I still need to go through and I use (mostly) Google Maps as a guide.
I will try to keep the table below as up-to-date as I possibly can, but a stable internet connection is not always present in a pilgrim’s life.
| NAME | GUESS (in Km) | SOURCE (Facebook, Blog, etc) |
|---|---|---|
| Fernando Zambon | 2008.1 | |
| Ema Satchel | 2020 | |
| Gyula Mester | 2022.22 | |
| Luiz Motta | 2025 | |
| Vinicius Seth | 2053 | |
| Sandra Laranjeira | 2060 | |
| Marlene Samson | 2067 | Facebook Messenger |
| Romualdo Ricardo Acquesta Neto | 2085.8 | |
| Sandra Mara Santos | 2346 | |
| Marcia Teles | 2380 | |
| Aparecida Climaco Schaefer | 2462 | |
| Elenita Seth | 2827 |
As with everything there are terms and conditions that apply. Please read the boring stuff below:
The unexpected sometimes can also be good…
If you have been following my pilgrimage, you’ll know I used to have an orange flag on the back of the bike, to improve visibility while riding on busy roads.
The strong winds on the way to Tergnier last week pulled the upper part of the pole with the flag straight out of the lower pole, so I ended up with 1/2 flag pole and no flag. People were even asking me what the thing coming out of the back of the bike was for and I had to explain how I lost the flag.
On Monday, the 15th of August, I was cycling towards Ivrea I when I stopped at a little makeshift road side kiosk, the type local producers put up to sell their produce. There was some really nice fruit there and I bought a few nectarines (the sweetest and juiciest).
They had a lot of little flags from EU countries lying around (No British flag anymore though) and even a few “just married” flags (don’t ask me why).
I asked if I could buy one and they gave me an Italian flag. He even fitted it so that it won’t fly out again.
Grazie Mille!
As I left Pontremoli on Saurday, the 20th of August, some 6. – 7 Km later I stopped at a little place that sells fruit and veg, chose a few bananas, an apple and a nectarine. The owner thought I spoke Italian because of the flag in my bike in as I explained I was from England and was doing the Via Francigena from Canterbury, he would not accept my money anymore. The fruits were a gift from him.
Grazie Mille!!!
I was riding my bicycle between Altopascio and San Miniato today and suddenly a car stopped in front of me and out came a gentleman and a child.
They offered me a cold bottle of Gatorade and water.
There are so many good people in this world.
Whoever you are, thank you very much. You made my day!
Grazie Mille!!!!
It hasn’t been easy to keep up with Blog posts. It is so much easier to share small insights and pictures on the EyeCycled Facebook page, but I’ll try to reduce the lag by being more to the point and less detailed on the posts. I do intend to write about each day in more detail upon my return anyway.
I left the hotel around 8:15am to get a McDonalds breakfast (closest thing open) and walk to the tourist information Office to get my pilgrim credentials stamped. As I was walking I saw 2 typical touring cyclists stop at a nearby café. I wanted to go talk to them, but decided not to as I wanted to be at the tourist Information Office as soon as it opened at 9:00am. After leaving the office I saw they were still at the café and couldn’t resist. As I suspected, they were also Via Francigena pilgrims or bicigrinos, the 1stI had met since leaving Canterbury. We had a little talk took their picture, but when we left I thought that would be the last time I’d have seen them as they were following a different guide and not all routes are the same (the major stops are though).
En-route to Chalons I passed through Verzenay (stage 21 of the Lightfoot guide) and Condé-sur-Marne (Stage 22 with Chalons being stage 23) . The route Google Maps traced had a little of everything. I rode alongside canals, on paved roads and on forest and canal dirt tracks. There was also quite substantial rain this day. Some of the canal towpaths were quite muddy and in places very narrow and slippery. It almost caused me to fall a few times. On the other hand quite peaceful and beautiful as well.
Eventually the muddy canal towpaths became a smooth concrete paved cycle lane, like only the French know how to do (well, not really, but much better than the British ones).
As I arrived in Chalons and was taking some pictures I saw a small cycle-touring family arrive. The Slovenian man was cycling in France with his 2 children, the girl aged 6 and the boy aged 13. He said he wanted to show his children that there are more good people in this world than bad ones and that cycle-touring was ideal for that. Can’t argue with it, totally agree.
Continued riding around Chalons, looking for the tourist information centre and when I found, guess who I met there? The 2 bicigrinos from the Café in Reims. If we had agreed on a time and place it probably wouldn’t have worked.
The 3 of us decided to stay in the same hostel that night and in the hostel we met Fabio and David. Fabio was cycling from the Netherlands, were he lives to his home town of Brindisi in Italy. David was walking from his home town in Belgium all the way to Santiago de Compostela. Fabio cooked a fantastic pasta for the 5 of us and then we went out into town for beer. A truly enjoyable day and night.
