DAY 3 : GUINES to LICQUES

Friday 29 August.

 

It is going to take a while to get used to having moved our watches forward 1 hour, now we are in France. When we got up this morning at 6:30am it was 'actually' 5:30am. Fortunately we went to bed early last night and had a good sleep. There weren't any blankets but we used our sleeping bags and were nice and warm. When I got up I made us a cup of tea and sat down with guide book and wrote out today's route in a small note book. It is awkward having to stop and take out the iPad every time there is something to check on the trail.

 

 

Moira bought a baguette yesterday and we had it with jam for our breakfast with another cup of tea. We were packed up and on our way by 8:30am. There was a queue of caravans parked along the driveway into he site, most had GB plates and had either come off the ferry late last night or were spending a day here before heading back to the UK. We spoke to a few and told them about the Via Francigena, more amazed faces. I handed out cards and later when we checked the email we got £10 from an anonymous donor, maybe one of them.

From the site we made our way along the road we took from the town last night but continued to a turning further on. This minor tarred road was signposted to the Colonne Blanchard, a monument erected in honour of Jean-Pierre Blanchard and Dr Jeffries from USA. They landed here after the first crossing of the English Channel aboard a gas balloon in 1785. It took them 1hour 45 minutes from Dover, a lot faster than us.

 

It was a steady, gradual climb on the tarred lane which crossed a railway line with high speed trains, to a picnic area. From there we were on sandy sometimes muddy tracks through the forests. It was now a waymarked trail, the GR145 also signposted for the Via Francigena. The signs corresponded largely with the route in our guide book but where there was a deviation I religiously stuck to the notes I had copied down earlier this morning.

 

 

When we emerged from the woodland it was one of the occasions where Cicerone advised an alternative to the GR one, and it was shorter. It went along the D248 to the hamlet of Le Ventu d'Alembon. There we found a convenient bus shelter with a seat where I got out the Camping Gaz cooker and made a cup of coffee. We had been making good time and it was only about 4km from there to the finish in Licques. This last section was a delightful ridge walk with magnificent views of the flat countryside below which stretched for miles.

 

The track soon descended and we were on a minor road that took us into the village of Licques. Our destination was the campsite, Camping les Pommiers de 3 Pays which reportedly had a small caravan for the use of pilgrims. It was on the other side on the road out of town, about another couple of kilometres. It was a small caravan, but big enough for us; it cost €30 for the night. Today's route from Guines was 15km long, it was easy and my back was feeling much better. Before leaving I took two anti-inflammatory pills, just in case.

 

We had a lovely chicken curry for dinner that Moira cooked, with pasta rather than rice. She bought a huge courgette to add to the curry, it ended up more courgette than chicken but very nice and filling. I asked the guy I charge of the site to contact an abbey to arrange accommodation for us at Wisques, tomorrow's destination but he couldn't get through on the phone. We will just head there and hope for the best.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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DAY 2 : CALAIS to GUINES

Thursday 28 August.

We both slept fairly well after everyone else in the hostel settled down. Its funny the number of times in hotels and hostels that people in other rooms sound as if they are rearranging the furniture before getting to bed. In the morning my back was still achy but a big improvement on yesterday, the anti-inflammatory pills appear to be working. I took another two with my breakfast which we had in the kitchen downstairs, cereal, toast and coffee.

                             

When we left it was a 15 minute walk to the docks and very terminal. It was raining slightly and we had on our waterproof jackets. I took it easy to ease my back in gently. It was a job to find the check-in for foot passengers; the place was deserted but at last we found a couple in reflective jackets out for a quick smoke who directed us to the foot passenger's lounge and the P&O counter. After getting our boarding passes we had a 20 minute wait for a bus that took everyone to the ferry. On the bus a number of people were interested and amazed in what we were doing and I handed out a few of our cards. One woman, Ester, on a day drip to Calais gave a £10 donation.

We relaxed in the lounge reading the newspaper we had downloaded before leaving the hostel. It was a gentle 2 hour crossing but the visibility was poor though when we reached Calais the rain had stopped but it was still cloudy. The walk from the ferry terminal wasn't very long after the bus dropped us at the gates; we must have taken a shorter route than the one we take in the motorhome. Following the directions from our Cicerone guide book we soon reached the Canal de Calais by skirting round the 'centre vile'. It wasn't a typical canal towpath but a narrow pavement beside a road, fortunately not too busy. It was a pleasant walk on a hard even surface which helped my back which was holding out quite well.

