Heading East.

But I wasn't. Drunk I mean. Didn't get to Rouen centre until nearly 7 and turned in at 10. Slept almost entirely until 6... There was a bit of background chatter and the bass sound from the oldest discotheque in France just 10 metres further on from my petit room on the ground floor. As I opened the window the road sweeper was doing his essential work to keep Rouen looking 'clean'. Such a fallacy. Having walked in to Paris through St Denis and Serselles cleanliness only stretches to what a tourist might perceive. I have this problem in LS7. Just over Clay Pit Lane Leeds is squeaky clean, but as you hit 'council estates' it's mountains of detritus where mowing the grass includes all the plastic which lies buried waste deep...

After so many days on the move I miscounted the amount of time it took me to reach Rouen from Amiens. Yesterday morning I thought 5, but as I sat opposite Melody in the Taverne Saint Amant, I shouted 'its six'. My original quest to reach Rouen, on the route to Mont-Saint-Michel was accomplished! I almost did a little dance. With a lovely supper of sardine rillettes I retired without clue what to do on Friday.

Now I am heading East on the first mode of public transport I've used since the €1 bus from Beauvais/Tille airport to Amiens. As I walked up to the station after a hasty allongé and croissant, in a café open from as early as 6am, all I thought was back to Amiens and €1 back to Beauvais. Then things got complicated.

I saw the train finishes in Lille then noticed it passes Arras and, although I'd booked my ticket and checked in for the flight back to the UK today, I thought Arras! I am going to Arras and from there for one day I either head north to Calais on the Via Francigena or west to Amiens on the Chemin Saint-Jacques for 3 more days... But I am definitely not going to return to LBA today when I can head to Arras and stay with the sœurs I did back in 2014...