A rebel without a clue.

Heading out of Abbeville along the towpath( halage ), passing beneath a disused girder box bridge, on the canalised Somme, to my left, it's silent except for the crunching march of my sandaled feet, the morning calls of the birds, a distant cockerel, a train passing into Abbeville on my right hand side and a gentle rain falls: it's green. In the distance to my right hills: so south of Amiens. To my left dense woodland. From the insanity of Tuesday to the annoyance of Thursday: horseflies biting me at every opportunity. And mosquitoes adding to the desperation. Hustling down the GR800 from Long, via L'Etoile to Flixecourt and an American Diner (French Diner) with the full playlist of RCA Elvis 56 playing out and with a tear in my eye I eat a Betty Burger, fries and sauce American. Such a strange serendipity. Thinking of a night in with my girl soon with my sister being away from Saturday and I am dog/house/fish sitting until she returns and then I turn my attenti...

A cooler day. Threatening rain. I just put on my midlayer (I have no other layer) and wonder about rain and no protection. Too many cars in Abbeville. Built post war, when cars were rarer than they are now. Only a fraction of its pre-war charms still exist. Brutal Germans - they definitely went so arrogant in the 1930s that they really thought that they were destroying for a 1000 years of history in the making? By destroying unnecessarily. I understand the reprisals meated out to them once the RAF, USAAF and USSR airforce could deliver steel over their cities. Barbarity on every level? Never again in Europe perhaps? *** I bad night's sleep. Not drunk or ate badly. Just so humid in the room. Had the window open until some train track noise in the early dawn. Closing a window on a day like this... Dark clouds, oppressive, muggy. But here I am again. Another day walking. A day off yesterday and it's enough for Abbeville. In the afternoon it poured down, but it didn...

Passing a rotisserie stall at the morning Marché in Le Tréport I bought pomme de terre for the midway morning matter conversion and three large slow roasted saucisse for petit dejeuner. And I leave vast Normandy and cross a frontier into petite Picardie once more. A very elongated circular walk... With two assistances forward thanks to SNCF, when I had run out of options, and a few nice little auto-stops, when shuttling between places,and I will be back in Beauvais by Saturday for a mid afternoon flight. There is a toilet on the beach front where I can deposit spent fuel rods before another long day and the heat will be unbearable (it's 8 o'clock). *** 40% left on the phone, but a filled belly and a place to stay in Abbeville: I must just get there, or as far as is possible before my body stops me, then auto-stop  Coming down from a 'difficulty', off of the cliffs with its relentless up and down, I am on another difficuly - the flat open uncovered pan of La ...

The sweet perfume of tansy along the way, precarious near the edge of the fragile cliffs: I took no notice of the two or three signs giving me 'obligatorie' advice not to walk that way... and here I am with an April 2021 Orval in Place Notre Dame (Bar Les Cordiers €5.60). Opposite me is Chris Pizza. All along the harbour frontage folks have mounds of steamed Moules. Can it be so good in such quantities? Like fish and chips along the seafront in Whitby... It's farmed mussels. If can find a place which feels less prole and more bourgeois... Such a fool. As an erstwhile paysanne I opt for a pizza... There must be more to me? Another 35/40 kilometres. I am killing myself as I burnt the soles of feet on the exposed chalk heading up from a cleft where the ladders had been ripped off the surface, with some force(water water everywhere, but not a drop has fallen on my feet), and were difficult to manage; going up. *** Another day dawned and I am still here? Another day ...

Déville-les-Rouen for a detour slightly back on myself. Coffee and croissant. There is a stream passing north here. I guess it feeds the Seine. Am I walking today or am I sodding off back to England this evening? *** Long day yesterday. Exhausted by the time I reached Cleres, where I noticed that a train was going through at 1431 so I polished off a Galette complet and arrived in Dieppe where I found just one bed in Neuville-les-Dieppe for €63. Heading north east along the E9/GR21 passing Plage du Puys and it's memorial to the Canadian dead from the assault in 1942 This morning I was mindful of catching the ferry to the UK in this heatwave. And overall the cost of being in France for another 5 nights should be something I can manage? Newhaven to Leeds, via London, would've been expensive too... Long morning along the coast. Finding a place for food was difficult, but, finally, I have a Repas filled belly for the afternoon craziness! It is just after 2pm, which was t...

Day three and day two undid me. Two days of struggling to find accommodation which is a reasonable cost(€126.04 for two nights works out as tres expensif). The night was hot in the hotel bed. The covers were too warm for me, but the tiny window and thick curtains kept it quiet in the space and I don't think there were bedbugs... Back in the centre. Actually Mantes-la-Jolie is a bit disappointing as a city, but it was largely destroyed in 1944 as Patton crossed the Seine here. It's as average as Bastogne... Today I revert to backpacking and try to find a more reasonable option: there appears to be an Auberge du Jeunesse in Rouen, but I can't get an answer from them. Caught the 8:49am to Rouen. Mantes-la-Jolie was nothing that I expected it could be. The mix of middle eastern, north African, west African, etc, made me feel uncomfortable. Really I saw only a couple of folks who appeared 'French'. The gentleman from the Amis Saint Jacques back in Beauvais didn't kno...

A truly mammoth day. At least 45 kilometres by the time I'd paid for one night in Hotel de la Val(€76.04 - ouch) because the lady who welcomes pilgrims is on her holidays and an Abbey was at first willing and then not (but very far from the route I am supposed to take for one more day tomorrow). On the route it's impossible to find anywhere in the various ville and court I have passed (there wasn't a shop at all) and in Magny-en-Vexin the suggested Hotel was complete... It is Friday and it is mid July. If I can't find a reasonable place to sleep tomorrow: a much shorter etape, I will walk north towards Rouen and an Auberge du Jeunesse. On Monday/ Tuesday, when the heatwave returns, I really need an Airbnb somewhere. I want to head to Amiens, Somme etc... The guy on reception gave me a discount and a room with a bath so I soaked me, socks and pants. But I don't want to talk about the colour of the water! One days dust... Some wind is picking up as I sit below the Col...