Joanne's long walks: Road to Home 2023 Day 49: Les Hospitaux Neufs

Having a birthday is like reaching a higher peak on a mountain. Pause to admire the view; reflect on how far you have come.

- Richelle E. Goodrich

I have often spent my birthday walking, as it comes along at the perfect time of year for a Long Walk. Last year I was in England, and reached my friend Jennifer's house the night before my birthday; the year before, I was in La Verna on the Way of St. Francis. In 2020 I was of course at home, but in 2019 I was in Léon on the Camino de Santiago.

But this birthday I got to celebrate in two countries... waking up in France and going to bed in Switzerland!

It was only a short walk from our chalet in Les Hospitaux Neufs to Jougne, the last town in France on the Via Francigena. Here I stopped to buy a few toiletries which I assumed would, like everything else, be more expensive in Switzerland!

As we took a break before descending into the valley, we were joined by Curtis, the American who had been staying in the other room at the chalet. We straightened out his backpack and tightened his straps so he would be all neat and tidy ready for Switzerland 😄! Then he took pictures of us all in front of the sign saying three kilometres to the Swiss border.

A short walk along a quiet country road, and we were in another country! Just like that - no fanfare, no customs checkpoint, no big signpost - just an old stone border marker.

One foot in France, the other in Switzerland!

Another photo session ensued, of course, and after taking pictures of each other straddling the border, we took a group selfie sitting on the first bench in Switzerland !

Our next stop was Ballaigues, to visit the first bank machine in Switzerland and withdraw some francs. We took a lunch break in the square, outside the first supermarket in Switzerland, where we asked a passing British cyclist to take a group photo for us, seeing as our selfie had not turned out so well 😄!

Oh yes, and there was a statue of a donkey in the picture too... not sure why there was a statue of a donkey outside that supermarket!

During our lunch break we had been entertained by the passage of a series of supercars... we joked that you could tell we were in Switzerland now because everyone drove fancy cars, but when we saw them all parked outside a local restaurant, we realised most of them had French plates. They were there for some sort of rally and had stopped for their lunch break, just like us. (But not on a bench outside the supermarket 😆.)

In Ballaigues we were joined by Corine and Hans, the Dutch couple we met yesterday making coffee on their campstove in the middle of the forest. We carried on together, descending on a steep path into the gorge of the Orbe river. I was too busy watching my footing to take pictures on the way down, but this is what it looked like at the bottom!

We walked through the gorge for the rest of the afternoon, on a path that was sometimes projected out on a walkway over the water, and at other times perched between the rock face on one side and a steep drop on the other. We even walked through tunnels cut into the rock.

We reached the end of the gorge and the village of Les Clées just in time - dark clouds were gathering and a thunderstorm appeared to be on its way. We came to the village church and took shelter under its porch, and it soon began to rain, gently at first then harder and harder.

Hans waiting out the rainstorm

Four ladies on a bench watching the rain

We spent at least an hour under that porch! Hans and Corine gave me a birthday present wrapped in shiny gold paper: a Twix bar. Then they boiled water on their campstove and made coffee and hot chocolate. There was a café right next door, but that would have been too easy: it was more fun making it on the campstove! 😄

When the rain finally stopped, we began the short but steep walk up to our accommodations in Lignerolles, about 1.5 kilometres off the Via Francigena route, high above Les Clées.

Les Clées

Les Clées disappearing into the distance below us

Lignerolles

Our hostess, Audrey, welcomed us and showed us around Chez Epicure, in the former Auberge des Cerfs, which has a dormitory of four bunkbeds as well as a number of private rooms. Hans and Corine had booked the cheaper dormitory beds so there weren't enough beds left for the three of us, but Audrey and Philippe offered us a special birthday rate: a private room for three at the same rate per person as the dormitory. Pilgrims can also use the sauna for free, but after steaming all the way up the big hill in our waterproofs, none of us felt the need for it!

Audrey had cooked up a storm of delicious Indian food, accompanied by homemade bread and naan and followed by passion fruit ice cream. It was a lovely meal in great company, first among pilgrims and then joined by Philippe and the couple's two young adult children. As we were about to retire to our rooms, another walker came in, a young man who had forgotten to tell Audrey he was a vegan, causing a bit of a stir in the kitchen! He came in wearing a face mask, disinfected his hands and sat down - right next to us all, rather than at the opposite end of the long table, which would have been the logical thing to do if he was still worried about coronavirus! Audrey the pilgrim (as opposed to Audrey our hostess) wanted to wait and see how this fellow was intending to go about eating his dinner with his face mask on... but when he took it off and started to eat normally we lost interest and came upstairs to join Elaine, who had already retired.

And thus to bed!