E5 Days 56-60

Tuesday, April 30th

The Cow-Train

• A great breakfast, saying goodbye to Raphael and Laurent and off we go!

• The path leads along the canal again and there we are surprised by an artistically designed piece of canal.

• We continue along a railway line on flat and relaxed country lanes and then back to the canal, which is getting bigger and more artificial.
• We take a break in a small village before continuing along small roads – real ‘country roads’.

• Suddenly I see something passing by in the distance: ‘Look, a train!’ I shout and it’s another sign that I have more blood in my legs than in my brain, because Matthäus squints his eyes, looks intently into the distance and then says: ‘Where?! I don’t see a train… Or do you mean the cows?’
• I look again and see that it is indeed a herd of cows marching in single file across the meadow in the distance.
• Our path gets smaller and smaller: soon there is only a path leading into the forest, until suddenly the signposting for the GR2 (which we are currently on) stops completely – ah, a phenomenon from which no GR is spared.

• We make our way through the thicket and finally end up on a huge track, which we walk along until we fortunately come across a path again.
• Here in the forest – also GR-like – the paths become muddier again.
• In between, there are sections of dirt tracks where we don’t meet any people, but we do meet a lovely horse that even greets us – hello horse!

• Finally, we reach the small town of Bar-sur-Seine.
• We cross a bridge into the centre of the village, where we see a half-timbered house that is probably being renovated and of which only the wooden frame remains. Fascinating!

• We are accommodated directly above a bar/restaurant (real Delft vibes).
• We decide to take advantage of the favourable location and have dinner in the restaurant.
• I manage the feat of having the champagne menu (yes, there is a champagne menu) open in front of me and asking the waiter: ‘Do you have champagne?’ Whereupon he looks at me in confusion and then slowly says: ‘Yes, everything on the menu is champagne.’ – Ah, not my brightest moment (but not my least brightest either – ha).

• So we order one of the many bottles of champagne, whereby we once again reveal ourselves to be total tourists and simply choose the bottle that is advertised on a large page.
• We treat ourselves to a three-course meal (I’m not even sure if you can order menus with less than three courses in French restaurants) and I have to say, the food is excellent!
• At night there is no crazy party music from our bar (not like Delft), but instead nature offers us a spectacle: there is a mega thunderstorm, the likes of which we have rarely seen before, and we are once again glad to not be staying in a tent!

Wednesday, May 1st

Escargot, extreme ascents and descents and champagne

• We have breakfast in a bowling hall – or at least a similarly large and empty room.

• We set off through the beautiful old town centre of Bar-sur-Seine – along forest paths, forest tracks and alongside the Seine.

• On a path in the middle of the forest, a car suddenly comes towards us at walking pace – OK? A bit strange…
• The path today leads for long stretches over the hills on which the grapes of the famous champagne grow – wow!

• We walk along roads through small villages and past farms.
• One of them has donkeys standing around outside and I immediately make friends with one of them – love at first sight, so to speak – and we get on so well that I would have loved to take him with me straight away. <3

• Through a very small pedestrian subway that takes us under a large road, we reach the Champagne Hills again, where we find a huge table. ‘I’m sure it’s for champagne tastings,’ I say to Matthäus, because the table reminds me a lot of the one Lucia and Herbert have in their vineyards and where we tasted their wine.
• We use the table for a break with a snack and try the snail pâté we picked up from the supermarket.
• It is very tasty!

• However, when we send a photo to friends of ours, the reactions are very mixed and more negatively shocked.
• Shortly afterwards, we find a burnt-out car next to the path, which gives us total Route 66 vibes.

• We also observe a fascinating natural spectacle: lots of caterpillars have formed a chain so that they look like a long snake. They move synchronised along the path.
• Finally, our path leads through a forest and up and down in the wildest way.
• I’ve never really seen such steep forest paths- and I have hiked in the mountains!

• We reach Mussy, situated on the Seine, and find our accommodation straight away.

