Day 37. Vlad Is Back

Today I plunged deeper into Normandy and nearer to the coast. 7 more days of walking in France then we take ship for England.

My walk of 25.5 kms finished in Boucé and brought VBW to 1084 kms so far. Most of today I was on forestry tracks, some of them very steep – at one time my forward progress was reduced to 1 kph. My upward speed was probably a little above that. I climbed 1109 metres today.

It was also very cold. When I started out the temperature was 8 degrees. I don’t think it improved much from that, and later in the walk the pleasure was added to when Vlad sent the north wind back to haunt me. I passed through only a couple of tiny villages, so there were no coffee stops to insert springs into my legs. As you see, a very enjoyable day, culminating in us checking in to by far the grottiest campsite of the whole trip, so far. We are in Vieux Pont because once again there is no campsite nearer to today’s finish. I don’t think we shall be coming here for our holidays.

If that sounds like a lot of complaining, I should mention the good news, which is that today, so far, it has been dry. And I believe a sunny day is forecast for tomorrow.

And generally all is OK with the world, my world that is. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that.

Oh, there was one incident. I was walking along a narrow country road when I heard a car behind me. I tucked myself into the side to let it pass, or rather to safeguard my person. It stopped behind me, then it drew alongside. Three young men started to question me about what I was doing. One said he had seen me yesterday in St Denis-sur-Sarthon. Then two of them got out of the car and came close. At this stage I realised they were drunk, and of course I wondered what would happen if they became agressive. How could I explain 3 dead French bodies lying in the road. Fortunately they just wanted to shake my hand and wish me Bon Courage and all those things.