Troussey – Void Vacon – Gondrecourt le Château – Joinville - Ambonville
A few minutes after six I woke up, left the tent and started packing. Due to the laundry I managed to leave at half past seven. Fucking time seems to run in the morning with double speed, or I’d like to do too much task in too less time.
In Void Vacon I came by a cemetery right next to the road and refilled my bottles and brushed my teeth– task one and two fulfilled. Without any further problems I found the way out of town onto Rosières, where I walked through already in 2015.
To my surprise there was a magasin open on Sunday in Abainville. Here I got a big bottle of Ice Tea for one Euro and fifty cents, so fuck you McD.
At Gondrecourt I took a short brake to look where to go next. Mainly I followed the path of 2015 until Poissons. From there I followed Le Rongeant to Joinville.
By the way all tracks close to rivers and canals today weren’t that plain as expected. A bitter foretaste of what’s to come.
In Joinville I met a nice guy at the church who informed me that the priest organizing the pilgrims-shelter in Ambonville had retired, but the shelter was still active. So he brought me to the shelter in Joinville and assured that I would not a problem to stay here and go on tomorrow. Underestimating the terrain I went on after two hours of hiding from the sun. I had to repair some minor problems on Rosinante and the trailer, wanted to write and take a day off. Until Fronville I followed the Canal Entre Champagne et Bourgogne, so except for the very bright sun a relaxing summer tour. After Fronville it was quite the opposite, steep road with some shadow on the wrong side. But I knew of a well just before the top of the hill and the thought of it made me suffer a little bit less. In Ferrière et Lafolie I refilled my bottles the third time that day. I couldn’t drink that fast as I was sweating. The rest of the route was much more milder, but it stretched longer than I had thought. When I finally arrived at the refuge, I was glad and was sure I had earned myself a day to rest. I was welcomed by another pilgrim, Dagmar from Cologne. My first fellow pilgrim!!!, who wanted to leave very early, so no chance to talk a little bit.
When I woke late in the morning Dagmar was still there and we talked about our further plans. We agreed to meet again in Clairvaux. Two days for her and a half-day-distance for me. Because I was still exhausted of the day before, a very welcomed idea.
Half of the day I was able to sit upright, the rest I spent lying on the couch suffering of cramps other muscular malfunctions.