After about an hour's walking we came to a stall that was selling sandwiches and 'frites'. Moira bought a small bag of chips between us. It did our lunch, I can't imagine how much came in a big bag. Shortly after the Pont de Coulogne the canal split in two and we took the right hand one, Canal de Calais a Guines. There was a waymarked route following the canal, the Chemin de Randonnee Pedestre de Coulogne a Guines. Again it wasn't the sort of towpath we are accustomed to, it left the canal in places and was a narrow track through woodland. Where it did follow close to the canal it was again narrow and rough. Fortunately in places it widened and was gravel or tar which improved our pace.

When we reached the end of the canal it was our destination for the day, the small town of Guines. From the town square and the Hotel de Ville ( town hall) we had to ask directions as the street names didn't correspond to the ones quoted in our guide book. It was about a kilometre and on the outskirts of town to Camping La Bien Assise. I had booked a chalet there over the Internet that was avialable to pilgrims on the Via Francegena. It slept 5 but we were the only ones using it. It was ideal and we had plenty of room plus cooking facilities. The shower had piping hot water and I let it cascade over my back muscle to relieve any tightness.

Moira went shopping at the campsite supermarket, what she bought made a lovely cheese omelette for dinner along with a bottle of French red wine. We are getting into the swing of things now we are in France.

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DAY 1 : CANTERBURY to DOVER

Wednesday 27 August.

Disaster struck today. After about 10km walking my back went into spasm, probably due to not having carried a heavy pack for some time. I have been through this before at the beginning of walks and a good dose of anti-inflammatories eventually clears it up after a few days, I just have to take it easy until I get fitter. Moira helped me by leaving me stretched out on the path while she carried my pack for about 500 metres, came back picked up her own rucksack and I limped along unladen. We managed this until we reached the village of Shepherdswell where I had to give up for the day, there was no way I could make the remaining 13km to Dover. There was a railway station in the village and we were reliably informed that trains ran to Dover every hour. We had only 30 minutes to wait for the next one; it was a 10 minute journey to Dover Priory station. I managed to make it from the station the kilometre to Dover backpackers where we were staying the night.

                            

                           

The day had started very well, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. We were up at 6:30am and spent an hour on the computer working out a route from the hostel to the North Downs Way that the Via Francigena followed all the way to Dover. Moira had booked breakfast and it was very good for £2 each. There was muesli, toast, scones, muffins, coffee and fruit juice. We made up for not having eaten much yesterday. We talked to a guy from Greece over breakfast. He was a maths teacher and was starting his new position at the local high school next Monday. He was busy looking for accommodation. Another girl, from Ireland, was also searching for a place to stay, she was starting teacher training at a college in Canterbury.

It was 8:30am when we got going and with the help of the map on the iPad there was no problem finding a route to Pilgrim's Way and the first signpost and waymark for the North Downs Way. From there it was pleasant walking on traffic free tarred lanes all the way to a typical old English village, Patrixbourne.

After the lovely flat surface of the lanes we were now directed through fields and rough ground. It was the first time we had ever followed a trail that went right through the middle of a ploughed field. Away from the farm land there were lovely sections that went into the forests with the thick foliage cutting out the bright warm sunshine. The rough surface was not helping my back which was getting steadily worse and I was fortunate to make it to Shepherdswell. Not a great start on our first day.

When we reached Dover Backpackers, it was attached to a pub and our room was up in the attic. It was all right and we had it to ourselves, so peace and quiet. I immediately got my shoes off and stretched out on the bed to rest my back. It eased slightly and Moira went to the nearest pharmacy for anti-imfamatories. Hopefully I will be fit enough in the morning, at least we will get over the channel and take it from there.

We had fish and chips from a nearby chippie for dinner. There was a TV in the room so we relaxed watching it until bed time.

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On our way to Canterbury

Tuesday 26 August.

