The daily wonder, insights, challenges and photos of my journey from Rome to Canterbury on foot
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Yes, I really walked 41 kilometres today. I have to admit, it wasn't my best day's walk. It was a bit of a rollercoaster really. I slept badly for the second night in a row. The Devil just wouldn't get comfortable on my back. My shoulder was shooting pain. I would be comfortable for a while, find my rhythm and then lose it again.
Read MoreDespite the peace and tranquility of my surrounds in the little hamlet of Mormant, I slept badly last night. Tossing and turning, waking up too hot beneath the blankets and then after eventually falling asleep the throbbing and aching in my feet, knees and legs waking me again. I got out of bed to go to the bathroom for some water and on my way back to bed stopped to look out my bedroom window.
Read MoreI left Chateauvillain at 11am for a shorter and slower walk today. Only 22 kilometres to Mormant, around 5.5 to 6 hours. It was already warm, the skies again cloudless and the sun high. As I was walking with a mild dose of gastro that started as I arrived in Chateavillain last night, I needed to go a bit slower today. Fortunately I had a supply of Buscopan and Gastrex with me in my medical kit which kept me walking although feeling unwell.
Read MoreToday was my best walking day yet. I've discovered my secret for good walking; leave early, allow extra time, let your body find its own rhythm and take regular breaks.
It was a long day. I left my hotel at 7.15am and arrived at my Chambre d'Hotes at 6pm but I have spent at least an hour lying in the sun. My feet did well today. No new blisters. No new pain.
Read MoreThe house below (see photo) is what I will now think of as the House of Horror. I think it looks a little sinister with the two deer heads stuck on it as decoration. In reality is the Hebergement Pelerine in Brienne-le-Chateau, a house provided by the town for pilgrims to stay for a small fee. Except, it appears, when there is a big festival on in town and they will let anyone stay there.
Read MoreWhen I am walking, I regularly pause to look back at the path I have walked. Thirty minutes ago I was all the way back there and now I am all the over here. I can visualise myself back at the crest of that hill, tired and aching wondering how much longer it will take me to arrive. Sometimes its a miracle. Sometimes its a victory. Always its incredible.
Read MoreI am now in Brienne-le-Chateau. Since I last posted, I have walked from Reims to Conde-sur-Marne to Chalons-en-Champagne to le-Meix-Tiercelin to here and have clocked more than 500 kilometres. I have written individual blog posts for each day but haven't posted them as I have been staying in places that don't have internet connection; a gite, a youth hostel, a home for people with disabilities and now here in this hebergement pelerins where I have a room with two hospital beds and a mattress on the floor. My life is stripped down to the bare necessities; shelter, food and some clothes on my back.
Read MoreToday I said good bye to Tent. The weather is too cold for camping, it is dropping to around 6 degrees at night. I have been carrying Tent as an emergency accommodation option. Although I used her in Guines where I camped for free, I quite possibly could have been accommodated in a chalet (read cabin in English) if I had asked.
Read MoreHe leadeth me beside the still waters (Psalm 23).
I leadeth me beside the busy highways during peak hour (Kym mistake # 23).
If I followed the guidebook's suggestion, I would have walked 40 kilometres today. 24 kilometres to Hermonville and then 16 kilometres to Reims through farms and woodlands and vineyards and I am sure it would have been lovely but I really wanted to make it to Reims today in less than 40 kilometres.
Read MoreKym Wilson is an Australian writer, coach and pilgrim. In late 2013, she walked 2,022 kilometres alone along the Via Francigena pilgrimage trail from Canterbury to Rome seeking inner wisdom and healing.
