Just Like A Pilgrim

Our night in Chalons was a time for reflection. As far as the walking was concerned, we were in good condition. We had no aches and pains and no blisters. (Well, we are experienced walkers!) We were also delighted with our recovery rate. Usually, we went to bed, tired, at 9pm and woke up fresh and ready for action the next morning. Well, ready for action as soon as we'd got our legs moving again. When we first woke up our legs were a bit stiff. We walked a little like robots in an old movie until we'd done a few exercises - but we were in good shape.

France was adorable. We hadn't met many people but those we had met had been generous and warm. We weren't entirely surprised but it was good to bury a few stereotypes.

We still felt incredibly privileged to be able to do this walk, this pilgrimage. All we had to worry about each day was making sure we hadn't forgotten anything, putting on our packs and walking. It was an honour and a joy.

And it was important we held on to those thoughts. We weren't heroes, we weren't superhuman and we certainly weren't loonies. We were just two people walking.

We'd managed to walk 30kms with our packs but, in all honesty, that was probably our limit. We could possibly have walked further but neither of us felt comfortable with the prospect. We new our limits and we weren't gonna push the boundaries too far. We wanted to enjoy ourselves too! We had to keep reminding ourselves that we were on blummin holiday. We didn't have to prove anything to anyone. It was our Via Francigena, our camino.

We'd learned to respect the rhythm of the road. It was a treat to be out in the open, in the landscape.

We'd spent some time discussing previous pilgrims and how they would have fared. There were no real landmarks this deep into France. If the medieval pilgrims came this way, they left little trace.

The infrastructure was still a problem. We were still finding it tough to book accommodation in advance. And this next section was going to be a big problem. There were two very long days of 40k each with no intermediate stopping places.

What could we do? We could try to walk 40k and look for a bus when we were on the outskirts of town. The only problem was, we hadn't yet seen a bus in France. How could we be sure of catching one now? It was a risky strategy.

And we hadn't yet seen any fellow pilgrims which was surprising. We were learning that it wasn't the Camino.
We had to find our own way on this walk. Just like a pilgrim.

After much debate and soul-searching, we thought the best thing to do was by-pass the next two stages altogether and get a train direct to Langres.

It was a toughie but it felt like the right decision.