 

We had a good night's sleep in Giffnock and Suzy ran us to the station after breakfast. She joined us on the train into Glasgow and headed for work early in the city. We walked up to the bus station and started a long day on the buses

 

There were two changes, the first at Birmingham then at London before we were on our last lap to Canterbury. It was a bit nerve wracking on the first bus as there were hold ups and delays on the M6. We made our connection in Birmingham with only minutes to spare.

 

Later as the bus made its way towards Canterbury on the M2 it began to rain. Fortunately when we reached the city it was dry but it was 8:30pm and dark. We had to ask numerous people for directions to Nunnery Fields where Kitt's backpackers was, our bed for the night. Eventually we found the place and it was a big villa and everyone was friendly. The dorm had four bunks and the two left for us was a top and a bottom, I got the top one.

 

They made us a cup of hot chocolate and we had some roast chicken that Moira had cooked last night to take with us. After our make-do dinner it was a shower then off to bed.The worst thing about sleeping in a dorm is that people go to bed at different times. We turned in first but just as you drop off somebody makes a noise going to bed and you are awake again. This went on until mid-night then it was quiet and luckily no snoring.

 

 

 

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2 Days to Go !

 

We are making the final preparations before leaving for Canterbury tomorrow. I finished off tidying the garden this morning, cut the back hedge and did some weeding. Everything looks good for the next three months when we get back. The weather is beginning to turn cold up here in Scotland so I don’t think the grass and hedges will grow much more this year. while I was working in the garden Moira was packing our rucksacks. I tried mine out, it weighs 10kg and feels heavy but hopefully I will get used to it.

We are sleeping in Giffnock tonight with Gavin and Suzy. We will also get to see Hollie before we leave. It is handy staying there as it only takes about 15 minutes in the morning by train into Glasgow for the bus to Canterbury. Its going to be a long ride by bus, we have to change at Birmingham then again in London. Our only worry is that there are delays on some of the routes and we miss our connections.

Thanks to Eileen, Gavin’s mum, and Hugh and Betty our neighbours in Port Glasgow for their generous donations to Pancreatic Cancer UK. The total is now just short of £500.

 

5 Days to Go !

 

Yesterday the article below was published in our local newspaper. Are we are becoming famous ?

 

Published: 21 Aug 2014 14:00

A RETIRED Port Glasgow couple are planning a walk for charity — from England to Italy.

 

Jim and Moira Sutherland’s 1,180 mile trek starts in Canterbury on 27 August and should last about 100 days.

They are raising money for Pancreatic Cancer UK following the death of George Campbell, their daughter Suzanne’s father-in-law.

Highly experienced hikers Jim, 73, and Moira, 64, of Langside Terrace, say that age is no barrier to ultra long distance challenge.

They have completed various religious pilgrimage walks in Europe, and will now tackle the Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome, the Eternal City.

Jim said: “Even with the advancing years, it should be achievable in one go.

“We discovered that there is not much money available for research into pancreatic cancer and planned to do something to help.”

Moira said they don’t plan to rush the walk, but will divide it into sections of about 14 miles a day. Their route will take them to Dover for the ferry to France, down to Switzerland and through the St Bernard’s Pass.

Standing at 2,469 metres, it is the third highest road pass in Switzerland, connecting Martigny in the Canton of Valais to Aosta in Italy.

Jim was a sugar chemist at Tate and Lyle and then worked in the glucose industry in England and South Africa, and Moira is a former civil servant.

She said: “We have always walked and we’re looking forward to the challenge. We keep fit by walking, taking cod liver oil and enjoying the outdoors.”

Donations can be made through www.justgiving.com/suzmar

Their progress can be followed on their blog www.suzmarctor.blogspot.com

6 Days to Go !

 

We are now back in Scotland making the final preparations for our adventure. before leaving Cardiff and when we had decided on a starting date I emailed our local newspaper the ‘Greenock Telegraph’ with details of our walk and charity. They appeared interested and phoned the following day. Moira gave them all the info on the pilgrimage and why we were doing it on behalf of Pancreatic Cancer UK. They said they would be sending a photographer to see us as soon as we got back to Port Glasgow. He came yesterday and took some pictures of us in our t-shirts advertising the charity in the sunshine in our back garden. The article will hopefully be published in the next few days boosting the chances of further donations.

