bodnar-mullaney.ca

Sunday September 28, 2025

Written by

Bruno Bodnar

in

Day 13; Bruay-la-Buissiére to Gouy-Servins

Our host from last night showed us that in 1962 it took 90 days to walk the Via Francigena from Canterbury to Rome. In 2022 it took 120 days! And it’s not because people are walking slower! It’s because the trail is now that much longer with all the “revisions” someone has made, like today’s hike, to take people up a 1400 metre mountain just for the view and back down again, and then three quarters of the way around a golf course…I’m not sure WHO picks the route or the criteria they use to plan it but at the rate it’s changed since 1962 it would take us a year to walk it!

One of the craziest routes yet so far. Sections of it were like walking three quarters of the way around a huge golf course. Another section was the equivalent or walking three sides of a rectangle which added at least 4km to today’s total.

But before all that…starting from the hotel:

Breakfast at the Ibis Hotel featured REAL maple syrup. Guess where from?
An old mill in a small village we passed through. It’s Sunday and even the pubs are closed. No refreshing beverages today.
Down one hill
And up another hill
Stopping for lunch under the shade of a big tree and a regroup to figure out the best route
Not a happy hiker after all the back and forth, up and down, round about when a simple straight forward trail would do a much better job
A crepuscular moment over my shoulder
Our route to get here in a VERY confusing round about way.
Full kitchen facilities
Someone got creative with the wire tops of previous champagne bottles. There’s no grocery store nearby, and even if there was, today is Sunday and everything in this tiny village is closed.
Writing home
It was 15°c outside and it felt even colder inside so we finally figured out how to turn on the pellet stove
Complete with an indoor sauna
An outdoor patio. It would be nice but it’s 15°c outside
Planning ahead and looking at things to do in Arras while we’re there. Vimy Ridge and the Canadian War Memorial is only 13 km north I thought it might be worth a, WAIT A MINUTE! €595 !!! That’s almost a thousand Canadian dollars for a group of “up to 4 people”! Has someone turned the war memorial into a money tree!?

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