We had such a nice place to stay last night including a hot tub. I know, I know! “No self respecting pilgrim would stay somewhere with a hot tub!” And yet we did.

We started later this morning due to only 10 kms of walking to Cambrai. It was a very relaxed walk along water. We saw so much beauty. We walked a lot in silence because of the peace. It was nice to hear the ducks and swans and the occasional dog. We saw the martyr’s chapel. It wasn’t open.

We have been stopping in at city hall to get our stamps for our pilgrim passports. Today we stopped at Escaudœuvres, France city hall. The woman who put our stamp in our passports said she had never been asked to do this. We were the first. That was fun.

We stopped in the Aldi to see about getting provisions for dinner but decided to wait until we saw what was available at our accommodation. We started out of the store and had to have our backpacks checked just in case we took something. 😂

We hadn’t stopped at all so we were looking for a place to rest and get some lunch. We found an Italian restaurant which was delicious and reasonably priced.

As we walked through Cambrai we saw the signs of the camino…shells along the sidewalk. I can’t explain how excited I get when I see these signs. Then we passed by the office of Tourism and there was a shell and a sign in the window indicating how far it was to Santiago de Compostela!!! We thought maybe they would have a stamp. Helaas they were closed today.

We have another nice place to stay except the heat isn’t working well. We have our provisions for salad, soup and bread. And we are in for the night.

Hope you are well. If you feel inclined please contribute to our gofundme for Cancer Research.

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Last night’s accommodation was not so great. Just okay. The bed was at least comfortable and there was a decent couch. But the stove didn’t work, there were no decent pans, no oil and the shower floor gross. We were glad to be on our way this morning.

We dealt with ice today. One road was covered and we decided to go through the field. We did this a couple of time. This looks like a creek but it’s a road covered in ice.

We planned shorter distances for the next three days. Today was supposed to be 17 and of course ended up being 19. Today was partly our fault because we planned stops in order to make sure we had rest. But as usual what was supposed to be open was closed. In fact it hadn’t been built yet. 😂

So we figured out a way to get back on the camino route, the first issue was that the kms kept going up and then was that along this route it said “access not allowed”. But we took the risk not sure how many kms we might have to walk if the risk didn’t work. But it paid off. We walked across the tiniest sluis!!! And cut 4 kms off of our time.

We had our last stop just 2 kms before our accommodation. We hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast which was a croissant. It was 2:15 when we got there and we were told they stopped serving at 2. It said it was open from 10 to 10 but they apparently stop serving food in the afternoon until dinner. The owner saw our packs and our weariness and asked if we’d like a sandwich. Oh yeah. It was delicious!! such generosity was not expected!

We made it to our accommodation and it is spectacular. My coaching session had to be rescheduled due to internet and connection issues.

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We had a really good sleep last night after our very long day. Essentially 28 kms with no good stop. Many of you have commented asking if we are taking detours etc. Honestly we are following three different apps and they all give the same kms. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Even today it showed 4,6 and it was 7,8 kms. So we are adjusting so that we plan for 14 kms and know that it will be more. Once we reach Vezelay I’m hoping kms will be clearer. Anyway a good rest day.

We both had a nice bath and breakfast and relaxing morning before heading out on our rest day. It was super cold. And just a nice day to walk.

What I have noticed about this journey as well as the journey of life is that when you go hard and strong it is important to stop and revaluate And that is what we are doing. We are not in a hurry. And from now on Mondays will be rest days especially since most everything is closed.

We are learning as we go!!!

Hope you are doing well. Thanks for following!!

Today started great. And well it ended great. A few hiccups but all in all a good day. We left at a good time and started on our way. The muddy paths yesterday were frozen solid this morning. My weather bug app gave us a warning again. And it snowed!!! Not a lot but it was so pretty!!

We were supposed to have a rest stop at 8 kms then again at another 8 kms but nothing was open. It’s a funny thing in parts of Europe Monday is a day when businesses are closed well at least restaurants. So no cafes were open. We did see some cool things. And more signs!!!

Today was supposed to be about 22 kms and yet we walked 29 again. We start with a “mileage” amount say 8 and then as we go something happens and we walk 2 kms and have still have 9 kms to walk! Idk. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Anyway it was a good day with people still asking where we are going, what we are doing even someone stopped on the road to find our.

Thank you for following!!

Oh if you have made it this far please share songs with Monday in them.

Cheers.