The cycling day started pretty much where it ended the day before, at the nice and paved canal towpath, but at some points the towpaths degraded to narrow dirt tracks as well. Giuseppe and his wife had left early that morning and this far I didn’t see them again. They were also under a very tight timetable as they had to arrive in Rome by the 24th of August. I did get a chance to say goodbye to Fabio and David though.
On my way to Brienne I passed through La-Chaussée-sur-Marne (Stage 24), Vitry-le-François (Stage 25), Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont (Stage 26), Lentilles (Stage 27) and finally Brienne (Stage 28).
The same type route from the days before (bit of dirt tracks, road, etc), but with one added surprise. On my way to Lentilles Google Maps thought it was a good idea to ride alongside train tracks. Yes, there was a hint that a dirt track existed besides the track, but it was barely visible. Mostly covered by the stones used alongside train tracks. Not avery enjoyable ride at all and the stones made me lose my balance quite a few times. Thankfully I always managed to recover.
Most of the villages I rode through had nothing really special, but In Lentilles I visited a 16th Century church build of wood and clay, the Church of St Jacques et St Philippe. Looking at the simplicity of this church, in comparison with the ostentation of cathedrals passed made me think that if Jesus was re-born it would be in a simple place like that he would probably chose to worship God.
As I arrived in Brienne I went straight to the tourist Information office. Collected my stamp and the lady asked me if I was going to stay in town or travel further. She said they had a municipal pilgrims’ hostel in town and that made me decide to stay. I paid her the €10 for the night, she gave me the keys, a map and explained how to get to the hostel. Then she told me “you can’t miss it! There are 2 deer heads in the front wall of the building.”. I then remembered I had read about this place when researching the route. Some pilgrims had reported the place to be haunted.
As I got there, I had the entire 3 floor house just for me… No one else to share it with. There gave me shivers as the house was indeed a bit spooky.
Thankfully, I had a good night sleep and calling Ghostbusters was not needed.
Before I close this blog post, let me remind you that this is also a charity bike ride. If you enjoy reading these posts and following my progress in Facebook, why not contribute with a little to a good cause? My charity of choice for this ride is Mind UK, one of the UK’s leading mental health charities.
Hope you are enjoying the posts in the blog and Facebook. It takes quite a bt of effort to get them done (especially the Blog posts) and they are responsible for late nights, despite having to cycle all day next day.
Thank you for your time and your support to my cause.
In this post…
The night in the tent was not good. It rained all night and I am not used to that kind of “rain on tent” noise. The morning wasn’t different. When I woke up is wasn’t raining, but by the time I was finished with my breakfast it slowly started to come down again. I managed to pack everything just in time when the rain started to thicken.
Google Maps guided me out of town through some very muddy dirt tracks, which wasn’t nice. That is one of the problems with the “beta” cycling navigation of Google Maps. There is no option, as far as I know, to tell it not to trace a route using dirt tracks (off-road). I did manage to get through the mud without an incident (barely) and few kilometres down the track re-joined a “D” road.
The destination was Trefcon and I was expecting it to be small, but not that small. It is really only a few houses together and as expected there wasn’t anything open, nor anyone around.
So, took a few pictures and continued to Tergnier.
The rain is always an annoyance when riding a bicycle, but the big enemy of his day was the wind. You may have notice I had a little orange flag in the back of the bike to improve visibility. Well, the wind was so strong it managed to rip the flag and flag pole from the base without me noticing it. Since then I am riding Flagless 🙁
The 2nd victim of the day was my “side-open” GoPRO case, which I used to be able to charge the GoPRO while recording. He locking lever broke, but the case seems to be holding close well with an elastic band.
I arrived in Tergnier soaked, tired and with a bad mood. As I got there I asked a few locals for a hotel, but I couldn’t understand the directions they were giving me. So I turned to Google and the 1st option Google gave me was an Auberge in the “nearby” village of Villequier). In the Google Maps description, it said it was 4.2 Km from Tergnier, but it turned to be 7 Km, as measured by the Garmin… and in the wrong direction. Can’t really blame Google for that (except for the distance) as I should have looked more. Tergnier is small, but there are apparently a few hotels there.
Anyway, I was settled for the night and manage to hand wash some of my clothes as well as dry a bit more the tent. Didn’t really take any pictures this day as it was raining most of the time and I didn’t feel there was anything picture worthy along the way.
I had just finished packing and started to rain. It rained for about 1 or 1.5h, but at least the wind wasn’t as strong as the day before and that enabled me to ride almost 90 Km this day. I started by taking the exact same way back to Tergnier as I did the day before. I wanted a Tergnier stamp on my pilgrim’s passport and I had a remote hope to find my flag again (which I obviously didn’t… just wishful thinking).
