Day 272 – Champougney to Sampigny

Day 272                                                        17th April

 30miles (Champougney to Sampigny) Average speed 9.9 mph Top speed 32 mph

 It was a very cold wet and windy day.

I was awake at 8 but didn’t fancy the cold rainy start so had a lie in on my comfy moss mattress and made tea in the awning of the tent out of the wind. Rations were short but I made a cheese and chorizo sarnie and weighed up my options; as it was Easter bank holiday I knew that shops would be in short supply. I could leave everything there and go in search of food and hole up there for the day , or push on to either a campsite 10 miles away or 40? I chose to go on and and put on as many clothes as I could and started to pack up. Just as I’d taken the fly sheet off the heavens opened and the tent and I got drenched. As I set off round the bend the wind and rain forced me back and I took cover for ten minutes while the worst passed. Without phone charge I hoped to find a bar for coffee but was still amazed by the ghost town feel to every village and town I went through.

I followed the cycle route north along many narrow roads and through villages, but eventually had to give up and take the main road, if only for my sanity. I needed to get somewhere fast, not to enjoy the windswept empty villages. I got to Void-Vacon and found it to live up to its name, as it really was void of anything. Then I got back on the cycle route which took me across the River Meuse for what felt like the thousandth time! Through more tiny villages and eventually to Commercy which thankfully had done commerce. A bar with hot coffee and the heating turned up high. It was a pmu too, so I could enjoy the horse racing from sunny Cherbourg. Another black cloud approached so I decided to stay and have a Chardonnay and break my no drinking on the road rule. I needed to take cover from the hailstorm outside and it seemed the perfect pick me up and quite warming.

After a couple of tries to understand how to put a bet on, I finally got it to work but had put my money on the race after next by mistake, so now I had to wait another 20 minutes to watch my race. What else could I do but have another glass and watch the sideways rain through the window? It also meant that I could get some power into my phone. My horse only needed to be placed but it came in fourth, and even though the tv placed it, it was only an eight horse race so I missed out.

As I left and turned right I came across the only shop in France open! Having the taste for Chardonnay and a hunger I went for a family size tin of cassoulet and a bottle of wine. That meant I could now camp anywhere. I followed the cycle route until I spotted a brand new path alongside the canal. It had a sign up saying no entry, but the fresh tarmac was gleaming in the wet and calling out my name! I found a couple of good spots, but there were walkers around so I carried on.

However the path came to an end, so it was back to the road until I once again crossed the Meuse and found the canal again. As I crossed the bridge into Sampigny I spotted the perfect place alongside the canal with cover from the wind and a picnic table and bin to boot.

Then incredibly the sun came out and I could cook my dinner. A boat moored up just along the canal from me and Raul came for a chat and brought me a beer. I ate dinner, set up camp and took the rest of my wine and his beer to meet Carla his girlfriend and we had a good chat about canals and locks and about our times in Morocco. They are taking his boat all the way to Dijon from Amsterdam as work. Not a bad job! I bid them farewell and left them to eat while I went back for a beer and to light my campfire.

 

Wild camp by the Canal.