DAY 274 - ROYE TO RANCOURT: 27.6 MILES (55,200 STEPS)

Saturday 21 January, 2012

27.6 miles (Total: 2668.5 miles) – 55,200 steps (Total: 6,004,001 steps)

Having once raised a slight question over the hospitality I received in one small French village, Spicheren, I now want to re-balance that with possibly the most friendly and hospitable village I have yet encountered on my travels, Chaulnes. In fact, it was not so much one village as one street, Rue Ernest Boitel, and two neighbouring properties, numbers 24 and 26.

I had taken a succession of small country roads, which ran up the side of the A1. In the same way that hills are not immediately apparent on a map, I have learnt that country roads can be similarly deceptive in having many twists and turns that cumulatively add to the journey length. For this reason it took me nearly five hours to cover what looked on the map to be 17 km but it reality was nearer 23km before I arrived in Chaulnes.

On arrival I stopped at a pizza restaurant, Restaurant La Marotte. The staff were very friendly and sat me down, following which I ordered a three-cheese pizza and a bottle of water. A fellow diner who didn’t speak English engaged me in one of those stunted conversations – stunted because of my French. He was well dressed and about sixty. He asked me where I was going and I said Rancourt and showed him on the map where I had walked so far that day. He indicated that he was impressed, but thought Rancourt was too far to be reached today. He sketched a map showing a shorter route on the paper table cloth and left. When I came to pay my bill I was told that it had already been paid. Amazing. I couldn’t remember an example of having a meal paid for by someone who was unaware of the purpose of my walk. As far as this man was concerned, I was simply an Englishman walking from Roye to Rancourt and he paid my bill. I was quite amazed and walked on …

Next door was a hairdressers ‘L’Atellier de Tiff Anne’, which looked as if it was a ladies hairdresser.  However, it was desperately needed as the last time I had been under the scissors was in Berne back in early November and I had some important meetings over the next week. I took a chance and stuck my head around the door and said ‘Hommes?’ There were smiles and I was invited in and told to take a seat by the sink to have my hair washed. The hairdressers, Anne (pic), and her daughter Gale spoke good English and we sparked up a conversation and it wasn’t long before I mentioned my walk. They seemed genuinely fascinated by the walk and that a politician would do such a thing. We spoke about my route and I mentioned that I had walked through the entire Champagne region without having had a single glass of the local brew. Immediately Gale disappeared and came back with a perfectly chilled half-bottle of Champagne and two glasses. I remember once being offered a cup of coffee in a hairdressers in Durham, but never Champagne. However, this was turning out to be a very special place and Anne and her daughter were very special people.

Time was rushing on – it was nearly 4pm and I still had an estimated 20km to go to reach Rancourt where I had booked a hotel. Anne offered to drive me as it was too far and I explained that as kind an offer as it was, I could not accept. However, then came an offer from Anne to drive my rucksack to the hotel with her partner, which was just fantastic. I offered to pay for taking the bag and of course for cutting my hair, but both were firmly rejected on account that Anne wanted to support the Olympic Truce. What is it about the charm of Chaulnes? I don’t know, but I am so grateful I experienced it.

It turned out that I had miscalculated again on account of failing to find a short-cut through Peronne and I ended up doing a gruelling 25km and arrived at the hotel in Rancourt just before 10pm. It had been a long day, but the chance encounters on Rue Ernest Boitel made it a day I would never forget.