After receiving the Tergnier stamp from the Hotel de Ville on the credentials, I headed to the next stage in the Via Francigena Lightfoot guide which is Laon.
Laon was probably the high point of the day, but to get up there wasn’t easy. Had to dismount and push the heavy bike most of the way up. You get rewarded by the beautiful cathedral and the views, once you get up there. Managed to get my pilgrim credential stamped in the Tourist Information Office and when I looked for a place to rest and eat something I was told it was closed (I don’t understand the French economy… it was barely 4 pm I think).
While I was taking pictures a group of Dutch cycle-tourists came to talk to me. They were curious about my gear and my pilgrimage. One of them was kind enough to take a few pictures of me with my camera.
The next stage after Laon is Corbeny and, as expected on these little villages, everything was closed, even their hotel. Jeanne D’Arc apparently had stayed in Corberny on he 22nd of July 1429, so she was luckier than me to find anything open that day. Took a few pictures and continued, but feeling a bit disappointed by all these small French villages I decided to skip he next town in the guide, which was Hemonville and head straight to Reims, which is a much bigger city and a place I wanted to visit anyway. So, if there was something worth seeing in Hermonville you’ll have to find out by yourselves.
It was on my way to Reims that met Fabio, the 1st Via Francigena pilgrim I have seem. Fabio lives in Rome, so he travelled to Canterbury and is walking back home… home to Rome. I gave him one of my cards and I hope he gets in touch to share his experiences, eventually.
Reims has a most impressive cathedral as well, so bug, in fact that it was hard to frame it all too close. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to enter it, as it was already late and I had to find a place to sleep still. As I got to Reims, around 7:30pm the tourist information office was already closed, but they have an interactive, touch sensitive display in front of the office which was very helpful. It allowed me to search for accommodation by a number of criteria, such as price, location, etc. I manage to get the address of a cheap hotel just 2 blocks away and by luck they still had rooms available.
I had a walk around the town centre in the evening before dinner and was most impressive by how lively it is. I loved the colour changing buildings (the light shining on them obviously changes colour), such as the opera house and a few other buildings I could see. I wish I had more time to spend there.
Hope the pictures talk for themselves, but if they don’t and you are curious, just get in touch through the contact form on the menu (it may take me a few days to answers, though)
And, if you got to this point, 1st I hope you enjoyed the account and 2nd as usual, before I close this post, how about you donate to my charity of choice, Mind UK, one of the UK’s leading mental health charities? Anything you can donate will be a big help.
Thank you!
Left the Ibis hotel in Bruay after a great breakfast. The first destination of the day was Ablain-Saint-Nazaire and it took me just over 1h and a half to cover the about 20 Km of this stage.
As usual in these small villages, I couldn’t find any place that could provide a stamp onto my pilgrim’s credential. I don’t let that stop me from riding to these tiny villages as the goal is to follow the same 80 stages Sigeric did 700 years ago (not the route he took though, as many parts are only suitable to those walking). I always spend a few minutes in the villages, taking pictures, having a little rest and taking up some water.
After Ablain-Saint-Nazaire I rode to Arras, which is a big town in comparison to the previous villages. As I got there what stroke me most was the distinctive architecture and the “beach party” place they had built in one of the empty spaces, complete with sand, Caribbean music, palms trees and everything.
Few hundred meters more and I was in the town centre looking at their impressive cathedral. Took a few pictures and headed to the nearby Tourism Information Office to collect my stamp.
After getting my stamp, I left to Bapaume, another small town (not a village though) village along the way. I managed to get a stamp in the Hotel de Ville, or town hall. On my way from Arras to Bapaume I passed by a curious “Route 66” American style dinner, with a big statue of Elvis in front.
Left Bapaume a bit unsure as to how many more kilometres I should ride before to stop. Decided to just check the next stop in Sigeric’s route and decide when I got there. Next stop was Péronne and as I arrived in the outskirts of the small town it was already 7:00pm, so I decided to stay there. I had seen a sign pointing to the municipal camping site and decided to stay there, but then, for some unexpected reason my phone lost GPS connections, which meant Google Maps didn’t work. I tried the navigation on the Garmin, but it didn’t have the camping site on its database and I didn’t know the address. So I rode around for about 30 min and stopped a few times asking for directions. It is not easy to ask for directions in France when you don’t speak French, but a very nice gentleman took the time and drew me a little map on a piece of paper and with that I managed to find the camping site. Must confess I was looking at the navigation, when I should have been looking at the road signs as there were clear indications on the streets to the camping site.
