Category: Uncategorized
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Day 39: Bar sur Aube to Châteauvillain (41 km) Going ‘extreme pilgrim’ with Georges.
You wish me to tell you why and how God should be loved. My answer is that God himself is the reason he is to be loved. Bernard of Clairvaux After yesterday I was looking forward to a relaxing day on the road. An amble over to Clairvaux to visit…
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Day 40: Châteauvillain to Mormant-Leffonds (30 km) A Gipsy Caravan and a Wild(ish) Boar.
It is the encounters with people that make life worth living. Guy de Maupassant There is much to be said for walking the Via Francigena in a more leisurely way. Namely having a one hour nap at lunchtime, arriving at your destination in the early afternoon, enjoying a refreshing glass…
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Day 41: Mormant-Leffonds to Langres (27 km) Another Rambling Blog – Delia,Pinch Punch,a Catfish and a French holiday.
Let’s be ‘avin’ you! Delia Smith – 28 Feb 2005 In the 1970s and 80s, Delia Smith was a national treasure among middle England cookery enthusiasts who eagerly awaited her weekly recipe updates in The Times and bought her cookery books by the millions. My mother was a Delia fan…
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Day 42: Langres – rest day. In Search of Enlightenment.
It is only one step from fanaticism to barbarism Denis Diderot I spent last night in Langres having supper with my Belgian friend, Claude, at the Le Foy Restaurant in the centre of Langres, over looked by the imposing9 statue of Denis Diderot. It felt slightly surreal to be sitting…
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Day 43: Langres to Torcenay (24 km) A Fortune Teller Told Me.
Life is full of opportunities. The problem is to recognize them when they present themselves, and that isn’t always easy. Mine, for instance, had all the marks of a curse: ‘Beware! You run a grave risk of dying in 1993. You mustn’t fly that year. Don’t fly, not even once,’…
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Day 44: Torcenay to Champlitte (37 km) Earth Pilgrim – Small is Beautiful.
But I have come to realize that the true meaning of pilgrimage is to live free from any attachments, habits, prejudices. Free from physical and mental clutter. Making an outer journey is a reminder of an inner journey, and I discovered that I am always on a pilgrimage. Life is…
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Day 45: Champlitte to Dampierre sur Salon (19 km) In Vino Veritas
Good food and good wine, this is heaven on earth. King Henry IV of France Every morning when I wake up I wonder how on earth I am going to fill my daily blog post. My target is to write around 1,500 words which I read somewhere is the ideal…
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Day 46: Dampierre sur Salon to Gy (40 km) We are Pilgrims on a Journey.
We Are Pilgrims On A JourneyWe Are Brothers On The RoadWe Are Here To Help Each OtherWalk The Mile And Bear The Load Brother Let Me Be Your Servant – Hymn Olivia sent me a lovely email on Sunday together with the words of a hymn (Brother Let Me Be…
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Day 47: Gy to Besançon (37 km) Carpe Diem.
What is love? ’tis not hereafter; Present mirth hath present laughter; What’s to come is till unsure: In delay there lies no plenty; Then come kiss me, sweet-and-twenty! Youth’s a stuff will not endure William Shakespeare – Twelfth Night In May this year, Claudine Thorelle, my host at the gite…
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Day 48: Rest Day in Besançon – All about two gaffers called Victor and Vauban
Love is the foolishness of men, and the wisdom of God. Victor Hugo – Les Miserables When Louis XIV ascended the throne of France on the 14th May 1643, France was embattled by neighbouring states, impoverished by years of constant warfare and imperilled by feuding factions. When he died 72…
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Day 49: Besançon to Ornans (40 km) – The Painter and the Smoking Wild Boar of Ornans.
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,And loved the sorrows of your changing face; William Butler Yeats – When You Are Old The day didn’t get off to the best of starts. I’d decided on an early 8am departure from the Diocesenal House in Besançon as it was…
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Day 50: Ornans to Pontarlier (38 km) Per Ardua Ad Astra
In Xanadu did Kubla KhanA stately pleasure-dome decree:Where Alph, the sacred river, ranThrough caverns measureless to manDown to a sunless sea. Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Kubla Khan There are no two ways about it, today was a tough day! My departure from the Smoking Wild Boar Gite outside Ornans was…
Pilgrim's Progress - Long Distance Walks in Europe and the UK 