"Teaching is only demonstrating that it is possible. Learning is making it possible to ourself.", Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage.
- Introduction
- The statistics and metrics of this day
- The most memorable occurrences, moments and thoughts
- Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 24, from Châlons-en-Champagne to La-Chaussée-sur-Marne
- Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 25, from La-Chaussée-sur-Marne to Vitry-le-François
- Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 26, from Vitry-le-François to Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont.
- Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 27, from Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont to Lentilles.
- Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 28, from Lentilles to Brienne-le-Château.
- Video tour of the Municipal Pilgrims’ hostel of Brienne-le-Château.
- Pictures of the day.
This post complements the post I published on the 23rd of August 2016 in which I described the experiences I had on the 5th of August 2016 while riding between Châlons-en-Champagne and Brienne-le-Château, 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.
Statistics and metrics of the day
- Date: Thursday, 5th of August 2016
- Route: From Châlons-en-Champagne to Brienne-le-Château, in France
- Distance: 87.84 Km
- Departure time from Châlons-en-Champagne: Around 08:54h.
- Arrival at Brienne-le-Château: Around 17:56h
- Duration of day’s Journey: 8h 53min
- Expenses this day: Total = € 45.33
- €35.33 for food, incl. items bought in a market for breakfast next day.
- €10.00 – Accommodation (Municipal Pilgrims’ Hostel of Brienne-le-Château)
- Overnight Location: Pilgrims’ Hostel. You need to first go to the Tourism Information Office to pay the fee and get the key to the hostel. The office is located at 34 rue de l’Ecole Militaire
10500 Brienne-le-Château. Tel. : +33 03 25 92 82 41 - Type of Accommodation: Hostel
- Lightfoot Guide Stages:
- Physical and Body Stats: Link to the Garmin Connect Page for this ride
-
- Duration: 8h 53min
- Moving time: 5h 22min
- Average Speed: 9.9 Km/h
- Average Moving Speed: 16.57 Km/h
- Max. Speed: 39.2 Km/h
- Total Elevation Gain: 193 m
- Average Heart Rate: 117 bpm
- Max. Heart Rate: 162 bpm
- Calories: 2,643 CAL
- Number of Pedal Strokes (Cadence sensor): 17,814
-
Most memorable occurrences, moments and thoughts:
This was a long day in the Via Francigena. I covered several stages of the Lightfoot guide and rode almost 90 Km. It wouldn’t be productive to write again about something I have already written in this blog post, therefore if you didn’t have a chance to read the previous post click on this link, read the post and jump back here as that post does not include any of the videos for this day.
I will however mentioned 
again that if you are cycling this route using Google Maps for navigation, it is possible that the cycling route Google Maps will propose is the same one it did for me, in other words, along side the railway tracks after the tiny village of Arrembécourt (see video of stage 27). If you are travelling light and on a mountain bike, then that should be no problem, but if that isn’t the case and like mine your bike weights 50 Kg and is a hybrid or touring bike with touring tyres, then I would recommend that you continue the journey on the D6 towards Chavanges and take the D2 to Lentilles (the same one I took after the train track adventure). It’s a longer route, but stone free.
As you arrive in Lentilles be sure to factor in some time to visit the 16th Century church built of wood and clay; the Church of St Jacques et St Philippe. Personally that small church had a bigger impact on me than many of the ostentatious cathedrals I have seen along the Via Francigena.
Another thing I want to mention before I finalize this text is the municipal pilgrims’ hostel in Brienne-le-Château and also how nice the lady in the tourism information office was to me. First of all, to stay in the pilgrims’ hostel you need to arrive in town at a time that the tourist information office is open, as you have to pay the fee and collect the hostel’s keys from there (although the hostel itself is about 2 Km away in the perimeter of town). Second, before going on the 
pilgrimage, like most people I did a lot of research about the route and the places to stay. I read in some blogs that some pilgrims thought the house to be haunted. I must confess, being the only pilgrim sleeping there that night made me apprehensive. The house is indeed a little spooky, but if there were other spiritual entities sharing the house with me that night they did not bother me. The house is old and used to be a hunters’ cabin so my guess is that, if there were to be any ghosts there, they would have been those of the animals that were killed (incl. the two deers whose heads are at the front wall of the house, assuming they are real)
If you want to see more pictures from this day, please take a look at my picture gallery (down below) from Flickr.
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 24, from Châlons-en-Champagne to La-Chaussée-sur-Marne
Video Length: 5 min
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 25, from La-Chaussée-sur-Marne to Vitry-le-François.
Video Length: 4 min 21 sec
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 26, from Vitry-le-François to Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont
Video Length: 3 min 43 sec
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 27, from Saint-Remy-en-Bouzemont to Lentilles
Video Length: 5 min 7 sec
Video of Lightfoot Guide Stage 28, from Lentilles to Brienne-le-Château
Video Length: 4 min 19 sec
Video tour of the Municipal Pilgrims’ hostel of Brienne-le-Château
Video Length: 7 min 30 sec
Pictures of the day.
Click on any picture for full detail
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.
