Man and his affairs, church and state and school, trade and commerce, and manufactures and agriculture, even politics, the most alarming of them all,— I am pleased to see how little space they occupy in the landscape.
- Henry David Thoreau, Walking: The Wild (1851)
Yesterday I remarked that I never walk alone on the Via Francigena. Well today I walked through the Forêt de Saint-Gobain, and I didn't see a soul for 27.5 kilometres! Except for the Dutch couple, whom I met in the woods, cheerily walking northwards as usual, in their usual shorts and t-shirts but carrying umbrellas. They said goodbye, as I won't see them any more: they are only going as far as Reims. The rest, they have already done, last year, with their camper van but without the bicycles: they walked southwards, and relied on public transportation or hitchhiked to get back to their van and drive it forward, carrying backpacks and a tent when walking sections where this would not be possible every day.
I probably won't see Ray, Sue, Elaine and Patrick any more, either, as they walked all the way to Laon, while I stopped in Cessières, 11 km earlier. 27.5 km was enough for me today! I will arrive in Laon early tomorrow and have plenty of time to see the cathedral, and whatever else there is in the town, while avoiding the rain that is supposed to come tomorrow afternoon. During one of my breaks today I made a phone call to book accommodation for the following night in Chamouille, which will get me through the long weekend. The usual end of the stage after Laon is Corbeny, but that's 30 kilometres, and there's only one hotel at the end of the stage, rumoured to be full tomorrow (Saturday) night; for the Sunday, I could see on their website that only their more expensive rooms were available. So I had been looking for a way to split that stage differently, too, and found a room at a chambres d'hotes in Chamouille that also does dinner! The perfect solution, seeing as all the shops will be closed Sunday, and Monday too, for the May 8th holiday.
I made this arrangement while sheltering on the steps of a church in Andelain. I hadn't bothered to check the weather forecast, or even open the curtains of my little apartment to see what it was like outside; assuming it would be as sunny as the past couple of days, I slathered on the sun lotion and stowed away my raingear in the bottom of my pack. But the morning was overcast, and as soon as I left La Fère it started sprinkling. So at the church in Andelain I put on my rain jacket and waterproof overtrousers, pulled out the rain cover for my backpack, located the Via Francigena trail marker and set off again - in the direction I had come from! I walked a block backwards before I realised and turned around, hoping nobody in the houses along the road was watching! It was their fault, for having such nondescript and identical houses! 😄
On Rue des Vaches I met some fine-looking cows who didn't appear too concerned about the weather.
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| Cows under a cow umbrella |
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| These cows don't care about the rain |
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| Neither do I |
At another point I missed a turnoff, but it was a good thing, because I cut a corner in the zigzagging path of the GR145 across the fields. Then the path went into the forest of Saint-Gobain, climbing at first on a dead straight gravel road that was a bit of a slog, then veering off to the left on a dirt track. Cobblestones emerged here and there from under the dirt, suggesting that it was an ancient road, and in fact it led to the Abbaye de Saint-Nicolas-au-Bois. This 12th-century Benedictine abbey was burnt down twice by the English, and again by the Protestants during the Reformation, and rebuilt in the 18th century only to be finally destroyed and abandoned following the French Revolution. Once a centre of power, the abbey is now reduced to a few overgrown and crumbling ruins.
It wasn't far from the abbey, where I took a long lunch break, to Cessières. I visited the mairie to ask for a stamp on my pilgrim credential, and they asked where I was staying and gave me precise directions to Le Studio de Alexandra et Julien.
Alexandra was still at work when I arrived, but she had left the key in the keybox, so I was able to walk right in and make myself at home. When Alexandra arrived she told me they had been living in the house for ten years, and had renovated an outbuilding initially to house visiting friends and family. They have now made it available to rent, and I was their very first paying guest!!! The little studio flat is perfectly appointed and has everything an overnight visitor could require. They are not licensed to serve food, but Alexandra left me a goodie basket with fruit, biscuits, and a couple of fresh eggs from their own chickens, to which I was introduced by name when Alexandra and Julien's five-year-old son arrived home from school and gave me a guided tour of the chicken coop! In the flat there are cooking facilities with an overabundance of appliances, a washing machine and even a bathroom scale, so I was able to confirm that I have lost a couple of kilos walking 450 kilometres in France! 😄
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| 450 km into France! |
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