• Our host, Pierre, is out somewhere in the village at the moment, but comes strolling over when we call him – very quickly for his age.
• He is a keen hiker himself, he tells us, and is delighted that we are staying with him and exploring the country on foot.
• Shortly afterwards, a huge thunderstorm breaks out and we are also very happy that we can stay with Pierre!

Thursday, May 2nd

“Spreekt u Nederlands?”

• Breakfast with Pierre, whose son calls and impresses us with his fluent German.
• Pierre tells us about various hiking adventures, including his favourite tour – the Mont Blanc circumnavigation on the GR 5.

• We say goodbye and set off on the GR 703, the Jeanne D’Arc hiking trail, which first takes us on a very gentle – unusually gentle – climb up into the vineyards.

• These are beautiful, a sight marred only slightly by the rain that has been with us since we walked out the door.
• We finally leave the vineyards and continue through forest, forest, forest, but on very beautiful paths.
• The rest of the route is unspectacular – we take shelter under the canopy of a church for our lunch break, which at least keeps the rain off but not the cold, making the lunch break rather short.

• Instead, we arrive in our destination Cunfin in the early afternoon.
• On the way we meet another long-distance hiker, with whom we chat a bit. He tells us that he is walking the Camino de Santiago, for which he has planned until the end of August – his wife is accompanying him for part of the way in Spain as are his 10, 12 and 15-year-old children – but otherwise he is walking alone.
• When it comes to accommodation, he has a tent with him: When he is in a town in the evening, he rings people and asks if they have any idea where he could pitch his tent and is then often invited for dinner, and here and there he is also offered the chance to simply camp in the garden.

• But today in the persistent rain we are once again very happy about our decision to spend the night in Chambre d’Hotes and to be welcomed by Monique and Bianca, who run a super nice guest house together.
• The two, a Dutch couple (who previously lived in Delfgauw =) ), recently bought the beautiful house and have been running a bed & breakfast in it since April.

• To our absolute delight, they also offer a table d’hotes and we are lucky because the other guests, Pierre and Patrice, two Belgians, have bought a house nearby today, an occasion that must of course be celebrated with champagne.

• Great dinner conversations – this time in Dutch: the two Belgians from Flanders are very nice and great fun.
• Patrice says: ‘We really like hiking and I’m always faster than Pierre uphill’ – Pierre, who weighs about twice as much as his wife, laughs and says: ‘Yes, no wonder!’ ‘…and then Pierre catches up with me downhill,’ continues Patrice and Pierre adds: ’Yes, no wonder either!’
• All in all, there is a lot of laughter, wine is drunk and it is simply a great evening!

Friday, May 3rd

The Chemin Jeanne D’Arc

• Breakfast together with Pierre and Patrice, which we think is great, not only because they’re great people to talk to and always up for a laugh, but also because they don’t eat their pain au chocolats, which we can then take with us.
• Bianca even gives us bags so that we can pack any leftover food – that’s really lovely and we can even take sandwiches with us for the hike.

• I write a little before we set off – into the beautiful forest through which our path will take us all day today, towards Abbaye Clairvaux.
• Thank goodness it’s not raining, on the contrary, the sun often comes out and we make good progress, as my foot, which had been badly blistered (the hiking boots are still quite new), is feeling better again.

• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows accompanies us again for long stretches of the route and we really don’t meet a soul for the whole day.
• At the end, we can already see the abbey shimmering through the forest, which – as Pierre described – is indeed very imposing and large.

• Half of it is covered by scaffolding, which somewhat diminishes the impressive view.
• We leave the Jeanne D’Arc trail, GR 703, today, as it would lead on to the village of ‘Ma’, from where Jeanne D’Arc set off in the direction of Orléans.
• Pierre also told us Jeanne d’Arcs story last night.
• Matthäus also knows parts of Jeanne D’Arc’s story from ‘Age of Empires 2’ and recounts what he remembers: Jeanne went to Orléans during the 100 Years’ War to persuade the uncrowned king, who had already lost all hope, to go to war.
• She was apparently persuasive enough, because that is exactly what he did, with Jeanne d’Arc joining in and successfully reconquering some territories – including Reims and parts of the Val de Loire.

