Napoleon, Half-Timbered Churches and THE Bike Race
/Day 65 – Dolancourt – Brienne le Chateau
Leaving Dolancourt in the morning
A nice breakfast was included with our room in Dolancourt, so we departed with our bellies somewhat full for a change. French breakfasts are typically light and include croissants and/or fresh bread with jam(s), juice, coffee/tea and sometimes yogurt. You never get over-full, but it gets you going and it suited us just fine.
It was cool enough for a sweater when we left, but we de-layered fairly quickly as the day warmed up. We walked on country roads and secondary roads and though the day was shorter than usual, it wasn’t particularly interesting.
Our plan was to stay in pilgrim lodging for the night. We’d read it was free or donation and David called the Tourist Info office in advance to verify it was available and ask if linens were supplied. Yes, all around. What a deal! Something must have gotten lost in the translation because when we arrived, the cost was €10.50/pp … still cheap because we would have donated that much anyway. However, no linens or towels were provided and it was on the outskirts of town. We’d just shipped our sleeping bags home after schlepping them around since Italy and never using them. We were told we could buy cheap sheets and towels for about €40 at the local store, but a pilgrim hotel in town, Hotel Des Voyageurs, would cost less. We ended up at the very basic Voyageurs … small, cramped and hot, but probably just as happy as at the pilgrim hostel, plus it had a bar and restaurant downstairs and we didn’t have to share a bathroom.
Hotel des Voyageurs was basic, but adequate
Day 65 – Dolancourt – Brienne le Chateau
11.82 miles walked / 27,488 steps
Leg distance: 12 miles / 375 miles to Canterbury
A Layday in Brienne le Chateau
Brienne le Chateau was a scheduled layday for us. With a wonderful, melodic French name like Brienne le Chateau (it just rolls off your tongue, doesn’t it?), you’d think there’d be a plethora of things to see and do. The brand new tourist office was manned with three people and loads of brochures, mostly touting other towns in the area. Brienne le Chateau has two claims to fame: the chateau and a museum which used to be a military school attended by none other than Napoleon Bonaparte. There wasn’t much going on at all.
Chateau le Brienne
It was a hot, humid day and we were in search of a morning cup of coffee and a croissant and we found a cute little cafe that provided both. The chateau sits high on a hill above town and we headed to it first. Once the splendid home of dukes and lords, it was ‘one of the famous castles of Champagne and because of its style with simple lines, it was named "The little Versailles of the Aube”. Through the centuries, it fell into disrepair, was abandoned and finally taken over by the town in 1955 as a psychiatric treatment center. Visitors are not allowed inside the gates. Well, other than peering through the fence to take a photo, that option was out.
We wandered the town, up and down the narrow streets. The architectural style throughout the town is half-timbered buildings giving it an Elizabethan look, though many of the old buildings were in sad shape.
Brienne’s Napoleon Museum
We were at the Napoleon Museum when it opened at 10am. It’s a small museum, interesting enough if you’re a Napoleon buff or like museums. It took us an hour or so to walk through. It’s quite apparent that Napoleon is the town’s favorite son.
We made a quick visit to the local church, but spent a good portion of the day in our hot, little hotel room which was still cooler than outdoors. We had noticed that one of the few restaurants in town had moules-frites on the menu for dinner. We enjoyed it so much in Langres, we thought we’d indulge once again. The service was lax, but the moules-frites made up for it.
Day 66 - Brienne le Chateau – Chavanges
It was an asphalt path day. Hard and hot on the feet and though the roads were not busy, it wasn’t all that pleasant either. The town church in Brienne had several posters describing the 16th century half-timbered churches in the area, referred to in French as à colombage or locally as à pans de bois de Champagne. We opted to alter our walking itinerary a bit so we could see a couple of them and paid the price by walking on asphalt roads.
Half-timbered church in Juzanvigny
In the end, it was worth it. The most impressive church was Église Saint-Jacques et Saint-Philippe (Church of St. James & St. Philip) in the little town of Lentilles. It is considered the most typical of all the half-timbered churches in the area. The door was open and we gratefully explored the cool, dim interior. It was built in 1512 and it was only during a restoration in the 1970s that the diamond-shaped wooden ceiling was discovered under layers of old plaster. The oculi (round windows) are considered quite unusual for churches of this period and several contain the original glass.
Église Saint-Jacques et SaintPhilippe half-timbered church in Lentilles
Throughout our walk as we entered the little villages, the half-timbered buildings were prevalent, most in a sorry state. We made our way to Chavanges to our lodging for the night, a chambres d’hôte Le Gilliard... basically a room in someone’s house, not unlike a B&B. Our hosts, Agnes and Jean-François could not have been more hospitable nor more attentive. The room was lovely and comfortable with an en suite bathroom. We dined on an outdoor terrace at a local pizza restaurant, the only restaurant in town that was open, but it was quite adequate and the beer was cold. Showers back at Le Gilliard, a little writing, a little reading and we were out for the night.
