DAY 47 VITRY-LE-FRANCOIS TO DROSNAY

We woke to another fine day with just a slight chill in the wind. Our lodgings at the Hotel Au Bon Sejour had been very comfortable and the owners very kind and helpful. We were fortunate to have had a room at the back of the building overlooking the garden. It might have been a little noisier on the front. As we passed, we enjoyed another long sniff of the lovely lilac in the park opposite the hotel.

We set off via the boulangerie we’d spotted yesterday and bought made up bagette sandwiches for lunch. From the centre our route took us south east towards the river. In one of the parks we passed we were very surprised to see a couple sheep! Do they keep the daisies here for the sheep to graze?!

Soon we came upon another WW1 cemetery containing the reburied bodies and remains of about 4000 French and 7 British soldiers who died in the nearby battles of the Marne, plus a small number of local men who died in WW2. As we learned yesterday, Vitry was at the centre of the first Battle of the Marne but, following the French victory, the town was about 60km behind the frontlines and became important for its several hospitals taking in those wounded on the battlefield.

Just around the corner we started along a path beside the Marne river, where there is a developing problem with Japanese knotweed infesting the banks.

At Frignicourt, just south of Vitry, we crossed to the west side of the river Marne which we saw for the last time. One way or another we’ve been closely following the Marne for five days, since leaving the Champagne vineyards. It’s an interesting looking river and certainly worth considering for a canoeing trip.

Our choice of route today and for the next two has been largely driven by the availability of accommodation. This means longer distances and the need to choose a more direct route than the official Via Francigena, and consequently more road walking.

From the Marne bridge we followed the busy D396 to Blaise-sous-Arzillieres, where we turned onto a track alongside the railway line. We considered walking down the service path for the railway line itself, given that the line seems very little used and it provides a direct route to where we needed to go. However, we didn’t wish to precipitate an incident, so decided better of it.

The end of the track necessitated crossing the railway and a field to get back onto the D56, which although tarmac was not busy and made very pleasant walking to Arzillieres Neuville. As we entered the village we noticed what looked like a small shrine just off the road. On closer inspection we saw that it was an enclosure around the spring of St Antoine.

In the village we climbed up to the church built on a hill spur overlooking the village, with views for many miles around. Sadly, as usual, the church was locked.

On the way out of the village we passed several old timber framed houses made of wattle and daub (or the French equivalent) which appear to be typical of this area. There were several that appeared to be in need of renovation!

After the short detour to see the church it was lunchtime, and we found a building with shade and somewhere to sit just outside the village, before continuing on along the road to the next village of Bussy.

At Bussy we came across another water source adjacent to a bench in the shade of some trees, but decided it would be safer to use the tap in the churchyard to refill our water bottles.

At this point Tom identified a track across fields to cut off a corner in the road to the next village of Gigny-aux-Bois. We were then back onto small quiet roads partly lined by woodland providing welcome shade from the heat of the afternoon.

The last stretch of the road to Drosnay took us past a small lake which, like almost all we have seen in the Marne valley, has private fishing and is ‘interdit au public’. However, as we were going to arrive too early at our billet we decided to spend a while lying on the grass next to the lake watching the coots and swans.

Just up the road a farmer was unloading cows and calves from a trailer to join others already out at grass. Interestingly, it was the calves which left the trailer first, leaving their mothers bellowing at them to come back, before they ran after their friends already out in the field.

Our billet turns out to be a renovated timbered building, and is very comfortable. We are delighted to be joined this evening by Julie’s cousin Matt who has driven over from Brussels to walk with us tomorrow, hopefully in better weather than he would have had on 01 April when it snowed!

Highlights of today? Siesta by the lake, and seeing Matt for the first time in several years.