I have sent out a few emails to a friend in my old company African Products in South Africa to keep them up to date about what we are up to and hope for contributions. A similar update went to our old running and walking club, Benoni Northerns.

Moira has begun to pack our rucksacks mainly to see what the weight will be like. I tried mine out this morning and even with the tent packed inside it still feels quite light. I’ve no doubt we will discover a few more things that we need to take and it will get heavier.

The grass and hedges haven't grown much while we have been in Wales. It will only be an hour’s work to tidy it up at the weekend. The weather is starting to cool done up here in the north and there shouldn't be much growth after we leave next week.

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10 DAYS TO GO !

The serious planning has now begun. Next Tuesday we return to Scotland and after a week making sure the house and garden are in order we will be off, on Tuesday 26 August.

Moira has booked us on the bus for Canterbury, the first stage of this long journey. It leaves from Glasgow and goes via Birmingham where we change buses. Arriving in Canterbury in the early evening we are booked into Kitt's backpacker's hostel close to where the route begins. We are in a dorm and hopefully it will be quiet and we get a good night's sleep before the long 30 km walk along the South Downs Way to Dover.

I have emailed the 'Confraternity of the Pilgrims to Rome' about where to get the initial stamp on our credentials. Hopefully it will be at the Cathedral and maybe there will be a blessing from the Archbishop to go with it.

On reaching Dover it is another hostel for the night but this time we have a double room. The hostel is close to the docks and the ferry terminal meaning we don't have a long walk for the ferry in the morning. It leaves shortly after breakfast and Moira booked us on a day excursion ticket for £8 each. It is a return ticket but we will just forget to come back.

Initially the plan had been to come over on the ferry once we arrived in Dover and start off early the next morning from Calais on another 30 km hike to Licques. But the single ticket on the ferry in the evening is more expensive than two people in a car, strangely enough. Now it will be mid-day when we arrive in France and plan to just do a short 12km stroll to Guines. There is a campsite there that has a chalet they use for pilgrims on the Via Francigena, it only costs €10 each for the night. I have booked in there.

Well that's as far as the planning has gone. It will take us over the first few days until we get used to long distance walking again. For accommodation we will just 'play it by ear' and anyway we will have our two-man tent with us in case of emergencies.

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PREPARATION UPDATE

         

We are down in Cardiff helping out with Margaret’s new baby boy. it arrived last Sunday and was a healthy 8lb 13 oz. Everything is going well, Margaret and baby got home the following day. Things are going well and it looks like we will be heading home next Tuesday to make final preparations for heading down to Canterbury for the start of the Via Francigena.

In the meantime we have been looking at the route through France and getting the coordinates of all the towns and villages we pass through. I can now plot waypoints on a route/map programme I have on the iPad. This will make it easier to find our way through France as the route isn’t waymarked.

The other thing Moira has been researching is the ferry from Dover to Calais for foot passengers. The normal price for a signal ticket appears to be  more than we pay for both of us and the motorhome. The alternative is to take the offers for day trip excursions which are on offer at only £1 believe it or not. That way we would just cross to Calais and not come back that day. This excursion leaves at 8:45am so we will stay in Dover the previous night and do a bit of walking as soon as we arrive in Calais.

Another thing we have been looking at is accommodation. This pilgrimage isn’t like the Camino de Santiago routes through Spain with lots of plentiful budget accommodation like albergues and hostals. Reasonable priced places to stay are few and far between so we have decided to take our small two man tent and sleeping maps to use in emergencies. The tent and mats are fairly light weight so we should manage to carry them without too much trouble.

The donations in support of our charity have been coming in steadily to www.Justgiving.com/suzmar. The total has reached £370, many thanks for your contributions.

Feedback.

 

Yesterday after sending out the email about our pilgrimage there was £260 donated to the charity. I also got a best wishes message from Dave Callahan from Florida who we met and walked with on our first Camino de Santiago.

I also got into Tweeter and reactivated my ‘Grumpy Jim’ tweet. I got a response from Canterbury Cathedral wishing us good luck.

