Thérouanne

After 3 consecutive nights camping I thought I could justify something more comfortable last night. I could have stayed in a monastery but I remember staying there last time and it was very strange. A communal meal with the monks, eaten in compulsory silence, monks round the walls all staring at the pilgrim eating in the centre of the room. And the food wasn’t great.

This time I went for a nice hotel with a reasonably priced dinner, bed and breakfast. I had booked a special “businessman’s rate” which is the only way it came close to my budget. When I booked it I hadn’t paid much attention to the rules but as it got closer I did begin to worry. The hotel site seemed to be very insistent that the special rate was only available to a solo traveller genuinely travelling “on business”. In my day a businessman would have been expected to turn up wearing a suit and driving a Ford Mondeo. I know times have changed but not sure if a smelly t-shirt and shorts, lugging a rucksack with no car in sight might have made them a little suspicious. If rumbled I was planning to say that I was a writer and I was in the process of writing a book on the via. Only a slight exaggeration.

Anyway I checked in, ate the dinner (3 course including a bucket of mussels and a nice glass of wine), slept well, did the breakfast proud and went to check out. Got my knuckles gently rapped. Didn’t have the cheek to try the writer nonsense.

Interesting choice of route for the day. Either the official one, 14 miles wandering about fields and woods or 8 miles by a fairly straight road. Not in any particular hurry and the weather was fine (well only raining a little) so went for the 14 miles. Reducing the chance of being smeared over the road helped the decision making.

Tonight I am staying in a gite reserved for pilgrims. Can sleep about 14 but it looks like I’m the only one. Bit basic compared to the hotel but they do only charge 25€ so I can possibly overlook the plastic covered mattress. Dinner was a pre-cooked lasagne from a local butcher. Suspect breakfast will be a pain au chocolat from the baker as I pass in the morning. Could be a sparse day for food tomorrow.Read more