DAY 25 WISQUES TO DELETTES

Today was one of four seasons in one. We woke to a cold northerly wind and snow showers. What a contrast with the July like weather we’d been experiencing since Canterbury. All good things must, of course, come to an end, but there’ll always be something around the corner. Matt from Brussels who was to join us for the day on Friday e-mailed to say that with the forecast of snow he’d decided to cancel as he had to be back on Saturday and couldn’t afford to get stuck.

We bade farewell to Soeur Lucie and our student friends at the Hotellerie St Charles. What a wonderful lady she is, so kind and welcoming. She told us she’d been sixty years at the Abbaye – thirty years working in the gardens and thirty years running the Hotellerie. She described the live as “difficile mais belle, ensemble”.

A break in the weather as we left, gave us a lovely view across the plains from the Abbaye. It was a very special place to spend our rest day. We felt really quite privileged.

Soon after leaving Wisques we crossed the A26 again; the whizzing route to the south.

Not long after we were hit by a fearsome shower of hail, snow and rain all in one. We scrabbled to get rain gear on and covers over our rucksacks. No sooner had we done so than it eased off and the sun reappeared.

Just before the first shower

We descended the valley into Esquerdes and crossed the River Aa. Tom was reminded that the Aa was one of the favourite Artois chalk streams of his friend Jeremy Lucas. With recent rain it was running quite coloured today.

The Aa at Esquerdes

From the bridge our path took us west along the river bank until we found the church. Another one sadly locked up and inaccessible.

An interesting feature, however was an ‘arbre de paix’ planted to commemorate 8th May 1945, presumably the date the village was liberated.

Tree of peace at Esquerdes

Our thoughts turned once again to Ukraine.


From Esquerdes we climbed out of the valley to the south entering a large area of woodland, the Bois de Esquerdes, which gave us welcome shelter from the bitter north wind.

As we emerged from the forest a group of huge wind turbines appeared on the horizon. How awful these things seemed when they first appeared in our landscapes two and a half decades ago. Yet now they seem quite normal, despite the noise when close up.

The sky cleared, the sun shone, the north wind blew, the sky darkened once again and it snowed. Thrice perhaps before we found somewhere to sit for some lunch.

Lunch

Then it proceeded to snow again!

At Dohem we found the church open and a welcome shelter from the storm. A rather less ornate affair than many we had encountered, but we could find little information on it, not even an indication of its dedication. It didn’t seem to be well used, but we found an intriguing dedication to Justine Fiolet who was remembered for having founded a boarding school. We wondered what kind of institution it had been given her grim look!

From Dohem we continued on south to Delettes taking a deeply sunken track which gave some respite from the bitter north wind.

It was only on arriving at Delettes that we realised we’d overshot the hamlet where we’d booked our overnight lodging, necessitating a grim trudge back up the hill directly into the snowy and bitter north wind. By the time we arrived we were wet and cold. Thank goodness for the fabulous wood burning stoves!

Highlights for the day? Well, not many, but the brief periods of warm sunshine were lovely, and the distant views now that the air had cleared, too.

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  1. Reading and enjoying your blog! Trail looks beautiful! Remember to let me know when we can discuss June plans as I need to book my transatlantic flight soon. Stuart

  2. Hi Matt. We missed seeing you, but it was probably a wise decision. The weather was pretty miz, but at least we hope it can’t get worse than that! We met one poor Englander who was camping in it. He was doing it by bicycle, but we haven’t seen him since. We look forward to seeing you soon. Love T& J

  3. Hi Tom and Julie. Great to hear about travels! Though today wasn’t perhaps such a good day. Tom looks rather fed up in the lunch photo! May 8 1945 is VE Day of course, so that’s most likely the reason for the tree. Hope the weather improves soon. Bonne route!

  4. Hi Tom and Julie I am following your progress and looking out for the blogs every day. Keep going my old friends.Dinner on me when you get back. Ed xx

  5. Hi both,
    Oh that moment at the end of the day when you realise you have walked too far, having to retrace your steps at the end of the day is a real mental thump. Well done for continuing throught the snow, it’s arrived in Brussels today and it’s bitter. All the best for today if you have decided to brave the storm. I’ll be out today doing a walk in solidarity a lot closer to home.
    Do keep up the diary, I’m very much enjoying travelling a bit of the via francigena each morning from my desk before I start work.