strannik, pathika, pilgrim – we are all sojourners on this earth
Leaving Paris – when I arrived I had no clue how bittersweet this parting would be. I was consoled by the thought I would be back for a short time only a few weeks later to meet up with my two friends for an intersectional pilgrimage.
Continue reading “day 35 – apr 30 – train to Bar-sur-Aube – hike to Clairvaux”
train from Vitry-le-Francois to Gare de l’Est, Paris
Continue reading “days 23-34 (apr 18-30) – Paris – Holy Week, Pascha and Bright Monday”
In the morning I visited a bit with the family at breakfast and then got a fairly early start to Vitry-le-Francois. Of course I wanted to pick up the canal again but I was at some distance. Google sent me through the small village and along a country road near a railway track, and then it veered off onto a path that led past a couple of lakes where swans were swimming placidly and other swans were far off in the opposite field.
The rain, the canal, a heron and me.
The morning was gray, but some of the buildings were interesting and there were some bright flowers as I made my way out of town and back to the canal.
Continue reading “day 21 – apr 16 – chalons-en-champagne to vitry-la-veille”
On the morning of the 15th, which dawned a beautiful sunny day, I visited the very magnificent cathedral and got my pilgrim passport stamped, stopped in a bakery and then had a café and croissant (ahhh….) at the local café. I had been wearing a scarf for some time over my raggedy hair, and as I pushed open the door of the café, an older woman, looking somewhat the worse for wear, looked up at me and said in French, “cancer?” My first thought was, wow, is she one of those people who goes around trying to guess your sign? And I said, smiling, oui, en fait, and went on in.
Continue reading “day 20 – apr 15 – reims to sept-saulx and train to chalons en champagne”
This stage was part of the revised pilgrimage process – as I couldn’t find workable lodging at the interim stage between Corbeny and Reims, I walked instead to Guinicourt, a small town with a railstop, and took the regional train from there to Reims.
Continue reading “day 18 – apr 13 – Corbeny to Guinicourt and Reims and day 19 – apr 14 in Reims”
In the morning I visited the very lovely and impressive cathedral and got my passport stamped, and had a short walk through the town before bridling up and heading out. It was a lovely day.
Continue reading “day 17 – apr 12 – Laon to Corbeny – a beautiful day with a less beautiful end”
Having made this middle-of-the-night decision about my travel, I got up in the morning and found the tourist office, got a stamp, tried to confirm where the bus stop was, found a laundromat!!, where I washed nearly everything except what I was wearing, which was the least amount I could manage without being too cold.
This was theoretically a very long stage, because I had not quite made it to Bapaume the day before so a few extra kms were added on to make it a total of 28 km. Before setting out, I realized that I was still carrying too much on my shoulders the day before, so I got rid of the front pack I had been using and loaded everything onto the chariot, using only a small waist pack I had bought in Amsterdam. I put the water reservoir in the chariot but wasn’t quite sure how that was going to work out, since I would need to stop and pull out the tubing to drink… To be revisited.
Continue reading “day 15 – apr 10 – sapignies (bapaume) to peronne”
First day with the chariot – and it was raining. I worsened the situation by going out in the morning with only my raincoat and no umbrella, only to discover that the water-repellent finish that “sheds light rain and snow” must consider light rain a bare drizzle, as I was quickly soaked, and cold.
Continue reading “day 14 – apr 9 – Arras to Bapaume (Sapignies)”