Thursday, 14 June 2012
Monday, 11 June 2012
Haute Marne views...
A recent photo of my passport with the different stamps to prove my journey along the way; spot the beaver on the canal (that one's for Brian!); mare and foal outside Chateauvillain (for Ma, Kate and Tess!); Haute Marne country and the Chateauvillain Forest....a wonderful day's walk in deep woodland.
A thousand words....
Langres and it's ramparts; a concert in the Cathedral and with Jason Cook and Garry Burns before they set off back to London (they arrived back in under 8 hours - same journey has taken me 5 weeks!).
News from Langres....
Langres is a delightful cathedral town which sits on top of a hill with enchanting views all round of France, even as far away as the distant Jura Mountains, the direction I am headed next. The only problem about Langres is the hill bit which is a bit of a killer such that, like the Grand Old Duke of York once you're up there, you stay there; anyway, all good training for what is to come.
Langres cathedral is beautiful, understated in a way that Reims was elaborate and fussy like an over embellished bauble; but there is much more to Langres - it was the hometown of the philosopher Denis Diderot and was frequented for a number of summers by the artist Raoul Dufy who, as you all know is of Scottish ancestry. The town has magnificent ramparts that were significantly restored/remodelled or just plain buggered about by military engineers in the 19th century which gives them a certain air of being more contrived than authentic, which they most certainly are.
Having been on the road for ten days, Langres was an important laundry stop and my room looks like Widow Twankey's wash house with kit festooned everywhere like a ship on the Thames Pageant. Needless to say I caught myself at breakfast yesterday morning and the scent was not for the sensitive of nostril...
521 miles in and Switzerland is on he horizon; I will cross the border on 21 June and reach the Grand Saint Bernard Pass on 29 June. I am very excited at the prospect of a new country and towering mountains - although I will be sad to leave the pretty Haute Marne.
So, it's the road to Besancon tomorrow, which I should reach by 16 June. Another pack of French maps has been backloaded and my bergen gets lighter by the day, deep joy.
Best surprise of the week was bumping into Jason Cook and Garry Burns while walking down the street last night; guardsmen and old friends who served with me in Hong Kong. Breakfast was late this morning...
Langres cathedral is beautiful, understated in a way that Reims was elaborate and fussy like an over embellished bauble; but there is much more to Langres - it was the hometown of the philosopher Denis Diderot and was frequented for a number of summers by the artist Raoul Dufy who, as you all know is of Scottish ancestry. The town has magnificent ramparts that were significantly restored/remodelled or just plain buggered about by military engineers in the 19th century which gives them a certain air of being more contrived than authentic, which they most certainly are.
Having been on the road for ten days, Langres was an important laundry stop and my room looks like Widow Twankey's wash house with kit festooned everywhere like a ship on the Thames Pageant. Needless to say I caught myself at breakfast yesterday morning and the scent was not for the sensitive of nostril...
521 miles in and Switzerland is on he horizon; I will cross the border on 21 June and reach the Grand Saint Bernard Pass on 29 June. I am very excited at the prospect of a new country and towering mountains - although I will be sad to leave the pretty Haute Marne.
So, it's the road to Besancon tomorrow, which I should reach by 16 June. Another pack of French maps has been backloaded and my bergen gets lighter by the day, deep joy.
Best surprise of the week was bumping into Jason Cook and Garry Burns while walking down the street last night; guardsmen and old friends who served with me in Hong Kong. Breakfast was late this morning...
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
After the fun of the fair....
... it was two days plodding down a canal; ooh how nice I can hear you say but canals, dear friends are tedious places void of life offering you trees and long straight featureless waterways down which to walk for hour after hour after hour after hour after hour... You get the idea!
Then, I went to The Middle of Nowhere which I bet most of you lot think you have been to from time to time but I actually have done now!
Bought a bionic ankle (elastic sleeve)in Vitry as am bored of my left ankle insisting it wants to go home and turn itself right round in the process. Blisters on blisters are getting the hint after some minor surgery and am not walking quite as much like ET stepped in a drawing pin any longer. I think new boots ready for the Alps when I reach Besancon - a bit like second horses really; I wish!
450 miles down track now, this finds me at Brienne le Chateau where Napoleon was educated - a rather splendid place and my patron is a dead ringer for Herman Munster.... Bar sur Aube tomorrow morning.
Then, I went to The Middle of Nowhere which I bet most of you lot think you have been to from time to time but I actually have done now!
Bought a bionic ankle (elastic sleeve)in Vitry as am bored of my left ankle insisting it wants to go home and turn itself right round in the process. Blisters on blisters are getting the hint after some minor surgery and am not walking quite as much like ET stepped in a drawing pin any longer. I think new boots ready for the Alps when I reach Besancon - a bit like second horses really; I wish!
450 miles down track now, this finds me at Brienne le Chateau where Napoleon was educated - a rather splendid place and my patron is a dead ringer for Herman Munster.... Bar sur Aube tomorrow morning.
Friday, 1 June 2012
It has been a difficult week...
From Reims, it was a 29 mile stroll through the Foret de la Montaigne de Reims to Epernay; in short an absolute delight - if a tad long toward the end. Thereafter, to the Chateau de Nesles with its wondrous and varied history and I had the greatest of fun with Charles and Sarah Daireaux, including exercising the horses in the grand Foret de Jougal.
Today, the great Hubert de Billy took me round the cellars of Pol Roger - an arduous task which involved a degree of tasting too; to complete this picture of alcoholic perfection, I ended up in a beer festival this evening.
Tomorrow, it's back to the Via and 30 miles to Challons en Champagne; the road to Langres ....
Today, the great Hubert de Billy took me round the cellars of Pol Roger - an arduous task which involved a degree of tasting too; to complete this picture of alcoholic perfection, I ended up in a beer festival this evening.
Tomorrow, it's back to the Via and 30 miles to Challons en Champagne; the road to Langres ....
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