Day 15: Corbeny

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Day 15: Corbeny

No rain today and a lot of road walking which means dry boots and happy feet despite the pain and one new blister.

This morning after breakfast, I walked up to the old town to visit the cathedral and walk around one last time before leaving.  I discovered upon returning to my hotel, packing the final things into The Devil and putting the Red Beasts on my feet that I had to walk up and over the old town to get to the other side and in the direction of Corbeny.  Laon is on a hilltop.  Up and down is the equivalent of 32 floors.  I did it twice, once with the The Devil and once without.

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Day 14: Laon

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Day 14: Laon

I woke up this morning to grey light filtering in between the gap in the curtains.  Without getting out of bed to even look at the sky, I checked the weather forecast on my phone; 90% chance of rain from 8am, 70% chance it would still be raining in the afternoon.  I got out of bed and looked out my window.  It was already raining lightly.  I glanced at my hiking boots. I could tell by the darkness of the red that they were still wet but inspected them anyway.  Outside. Wet.  Inside.  Wet.  Great.  I was going to be walking in the rain all day wearing wet boots that would get even wetter.  I wanted to cry. I felt tired tears pooling behind my eyes.  But then I wanted to laugh because somehow at the same time the situation seemed ridiculously funny.

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Day 13: Tergnier

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Day 13: Tergnier

I left Trefcon this morning at 7.45am on quiet country roads surrounded by fog.

In the bushes and trees and fences lining the road into Etraillers were decorated with the pretty lacework of perfect spiderwebs wearing pearls of dew. 

It was another long day of walking, 34.5 kilometres today and most of it in the rain.  Unable to find my usual lunch eating venue, a bus stop, I spotted some kind of metal cabinet on a nature strip nestled between two shrubs that made the perfect bench and that is where I sat and ate my sandwich and apple as the rain continued to tumble down.  

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Day 12: Trefcon

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Day 12: Trefcon

After the rain comes sun.  And after the rain comes a whole lot of mud and I spent a large part of today's walk either dodging it or trudging through it carefully so as not to slip and fall. But where there is mud and lake-sized puddles there are other wonders to be found; giant snails quietly glide between blades of grass, tiny brown frogs leap and dive beneath the puddles surface disappearing into the muddy spume and the giant orange slugs slither along the mud.

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Day 11: Peronne

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Day 11: Peronne

Kermit cloak on. Kermit cloak off.  Kermit cloak on.  Kermit cloak off.  That's how today went. 

I don't mind that it showered periodically, I just wish I could read the weather.  It seems that I would walk for a long time with the Kermit cloak on, whipped by the almost constant wind that skims these lands, and as soon as I decided to take it off that it would start to rain again and I would have to battle against the wind to get the cloak back on over me and The Devil and buttoned up.

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Day 10: Bapaume

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Day 10: Bapaume

After the rain comes sun...for a while then dark clouds and cold wind and a few drops of rain.  Then repeat and repeat and repeat.

I left Arras at 9.30am this morning in crisp air drowned in sunshine and a bounce in my step.  My body has recovered surprisingly well after yesterday's painful marathon.  My blisters didn't flare up at all today and it was only at the 24 kilometre mark that my heels really started to throb and my hips cramp

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Day 9: Arras

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Today was the hardest day of walking so far.  Not because of the terrain, it was reasonably flat, but because of the distance.  I walked 38.5 kilometres in 10 hours, 6 of those in the rain.  I wasn't driven by ego to go further than I am physically capable of or ready for whilst my body is adjusting to long distance walking.  There's very little accommodation options between Bruay-la-Buissiere and Arras so I really had no choice but to walk it.  And I chose the shorter option.  The true to the book route adds another 14 kilometres.

The first 12 kilometres were the easiest.  I stopped to talk to the curious cows that trusted me enough to come near me instead of run away as they usually do.  But as the day wore on, my two blisters burned, my arches and my heels ached and by the end of the day my hip muscles were in spasm, screaming in pain.  The tears were there but they didn't come.  I kept telling myself I can do it.  I can do it. I can do it. I did.

The last two kilometres into Arras were the worst, slow and painful. I prayed for the feel of pillows beneath my feet.  I prayed for the pain to soften just a little.  I prayed for grace, for a way that I could be in acceptance of the pain and stop resisting it and making it worse. I estimate it took me an hour to walk the last two kilometres into town.  I was so relieved to see the bell tower, to know I had made it, although I still had to find accommodation for the night.  And when I did, and I finally took the Devil off my back and I could sit down, the pain instantly started to fade away along with the memory of how painful the day was..

I  feel like I'm breaking some unwritten pilgrim law writing this now. No one seems to talk about exactly how physically challenging and painful it is.  Maybe because they don't want to put others off trying it for themselves.  Maybe because they don't want to be seen to be whinging or moaning.  Maybe because they just want to focus on the positive aspects of pilgrimage.

I am not seeking sympathy.  I understand the nature of the path I have chosen.  

I do not want to put others off choosing their own pilgrim path but I am a truth-teller and I don't want to paint the picture that this is a beautiful and romantic "stroll" through Europe.

The pilgrim path is a tough one. It tests you physically, emotionally and spiritually. I was tested in all three ways today.

Day 6: Wisques

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Day 6: Wisques

Today I found my own way between Licques and Wisques.  It meant I spent the day walking on country roads although I inadvertently picked up the main trail at the end.   The roads weren't busy but they were narrow and there was very little shoulder to walk on. I was always listening for cars so I could step off the road and onto the shoulder when I needed to, especially when traffic was coming in both directions at the same time.

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