As of today, we have walked 1000 miles !
Day 66 - Brienne le Chateau – Chavanges
12.3 miles walked / 28,607 steps
Leg distance: 12 miles / 363 miles to Canterbury
Day 67 – Chavanges – Chatelraould/St. Louvent
We had not planned on nor paid for breakfast at Le Gilliard because we were leaving so early … 0530. Agnes insisted that she would set out breakfast out for us in the morning … no charge for pilgrims. We were completely surprised when we found a breakfast feast awaiting us in the morning at 0515 … fresh bread, croissants, tea and freshly brewed coffee, fresh fruits, yogurt. We were well-fortified for the day’s walk.
Walking the rails like the hobos we are
If yesterday was all asphalt, today’s route was just the opposite. The path followed old farm roads past fields of sunflowers, then took us along a path that paralleled a seldom-used railroad track.
Deer seemed to like this path, too. We saw several that we initially thought were fawns, but with prominent antlers, they were probably just small deer.
Hollyhocks seem to be the prevalent cultivated flower here and they grew profusely in everyone’s garden.
It’s hay-cutting season and tractors hauling wagon loads of hay were frequent along with other massive agricultural equipment that roamed the fields looking to plow or furrow or cut or bail or harvest.
We arrived at our destination, Le Petit Auberge, in early afternoon. You’ve heard of ‘tiny houses’ … well this was ‘tiny room’. The room was ‘petit’, to say the least. It was the smallest, most compact 8’x10’ space there ever was … with a double bed squeezed in. It was impossible to get to the sink without sidling along the bedside and holding on for fear of falling over. The room description called for a shower/sink en suite. We assumed if there was a shower and sink in the room, there was probably a toilet, too. Au contraire … the toilet was down the hall. Ugh!
La Petite Auberge lived up (or down) to its name!
We dined in the auberge (inn) dining room … just the two of us. A few folks hovered around the bar, but otherwise we had the place to ourselves. Back in the room, it was hot and stuffy, but open windows without screens invited flies. We toughed it out.
Day 67 – Chavanges – Chatelraould/St. Louvent
13.59 miles walked / 31,612 steps
Leg distance: 14 miles / 349 miles to Canterbury
Day 68 - Chatelraould/St. Louvent - La Chausee sur Marne
Not our best night’s sleep, so it was easy to make an early morning departure to take advantage of whatever cool there was and it was remarkably cool compared to our room. In fact, it was only 47F (8C) and we could see our breath. It never warmed up till nearly Noon.
We’ve been walking on and off the ‘official’ Via Francigena path now. In fact, the Via and the Compostella, another important pilgrim route, intersect and share the same paths here. Sometimes the VF wanders a mile or two off in one direction or the other and rejoins our path later on … for no apparent reason. We prefer a straighter path with less mileage where possible, so we deviate accordingly.
Today we walked along a gravel country road for a short while. We passed a pasture with unlikely pasture mates … a horse, a donkey and a goat that seemed to be the best of friends and quite interested in passersby.
The path found its way to the canal that runs parallel to the Marne River, the Canal Latérale de Marne. The Marne has grown significantly since we saw its paltry source near Langres. Lined with wildflowers, the canal was a mecca for dragonflies, bees, butterflies and damselflies and they hovered and flitted around by the hundreds.
We watched a boat make its way through the locks. The locks are self-service, initiating the rise or fall of the lock waters by turning a rod suspended over the canal as they pass under it. We were intrigued and impressed with the ease with which the vessel maneuvered into the lock and then out again.
Arrival at our destination was somewhat of a disappointment which turned into a pleasant surprise. The hotel, Le Clos de Mutigny, looked to be absolutely lovely, but it was closed and its entry barricaded. We were hot, tired and hungry. One of the negatives of leaving in the early morning cool is that many hotels here close until later in the day. What to do till it opened? We walked into the little village hoping to find some place, any place with food, open. The main street was barricaded and lined with crowds of people; local police patrolled back and forth.
‘What’s up?’, I asked an older woman.
“La Tour de France!”, she responded as if I must have arrived from another planet.
We found an open boulangerie and bought a baguette and a cold Coke to share, spread out our plastic picnic tarp on the roadside banking and sat down to share in the excitement. It took nearly an hour for the riders to come through, but it was over in a minute or two. The locals yipped and the crowd roared when their favorites sped by and we yipped right along with them.
Tour de France 2019
By the time the excitement was over, the hotel was open again and we were able to check in. David will fill you in on the Tour de France details in his next Blue View.
The hotel was wonderful. We enjoyed a beautiful room with air-conditioning and a splendid 3-course dinner with wine topped off the evening. We slept like babies.
Le Clos de Mutigny … wonderful!
Day 68 - Chatelraould/St. Louvent - La Chausee sur Marne
16.11 miles walked / 37,457 steps
Leg distance: 15 miles / 334 miles to Canterbury
Join us next time and walk with us through vineyards in the heart of the Champagne region