Grumpy Jim @suzmaruk

I've stopped complaining and starting doing. We are going to walk from Canterbury-Rome in aid of Pancreatic Cancer UK starting next month. - 06 Aug

Canterbury Cathedral @No1Cathedral

Follow

.@suzmaruk @AEVieFrancigene Best of luck with your journey along the Via #Francigena! We will be thinking of you

03:24 PM - 06 Aug 14

 

Jim&Moira...the hike sounds exceptionally challenging, but the satisfaction and rewards high. Good luck and "buon camino"!
David Callahan

Donations

We arrived in Cardiff yesterday and our cards they we had printed were there waiting for us. They have turned out very well.

      

I prepared an email now that I had the card and sent it out to all our friends and relations. donations have now begun coming in and we thank everyone. Keep it up 

A New Challenge

We are very keen walkers and have done many long distance hiking routes. When we retired we began in the UK with the likes of the Pennine Way, West Highland Way, Great Glen Way and South West Coastal Path. We found that accommodation on these walks was becoming expensive, we did try carrying a tent and camping but the weather tends not to be very accommodating.
 


We then heard about a pilgrimage in Spain, the Camino de Santiago. A really long distance, about 700km, from St. Jean Pied a Porte on the foothills of the Pyrenees in France over the mountains and across the north of Spain to Santiago de Compostela where the remains of the apostle St James are kept. This route, the most popular, is known as the French route but there are many others. The original pilgrim's route started when they left their homes and they usually returned on foot as well. During the Middle Ages the various ways of getting to Santiago became more organised with cheap accommodation or 'hospitals' along the route with better security from robbers and brigands. The Camino became popular again over the last 20-30 years and thousands walk the various routes each year. The tradition of cheap accommodation is maintained with hostels, called albergues, with dormitory type sleeping facilities in most towns and villages along the routes. The directions to Santiago are also well way-marked with yellow arrows. 


We have completed another two popular routes over the last three years, the Via de la Plata starting from Seville in the south of Spain, and the Camino del Norte along the north coast of Spain beginning at Bayonne. Having completed these main routes we were looking for some more challenges and all that was left in Spain were side routes joining the main ones from various other towns. We did a branch from Grenada, Camino La Mozarabe, to join the Via de la Plata at Merida. But we wanted something longer and unusual. That was when we heard about the Via Francigena.
 


The Via Francigena is another pilgrimage and goes from Canterbury in the south of England to Rome, the Eternal City. The route is very long, about 1800km, and will take nearly 3 months to complete if we attempt it all in one go. But, we were determined to take up the challenge and set about planning. Originally we were going to spend a few months in South Africa at the end of the year after the birth of Margaret’s second baby, our third grandchild in August. This meant doing the pilgrimage in the spring of 20125 but the plan changed, we got word that somebody wanted to rent our house in south Africa for 8 months so we decided to plan now for starting the trek in September.

We did some research and got the Cicerone guide book for the first section of the pilgrimage from 'Canterbury to the Great St Bernard Pass' from Amazon. We discovered that through France the route isn't way-marked and there isn't the cheap albergue type hostels of the Camino de Santiago, so it could be expensive staying in B&B's and hotels. We thought about how we could make use of our motorhome but would need a driver who would drive each day to where we planned to stop for the night. But where do we get a driver who would have 3 months to spare and happy to do it just for their accommodation in the 'van and their food, which we would supply. 
This idea was also abandoned when our start date was advanced. 

Our next thought was why make this effort and challenge just for our own satisfaction. Why not do it for charity. Many people do fund raising walks, runs, etc. and managed to benefit their favourite charity, sometimes, with thousands. This year our daughter Suzanne's father-in-law died from pancreatic cancer. We discovered that there isn't a great deal of research into this form of the disease. So that was our charity: PANCREATIC CANCER UK. We set up a website for donations with 'Just Giving' and our Internet address is www.justgiving.com/suzmar. 


With our previous walks and pilgrimages it was just a matter of catching a plane or train to the start and get going. This time with attempting to collect as much as possible for 'Pancreatic Cancer UK' it requires a lot more work. We have to publicise our venture as much and as far as possible. This we will be doing over the next month. 
 If you read this please go next to www.justgiving/suzmar and make a donation.