• The end of the story is not so nice: the fierce lady was captured and burned as a witch – ‘at least’ this helped her to be made a saint.
• We have booked a hotel next to the abbey, where we check in straight away, move into the room and chill out before doing a flight- and accommodation booking session – followed by a brief annoyance about why we wanted to save 80 euros and signed up for ‘Opodo Prime’, which now turns out to be impossible to cancel…. – stupid!
• Dinner in the hotel restaurant – Matthäus orders the house speciality, andouille (sausage made from intestines).
• I try it, but I’m not a big fan.

Saturday, May 4th

Das ist Orges! (OK, this really only works in German)

• Breakfast at the hotel, backpacks dropped and a very light walk to the Abbaye de Clairvaux, which we pay a visit today.

• We arrive on time for the first tour at half past ten and our guide speaks pleasantly slow French.
• He is also super happy about the ‘Autrichiens’ taking part in the tour.

• At one point, he takes us aside and asks us with interest what brings us here.
• He is thrilled when we tell him about our hike – he himself has already walked the GR 5 around Mont Blanc (apparently this is THE French long-distance hiking trail par excellence!), he says with shining eyes.
• ‘Ah, we’ve heard of that one too,’ we say and we’re immediately involved in a conversation about GRs and hiking.
• Now that I look at my notes, I realise that everything I’ve written down about the Abbaye is ‘largest monument construction site after Notre Dame’ – an architect’s child through and through.

• The abbey was the origin of the Cistercian order when St Bernard came here and built the abbey on this site and founded the order.
• Gérard, our guide, says that the Cistercian order also includes the Heiligenkreuz monastery in Austria – and looks at us meaningfully – ‘Yes, we know it, we’ve even been there several times,’ we assure him.
• The Cistercians are known for the large monastery gardens and herb gardens that surround the monasteries – mega!
• However, at the beginning of the 19th century, this monastery was converted into a prison, which was operated until 2023 and only recently has it become possible to visit the site on a guided tour!
• You can see traces of the prison everywhere: watchtowers, fences, the whole complex exudes a special flair.

• Only when we look at the business card that Gérard hands us at the end do we realise that our tour guide is the president of the association for the preservation and restoration of the monastery complex!
• We say goodbye and thank him, because the tour was really great, and set off: out of civilisation again, into the forest.
• From here, we leave the Jeanne D’Arc Trail and instead continue along the Via Francigena, a pilgrimage route that we follow for a few days.

• We discover a broken car tyre in the forest – not cool – and a river, which we are relieved to discover we don’t have to cross.
• As we pass through a very small village, we see a bakery vending machine by the side of the road and think: great, we’ll get a fresh baguette there, but that’s not the case: instead, the last bag in the vending machine is filled with – believe it or not – eight pain au chocolats! Made my day!

• As we’re currently travelling on pilgrimage routes, we take a look into a church, but perhaps also because it’s raining again and we’re happy to be in the dry for a moment.

• Another highlight is the village of Orges, which lends itself to silly jokes (in German), which we never tire of cracking all day – ‘Ah, da ist Orges!’, ‘Voll Orges’, etc. etc.
• Châteauvillain, where we spend the night today, lives up to its reputation; it is full of beautiful 19th century buildings.

• We are briefly disappointed when we realise that the only restaurant in town – a kebab shop – is closed, but salvation comes – as so often – in the form of a pizza food truck.
• The rush at this one is (unsurprisingly) so great that the vendor tells us that the pizza won’t be ready until 10 o’clock in the evening.
• In the meantime, we try to switch on the sauna in our flat and blow the fuse. 

• We then knock on the door of the neighbours, where our fuse box is apparently located (very practical) – great joy, because they are Dutch and we talk in Dutch about the practical (not) construction – and we warn them that we might come by again if the fuse blows again.
• After we have switched off and unplugged all the other devices, the sauna works perfectly and we have a very cosy sauna evening – very nice!