Via Francigena 2024/2025 Days 11-15: Arras to Tergnier

I’m back!

The doctor advised me to stay off my sore foot for 5 to 7 days. Since I had walked into Arras on 1 May, my goal was to walk out of Arras on 8 May. The swelling in my left foot had decreased significantly since last week. Though it was still somewhat red and tender, standing still or walking slowly through museums over the past two days hadn’t caused any pain. I felt ready for a real test.

Before I hit the trail again, please enjoy some photos highlighting a few of my rest days in Paris.

Rest Days: Paris

I love church concerts.

I made my first ever visit to Musée des Arts et Métiers, a great science history museums!

It is the original and current home of Foucault’s Pendulum. The last time I saw it, in the early 1990s, it was temporarily housed in the Pantheon.

I had mixed feelings about finding these two entries in the computer exhibit. Am I that old? Here’s the original IBM Personal Computer from 1981 and the Apple Lisa from 1983, precursor to the first Apple Macintosh (1984) I used all of these in my adult life!

I spent a wonderful Sunday afternoon with two lovely families, at the home of Maria & Nico to meet their newborn and friends. I first met the happy parents at the start of our walks of the Camino Francés in 2022. Merci beaucoup mes amis !

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Day 11: Arras to Ligny-Thilloy

I was a little apprehensive when I caught the train in Paris this morning and traveled back to the station in Arras. Just like my last day a week ago, 8 May is also a national holiday (Victory in Europe Day), so the train was filled with people traveling to family reunions or short get-aways. And because 9 May is also a holiday in France this year (Ascension Day), no accommodations were available in my intended destination. I walked 3 km farther to a neighboring village to find a lovely B&B. Fortunately, my foot felt fine. I was very happy to be back on my trek.

The walk itself wasn’t particularly interesting, so there aren’t many pics. The fields continue to dominate the landscape, of course, and they are much larger than I saw west of Arras. As a result, the centers of human activity are farther apart. I saw an increasing number of reminders of the bloody 20th Century history of this land, the front of so much death and destruction in the wars.

The Western Front during World War I.

Nearly 750,000 Commonwealth soldiers, sailors and airmen died on the Western Front – 200,000 in Belgium and over 500,000 in France. They are commemorated upon headstones marking graves in over 1,000 war cemeteries and 2,000 civil cemeteries, or on one of the six memorials in Belgium and twenty in France which carry the names of more than 300,000 who have no known grave.

Day 11 AllTrails Stats
Distance: 24.8 km / 15.4 miles
Elevation Gain: 541 m / 1,775 feet
Steps: 34,732

Relive: https://www.relive.cc/view/vDqgrQWWAV6

Accommodation: À la ferme de Thilloy, Ligny-Thilloy

Day 12 Ligny-Thilloy to Péronne

Fog.

Vast fields.

WWI Cemeteries.

Doing nothing is hard to do… the something closest to doing nothing is walking.

– Rebecca Solnit

Day 12 AllTrails Stats
Distance: 23.4 km / 14.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 390 m / 1,280 feet
Steps: 33,013

Relive: https://www.relive.cc/view/vMq53LJ8r8O

Accommodation: Hotel Saint Claude, Péronne

Day 13 Péronne to Bernes

Today was a short day, as I headed to a destination town off the Via due to very limited accommodation available on the route itself. From what I’ve heard reported in the Via Francigena Facebook group, this is to be expected more and more as I get closer to the heart of France.

Each evening, as I read the guidebook about the “standard” stages coming up, I decide what I don’t want to “miss” and what I won’t mind passing up. Then, based on whatever lodging is available, I pick my route, not always sticking to the “standard” directions. Fortunately, the AllTrails app identifies alternative paths and farm roads that I can use – and so far, it’s been reasonably accurate.

It is clear to me from the variety of paths I have taken that even the “standard” route of the Via Francigena has undergone significant variations throughout history. Typically, such pilgrimage routes aimed for practical locations, such as mountain passes and river crossings, or key religious sites, including abbeys and monasteries. But when crossing these vast fields, I believe the villages we pass by aren’t that much different than those we pass through.

Day 13 AllTrails Stats
Distance: 13.2 km / 8.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 188 m / 617 feet
Steps: 18,508

Relive: https://www.relive.cc/view/vr63QLY7Rdv

Accommodation: Villa Jules Verne, Bernes

Day 14 Bernes to Saint-Quentin

Now that my foot is improving, it’s time to pick up my pace and extend my average daily distance. The injured part is almost 100% – now if only my new blisters would heal. There’s a lot of rain in the forecast for next week.

No cemeteries today, but all the villages are built of post-1918 brick, so the war is still a significant presence. What a year that was… for both Europe and for the land now known as Namibia. The start of the modern era?

Churches remain the most interesting structures, but I’m also taking more notice of all the Mairies (village and town halls).

To compensate for the many closures on Sunday and Monday, I chose to stay in the city of Saint-Quentin tonight, where I have stocked up on food to carry in case I can’t find any over the next two days (yes, that has happened!).

Day 14 AllTrails Stats
Distance: 22.8 km / 14.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 401 m / 1,316 feet
Steps: 36,910

Relive: https://www.relive.cc/view/vdORjkMG9rO

Accommodation: Ibis Budget, Saint-Quentin

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Scenes from an afternoon in Saint-Quentin:

Day 15 Saint-Quentin to Tergnier

Today’s theme: Canal Side Trails.

The long day was mostly a series of downward steps, lock by lock, first on the Saint-Quentin Canal (officially opened by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1810), followed by a couple of others. My walking trail was mainly paved foot/bike paths, but occasionally I was on narrow, highly overgrown routes. With the stillness of the water, I tried to get some reflections on what became my longest day in Europe, so far. The following two days will likely break that record.

I love when I come to forks in the road like this – if I’m lucky (as I was today), I get to go right and avoid more of the paved road!

In this instance, after several rolling hills, that right turn brought me to a very flooded path. I got around it by following someone else’s tracks through the crops.

Day 15 AllTrails Stats
Distance: 28.7 km / 17.8 miles
Elevation Gain: 444 m / 1,457 feet
Steps: 40,861

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Days 1-15 AllTrails Cumulative Stats
Distance: 318.7 km / 198.0 miles
Average Daily Distance: 21.2 km / 13.2 miles
Elevation Gain: 6,643 m / 21,795 feet
Steps: 528,103

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