Thursday April 9. Châlons-sur-Marne. 17.8 km.

Not too far today, but I ended up feeling quite tired. Maybe because the whole way was paved, running alongside the canal. Or because it was unseasonably hot and unrelentingly sunny. Hubert walked with me so there was a lot of talk - maybe that tired me out as well! But it was nice having company.

Only one barge came along, and we watched it through a lock. It looked like a husband and wife team handling the boat, and we learned from them that the locks have been completely automated for at least 30 years - the man said his father worked in his youth when there were lock masters. The barge was carrying sheet metal for construction, the same amount that 9 trucks would carry. The barge was only 2/3 full because this canal is quite shallow. Their top speed out of the lock seemed about 6-8 km/hr.

I’m staying tonight in a retirement home. Very modern and comfortable, with a little cooking corner so I made my own supper again. Once I’d recovered from the walking, I visited the gothic cathedral and the early gothic basilica almost side by side in this small town. This style of architecture is getting a bit repetitive so I’ll spare you the details. But I liked this ceiling.

Here is a pleasant water feature in front of the basilica - a pretty obvious nod to the canals that cross through the land.

Nearby there was a statue to Jean Talon (successful Intendant of La Nouvelle France) who came from this town. It is interesting how I get a small shock every time our history is referred to in France - after all, there is rather a strong historical link between our countries!

I’ve been very hesitant about what to do next - there were options, with several looking more interesting with less walking. But I’ve let myself be convinced to continue walking the path by Hubert who located what looks like a really nice hotel (serving supper!) only 24 or so kilometres away, so we’ll meet tomorrow morning and I will trudge onwards, faithfully following the path.

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Sat Oct 4. London.

19 days walking on pilgrimage paths for a total of 395 km or 245 miles on foot (not that arduous - an average of 20.7 km per day, and lots of ‘rest days’ staying put in one place). All of that undone in 1.5 hours on a Eurostar train. I’m not entirely sure what conclusion I’m drawing from that comparison, but I’m back where I started, in London. On my way to my lodgings (I’m staying in a Buddhist retreat centre) I decided to visit the first visitable place to cross my path, which turned out to be the Foundling Museum. Horrified by the sight of infants being abandoned on 18th c London streets, a prosperous seaman, Thomas Coram, spent 17 years raising awareness and funds, as well as obtaining royal permission to build London’s first children’s charity. Opened in 1739, the Foundling Hospital continued its work until the 1950s, and actually is still active as a non-institutional resource, under a different name. Here is a photo of it in 1935. So many similarities to ...

Fri Oct 3. Lille.

I had a lovely day in Lille. In fact, all my days on this trip have been lovely! In the morning I went to the very large Palais des Beaux-Arts. This museum holds the largest collection of works of art of any French institution outside Paris. The collection started at the time of the French Revolution as the works of art of the nobility and of the church were confiscated, and continued on apace due to various enthusiastic municipal governments. By 1892 the collection was so large and important that the Palais, its current house, was constructed in the centre of town. The first fun aspect was the recent work of the Swiss artist Felice Varini who used the museum’s interior as his canvas. The oldest works of art are in the ‘basement’, beautifully displayed. Look at the marvellous three dimensionality of this (flat) marble plaque sculpted by Donatello (c 1435) showing Salomé dancing for the head of John the Baptist. And modern technology brings statues alive by giving them back t...

September 5

I landed at Heathrow this morning at 6 am, a very inconvenient time to get a room and rest! But my student residence accommodation includes a common room with handy couches for a short snooze. The neighbourhood abuts on Regent’s Park, complete with gorgeous flowerbeds. The Queen Mary’s rose garden in Regent’s Park. My neighbourhood wandering took me to the Wallace House which used to be one of the homes of the marquesses of Hertford. The Hertfords were fabulously rich, mainly from extensive land holdings, and in the 18th and 19th centuries avid art collectors. They obviously had Trumpian home decorating tastes. Here are two of their many clocks, all of which need frequent ‘fine tuning’, it appears. I particularly liked two 18th c British paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds in their collection: Mrs Carnac and the hauntingly strange Strawberry Girl.

Celia Walks

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