Thankfully as I arrived the camping manager was still there and told me to just go and setup camp and pay me the next day. The charge was €8.00 for the night. After a shower I went out to see if I could buy something to eat, but the only thing I found open at 8:30pm was a kebab trailer in the town centre. So I got myself some Kebab take-away (and something for breakfast next morning) and had a tent feast.
It rained heavily all night and that prevented me from sleeping well. I had never used this tent under rain before, but it performed well and no water came inside.
Before closing this blog post, I have to ask: Have you already donated to my cause? Please, do so. One of the reasons I am writing these posts, even though very tired after riding all day is so that I am able to give you something in return for your contribution.
Now let’s write the next day as I am already behind of these posts.
Expect the unexpected!
As suggested by my host in Alembon the day before, 8:00am I was downstairs for breakfast. Got to taste all the home made compote she does and home baked cake as well.
After breakfast I started packing. I confess, this is one of my weak points and something I definitely need to get better at. The Camino de Santiago has taught me a few lessons last year, which I seemed to have forgotten, but the Via Francigena is being quick at reminding me of them.
Before I left home I packed everything according to item type, e.g. clothes and footwear all in one pannier, electronics in another, 1st aid kit and items of personal hygiene in another and so on…
The thing is, when you are on the move and need something you don’t want to be opening several different panniers to get items you may need. The lesson I learned on the Camino was to pack a pannier with the most likely things you are going to need during the day (in the case of the Camino I packed it in a rucksack, as I had only 2 panniers then, where I now have 4), so you’ll only need to open one bag during the day, unless something out of the ordinary happens, which is not uncommon. I am, therefore, attempting to change the packing accordingly and moved several items around the panniers.
When I finished packing everything (took me about 25 min… yes, I am slow) brought everything downstairs, where the bike was, and started to load them in the bike. About 15 min later, when all panniers and the camping bag were loaded and fastened, I realised I was missing my Cateye cycling computer, which I thought I had placed in the handlebar bag together with the Garmin Edge 810. It wasn’t there. Went back to the room and searched everywhere as I knew I had it the day before… couldn’t find it. There was only one option left: Search in the panniers, which, as I mentioned before, were already loaded in the bike. I’ll give you one chance to guess if it was in the 1st pannier or in the last. Did you guess? Of course it was in the last. It must have fallen in the pannier as I was rearranging the packing. Altogether, I literally spend 1h looking for the damn thing. That meant I left the B&B only around 11:30am. For a pilgrim this is almost time of arrival, not time of departure. Anyway… need to give no excuses to anyone as I am alone, but it was a bit stressful. My own fault.
From Alembon I rode to Licques, where I managed to get a stamp from a water park there, as everything else was closed. Then to Tournehem-sur-la-Hem, where there was also nothing open. Not to say nothing, the church was open, but there was no one in it. From Tournehem my next destination was Thérouanne, where, according to my host the day before, there was a pilgrim’s hostel, but… everything was closed. I wasn’t planning to stay there anyway, as I wanted to ride more, so I rode further to Amettes where there is another hostel with special rates for pilgrims (€13/night). Guess what? Closed!
In all the villages I rode through everything was closed. Even the petrol stations were closed. if I wanted to setup camp somewhere I would have to go hungry as I couldn’t find anything open to buy food. I also couldn’t get any stamps on my Pilgrim’s credential which, upon arrival in Rome, is the document you have to show.
So I decided to continue riding to Bruay-la-Buissière as I knew it was a bigger town and there was bound to be something open. As I got there I asked several people about “auberges” or hotels but I couldn’t find any near, so I turned to Google which offered me a few, with one of the cheapest being the Ibis Style in the outskirts of town. Had to ride another 4 or 5 Km to get there and the daily rate wasn’t the €53 Google suggested, but €69 with Breakfast. By that point it was late and I was too tired to go searching for something cheaper, so that is where I stayed. The room was great and the hotel was near several restaurants. Had a really good meal at the 3 Les 3 Brasseurs.
When I left Alembon in the morning, the day was a bit unsettled and that made me forget to pass on the sunscreen on my skin. I live in the UK, so this is something we use very little there 🙂
The sunscreen was on the bottom of one of my panniers, which I really didn’t want to take off the bike again. The result was a really bad sun burn and fever at night which made for an uncomfortable night. I should have stopped to get the sunscreen… lesson number… ? (who’s counting anyway).
Well, that was it. I’m attaching a few pictures to this “post by email” which I hope will be self-explanatory. If you have any questions, just drop me a comment.
Before I close the post, have you made your donation to Mind UK, which is the charity I am sponsoring during this ride? Common, 20 quid will not be much at the end of the month and it’s all for a good cause.
