A rebel without a clue.

End of the day. The final section, without tree cover, was hard going. A farmer in  Énencourt-Léage gave me a lift in his electric buggy - a golf buggy for working the Noix trees behind the Ferme - back to the farm, took me to the office,  in an old dovecote, where he gave me water, then brought me to Chez Robins - but they're full. Now I am in a Chambre d'Hotes, but she has retired and only accepts cash for the room. I think she's going to run me to Gisors to get money... But I could probably hitch there and back. Running low on energy I ate all the nuts I had since the UK - one of the only items to escape the wrath of airport logistics. Now I am heading for a shower and repose. It was a lot of nuts and I feel gassy. The gentleman of the house runs me around, but I struggle to make myself understood. It's another area of France: Vexin, but am now cradling a Rebelle Pale Ale in Villiers-sur-Trie and will walk to find a pizzeria later. The wasps are active an...

It's more expensive to sit outside than at the bar for coffee. I thought it was for the fine view of the carpark which is where the Marché was yesterday... Slept wonderfully and overslept too. I was hoping to get to the centre just on seven. But I was a couple of minutes late. No toilet visits in the evening and no outside disturbances: staying in the centre would've been slightly more difficult? Bastille Day - to celebrate the end of a regime - is marked by military parades. Ha ha ha ha. It's so phoney! One lot of individuals controlling the populace - the Ancien Regime - and now another lot Macron's cronies? Time to count the bites and deposit last night in the usual manner before Day One of several gets underway? The early human escapes the plague of Bastille Day.  The overthrow of one set of tyranny for another set: Ancien Regime to Bourgeois. Divine right to enlightened might. Off I go again. Vets Beauvais Compostelle!

Off with the facial hair and also the little head hair which sprouts from my BB bonce - €20 behind the Marché Square - there doesn't appear to be a Halles. Too many wines last night on a very empty stomach. All I can do today is stay away from all forms of café/bar this evening. I will walk tomorrow early. But where am I going? And can I be bothered to head to an out of town sportswear shop? One of the hosts (Christian) is willing to take me a little later, but I need to speak to the insurance company and find out what I can do to get funds asap? The shop offers pèlerin 20% discount. There is a department store around the corner and I've seen a shop which sells backpacks near the Marché. Perhaps losing my baggage puts into perspective what items I really need and will miss: Victorinox  Swiss army knife, the Karrimor vintage ruckpack and a nylon brush I've used for years too. And the sleeping bag... ... Back in the Grand Place (know locally as Place Jeanne Hachet...

A glass of Saint-Veran in the Saltire lounge: £12.99... what was I thinking? It's French and will be less than €12.99 a bottle, but I struggle to connect with anything at all in Leeds Bradford Airport. In several minutes I can attend the gate queue, but I thought, because it's quiet in the airport, I'd have a fashionably expensive drink. Only one. It aids digestion. And is high in antioxidants. And it's helping the economy (in France)! ... There has to be another way? Yes there is and from Tillé to the Gîtes on Rue Paris that's The Way. *** Losing my baggage. Lost in transit. Not on the airplane and not in Beauvais. Back in Leeds or on a beach in Tenerife, as that was the other flight leaving LBA. *** What a day! It's not as warm this evening as most of the evenings I witnessed in Tarragona/Costa Dorada, but it is still a bit silly. Oh and it's Bastille Day on Thursday! During the decadent 4th Republic they still pretend 1794 has any meaningful existence in ...

It's going to be a hot one. Not ideal for dog walking or working on the allotment unless I do both at the tail ends of the day: a nice swim down the Ings with Ruby and Lola before 10. And perhaps head to the allotment when the shadows increase around 5. Yesterday I watered the plot comprehensively for about an hour, almost emptying the water butt. Didn't go crazy yesterday - popped to The Mews for 3 hours. Tony called while I was there to ask me to put on the dishwashers. I asked him if, in this weather, I had to restrict Ruby to the crate when I am out? He was OK to let her stay downstairs and be able to get to her water and lounge around on the sofas. Although I always close the curtains across the patio doors, to keep it darker and cooler, it can't be nice for a dog to spend too long in the small space they have in the corner. Last night she was flaked out on the lounge sofa - we walked around Millennium Field around 8pm. At 4, when I needed paracetamol, because I really...

Early breakfast before 7. Want to adjust our walks prior to Tuesday, when I have to leave early to catch the bus back to Leeds as I think I need to change the backpack? Exchanging it for a lighter one and taking out waterproofs, etc, (as it's looking like I will arrive in Northern France in a heatwave, again, second one of the summer). At this point I really wish I still had the KarrimorSF Sabre 35 litre day pack, which had been a reliable companion, and not given it away when I upgraded to a faulty 45 litre KarrimorSF Sabre - which went back after only 2 weeks due to tue stitching around the neck. On Tuesday I will go without breakfast until I reach Leeds. Coffee is really adequate. This morning we're heading up the river to Collingham and probably back through the Golf Course in Linton. Ruby was outside for quite a while just now so I guarantee she's found something dodgy to eat? And she's such a sensitive bowels that you'd think she'd have learned not to snuf...

Just chimed 7pm on the lounge clock bringing to an end a pretty tiring day. Just about to hit the sack on this warm evening. Last night was a similar heat and I left the patio door and the first floor balcony door open to allow a breeze to follow Ruby and I into the rooms upstairs. Finished off a lovely pork meatball sweet and sour which I ate with so slightly over steamed Charlotte potatoes. Still it went down well for lunch and the small portion for dinner. Took me a while to realise but Maureen has a shelf in the freezer for me... It's the one next to Ruby's! Before this sitting I hadn't thought she meant it exactly. But I get the feeling I've been blind... Ruby and I managed a two hour walk from 3. I took water with me and we clung to the shade or shadows as often as was possible. She's away now. After her sprat and meat dinner... There is a breeze: the one ruffling the leaves on the sycamore at the bottom of their garden, on the Old Railway lines, and making th...