Last night I discovered two key bushes in my apartment. The hostess also found it weird. Did I take a key from the previous address? Whatever, she says. Take it again with you, because maybe they will call you about it. O.K., I say.
About the walk I can be brief: it was long, much walking on the road, so I had to hold Tosca most of the time, which can be quite anoying. Dog Tosca is afraid that the horse is startled by the trucks en will step on Tosca’s foot and therefore Tosca is pulling and jumping along the road, and mostly that’s no fun anymore. But the extra effort of taking the animals with me is was what I wanted, no? Pilgrims should suffer. A bridge with again a too narrow sidewalk, so again I was forced to walk on the narrow roadway. And when two vehicles cross the bridge, we get all squeezed. A tunnel without a sidewalk and immediately before and after the tunnel the road is curving in a hill (see photos), so you can’t look ahead. Very dangerous. I walk along a canal, which surpasses a small river over a bridge. A canal across a river, I think that’s special. Picture. A little ahead it turns out the pavement ends and the road stops against a closed gate. We have to return. O.k., then first entering a restaurant for coffee. Monsieur, said a manager with kamasol and krevat (jacket and tie), we are a restaurant, not a cafe. Well then, I thought, I am a customer. Probably he thought my jacket was too dirty. Well, I’m not going to explain that I am not as dirty as my coat looks. Nota bene I am shaved and I went to the hairdresser. At a busy roundabout with many trucks with trailers, not Leons favorites, Leon announced with very little notice, except for a brief high squeek, his departure. And gone he is. Tosca dashes aside, surrounding my legs with her rope. Of course I kiss the roadside in a not very sensitive way, a truck braking, cars jamming. And what does Leon do, the piece of …, at the other side of the roundabout, 200 m. ahead relaxed eating grass in the field, pretending nothing happened. Well, fortunately the saddlepack was still tight. I take the lead rope again and with thick greasy clods of clay at my pumps, we now walk around the roundabout at the other (right) side.
Lunch break. Tying up the animals and nikpicking a little. Phone: last night’s hostess: Mgr. Henri? Oui! That 2nd bunch of keys really does belong to our apartment, viz. the garden door, she tells me. Our maid happens to live in Bazancourt, where you will spend the night tonight. Do you want to hand in the keys there at the bakery’s, next to the gendarmerie? And then tell them the keys will be picked up tonight by some mme Laroche. O.k. with me.
Along the way a car stops. A lady asks what race Leon is. Icelandic. Oh, she has a Merens pony, also called the small Frisian horse, a breed of black horses in the Pyrenees. All those short meetings do not mean too much, but oh, you feel a little bit like a human being again if you can exchange a few words.
Arriving in Bazancourt I walk past the gendarmerie, but I don’t see a baker. Yeah, hey, what about my spatial awareness? Imagine my surprise when 5 min. later a lovely lady comes walking to me. What does she want / need? The keys! Ah, mrs. Laroche I presume? I realize that this encounter was less intense than that of the historic words “Livingstone, I presume.” Although it is no longer a necessary question, I nevertheless still wonder what baker I had to go to. There are two of them! One in the street to the left and one down the street to the right. Boy, Boy. End good, all good.
Moments later, I arrive at my address, a sheep breeder, Leclere . Fortunately , sheep people must be good people. Horse Leon stays in the barn next to their working horse. Tosca too . Tonight I arranged a night for Sunday and that gives my mind peace. We had a cozy diner together with the family : soup, pasta, omelette , salad, pudding , bread, mandarin orange . In my bed room I finished a bag of nuts and I hope that now I can finally go to roost early.
For the participants next week : Saturday Chateau -Porcien Sunday Lalobbe ( hamlet Besace ) Monday perhaps near Aubigny- les-Pothées or Remilly – les-Pothées , perhaps Rimogne Tuesday , Harcy or Renwez , possibly Rocroix Wednesday , Thursday possibly Oignies-en- Thiérache. This may change completely.
again a dangerous road situation
traffic hazard with horse and dog
passer-by who inquired about horse.
two rivers flow above each other. Nice construction, well made
old wine press in village
Tosca has fun again
Friday February 13th 2015 Bazancourt, the sugar town. 28 km.

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