I had a long day ahead, with 34 km to the next camping. So I got up early, glad the thunderstorms and rain were over, though it was still very cold. The person who had picked me up yesterday also brought me back to the same place today. We left the campsite at 7 (I know, I told him he was crazy, too), and I picked up the trail again at 7.40.
First, there were a lot of busy car roads to the next 3 villages. I don't like that, and when I'd looked at the map, it looked like most of the day would be like that. Not very motivating. And as I had 34 km to go, I had to keep myself motivated and energised, so I decided to listen to some music, rather than just the cars, while I was following those roads.
At Aboncourt, I asked someone in their garden if I could use their toilet. It had a poster of a wild boar, with a lot of body parts labeled - apparently, French has over 30 words for body parts just for wild boars. I liked the poster, until I noticed it had been issued by a hunting magazine. Oh.
After Aboncourt, the road I had to follow turned out to be a sort of farmer's track through fields. No cars, so that was a win, but after yesterday's rain, parts of the road were flooded; but it was easy enough to go around them.
This road eventually led to a stretch of forest, which was really nice, though I had to keep my eyes on the path a lot so as to avoid stepping on the dozens and dozens of slugs which littered it. I took a break sitting on a fallen tree and was approached by someone who was working in the forest, collecting decorative material from an old iron tower-like thing that was lying there. Told me they lived close by, and about their son, who also worked in software development - in Paris, travelling by TGV every day from Metz to Paris and back. Whoa.
After leaving the forest I reached a village. I stopped at a school to ask if I could use the toilet, and though as a rule they didn't allow strangers in (which I totally understand, for the safety of the students), I managed to look sufficiently non-threatening that they made an exception.
Later in the same village (Vigy), I took a lunch break at a playground, making some tea because it was still a bit cold and windy.
After Vigy, the path followed a disused train track, through fields, which was also better than the road I'd expected. After another little village, back into a bit of forest, again having to avoid slugs, though there were fewer of them here.
It was not so hot today, and cloudy, and after multiple days of 30-34 degrees, it was quite pleasant for my skin not to get burned again - it was pretty much impossible to avoid a little sunburn with that heat, even though I regularly use SPF 50.
After that track, the nature bits of the day were really over, and the rest of it was walking over roads through villages towards Metz; although the path did choose something like the best possible route, through parks and past some grain fields on a grassy path. Good thing, too, because tarmac is really tiring for my feet and I notice the difference immediately.
And so, I entered the city of Metz. And in the city there was a park, and in the park there was a river, and on the river there was a fortification, and on the fortification there was a lot of confusion about where the trail was. Not because it wasn't clearly marked, but I was losing my concentration and missing markings or just completely ignoring them (at one point, I did notice a cross saying 'not here', but took that road anyway. Yeah, pretty stupid, I know).
I got to the centre of Metz at 19.15, then had to leave the trail and walk some 15 minutes more to the campsite. Tomorrow is my resting day. Strange idea that I won't be packing up my tent or carrying a heavy backpack.

Geschreven door Jewaontheroad