Joanne's long walks: Road to Home 2023 Day 27: Trépail

Saturday, May 13, 2023

Road to Home 2023 Day 27: Trépail - Châlons-en-Champagne

Partir sur les sentiers est une manière simple de réenchanter son existence.

-David le Breton, Marcher la vie : Un art tranquille du bonheur

Andrew and I had arranged to have our breakfast at 7 am, and Mme Jacqueminet served us big bowls of coffee, bread and homemade jam. Then we covered ourselves in plastic and strode out in a light rain. We were both wearing Rab Silponchos, though in different shades of orange and slightly different styles. The Silponcho is a great rain poncho that is super lightweight yet strong, and can in a pinch be used as a tarpaulin to construct an emergency shelter! I hope I will never need to use it in this way, but I have often found it useful as a large sit-upon to spread over wet grass or benches.

Selfie in orange, with our hostess

Andrew well wrapped up

Ready for any eventuality in sunglasses and raingear!

On our hostess's advice we took a shortcut across the fields into Condé-sur-Marne, walking along a dirt track and then along a grassy track used by tractors, parallel to the main highway. It was good not to have to worry about the traffic, but our feet soon became quite soaked in the long wet grass!

We stopped at the bakery in Condé-sur-Marne for coffee and pastries, which we ate in the little covered marketplace across the way.

Condé-sur-Marne is located at the confluence of the Aisne-Marne canal and the Canal Lateral de la Marne, which flows along the side of the Marne River. And we did the same, following the canal for 16 kilometres along the former towpath, now a paved cycling path.

The confluence of the canals

The canal path was pretty, but very monotonous; it would have been mind-numbingly boring to walk it alone, so I was glad to have Andrew's company! The time and the kilometres flew past, and by three o'clock we had covered the 25 kilometres to Châlons-en-Champagne, and were checking into the youth hostel!

After the usual routine of showering and hand-washing my walking clothes, I refused to give in to the temptation to take a nap and walked into the town centre to see the cathedral before it closed. The 13th- to 16th-century stained glass windows of the cathedral of Saint-Etienne are amazingly vivid in their colours!

When the cathedral closed at six I passed by the office de tourisme to get a stamp on my pilgrim credential, and then visited the town's other notable church, the 12th- to 15th-century Église Collégiale Notre-Dame-en-Vaux.

The Saint Jacques window

There were more amazing stained glass windows here, as well as an interesting diorama which was the opposite of the presepe Christmas nativity scenes you find in Italy - a miniature scene illustrating the Passion of Christ. All done with Lego figurines! There was even a Lego Christ on the cross, with a Lego beard and a Lego loincloth. As well as a Lego Last Supper! 😄

Châlons-en-Champagne doesn't seem to have been destroyed in the war like all the other towns I've walked through, and has plenty of old-fashioned wattle and daub buildings.

It was a pleasure to walk around the old town centre! I met Andrew for dinner and stocked up at a Carrefour supermarket on lunch supplies for the next couple of days, as I will be walking through an area with absolutely no shops or restaurants. Then we returned to the hostel and met three other pilgrims: Elaine, who had come in late after a very long day of walking from Verzanay, Esther, a Dutch walker who had stayed in the city for ten days because of a problem with her back, and Giacomo, an Italian who had set out walking, but just the previous day purchased a bicycle in order to keep moving despite a problem with his knee. Once again I was surprised to see how many people there are on the Via Francigena in France, which was until recently a very solitary route, where you might walk for days and days without meeting anyone at all!

I have also met, or heard about, several people who found it tougher than they imagined, primarily due to the lack of services along the route, and some who have had to drop out or take a break due to physical issues of one kind or another. It's not an easy route to walk, and it's important to know what you're getting yourself into before you begin! I'm thankful to have made it this far without any major problems.