DAY 262 - EPERNAY TO CHATEAU THIERRY: 33.9 MILES (67,800 STEPS)

Monday 9 January, 2012

33.9 miles (Total: 2502.9 miles)– 67,800 steps (Total: 5,350,201 steps)

 I knew this was going to be a tough day as I couldn’t find any accommodation on the Internet between Epernay and Chateau Thierry, which was 30 miles away. I decided to start early, before 8am, in order to give myself the maximum number of options. Plan (a) was to find an unlisted Auberge or bar, which would put me up around Dormans. I arrived in Dormans just before lunchtime and found a restaurant with rooms, but whilst tucking into some lunch and studying the maps, I wondered whether I was capable of more and be able to then reward myself with a day off. It proved not to be a smart decision, but it was a decision nonetheless.

The walking route involved trekking across hills between Courthiezy and Crezancy and the chance to escape the main roads was a welcome one. As I left the road and took the route called ‘Rue Napoleon’, I should have reflected further – the last time I took one of his roads it was over the Alps and I ended up with a broken arm and a dislocated shoulder. Still, I thought, I may have got him wrong and should give him a second chance, much as the Allies did on his return from exile in Elba. It didn’t quite result in a Waterloo, but it was a close run thing. To coin a phrase, ‘I saw two paths diverged in a wood. I took the path least travelled by and it made all the difference”. Unlike life, in walking there is wisdom in taking the well worn path, even better if it has paving slabs and blumming big streetlights over it.

Eventually, I arrived in Celles les Conde, about six miles south of where I had hoped to emerge from the woods. I walked up into Conde en Brie and found a pharmacy – without a doubt the best place to get any advice or guidance wherever you are. There is something about pharmacists that instinctively makes them want to help, and this is coupled with the helpful fact that they are often the only shops open. It was 6pm, it was dark, and I had already walked 22 miles and was shattered. I wanted a place to sleep. There were none. It was Monday and typically France was closed. Trying to be as helpful as they could, the only option they could think of in absence of any transport links to Chateau Thierry was to try and thumb a lift. What would you do? Answer, start walking …

I walked a further 4 miles to Crezancy where I was sure there would be accommodation, although the pharmacist had said there wasn’t. It was a major town at an important junction, there must be rooms to let, if not a full blown hotel. I got there, went into a bar which looked as if it had room upstairs, ordered a drink in an attempt to work my way in before popping the question, but the answer was “non” with no alternatives offered other than to walk to Chateau Thierry another 7.5 miles away. What would you do? Answer, keep walking …

I walked along the D1003 which was quieter now it was 7pm and the weather was quite mild. I consoled myself that there may be hotels a few miles before Chateau Thierry and that I will have certainly earned a day off by arriving ahead of schedule, considering that I had been timetabled to stop in Dormans.

After two and a half of the longest hours I have had on the walk so far, I arrived at the far outskirts of Chateau Thierry and waited for the Hotel Campenille and Hotel Ibis neon signs to come into view. No chance. This was a day in which my metal was to be tested right down to the last atom of oxide. I walked past the station and took another wrong turn being lured on by a sign, which said there was a MacDonalds the other way; it was two miles ‘the other way’, but when I got there I was on the far side of town and was just so happy to be in the warmth with Internet access to search for a room.

It was 9:30pm and I didn’t want to waste time walking between possible places and so I went to book a room online. To my delight, stimulated by the Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal and Diet Coke, I came up with a cracking deal at Hotel Hexagone, okay it was the only deal, but God Bless Hotel Hexagone! I booked in (www.booking.com)and arrived just as they were shutting up for the night having not realised the late booking. They seemed as pleased to see me as I was to see them – technology and a recession, perfect partners for mutual satisfaction.

I had enough strength left for a shower, which is just as well as my nose bleeds, which had been a regular feature of the past week, came back with a vengeance. I didn’t have the strength to think about what I would do the next day, stay or walk on? I left that decision for another day, ‘choices’ had not been my strong point that day.