Walking The Via Francigena, Stage 39: An Unexpected End to our Pilgrimage…This Year!

This “Walking The Via Francigena” series of posts follow us, David and Gail, as we continue our walk along the Via Francigena pilgrimage route between Canterbury and Rome. In the fall of 2019, we completed the first leg from London to Canterbury, known as the Chaucer Way, and onward to the small town of Tergnier, France on the Via Francigena. A pandemic got in the way but now, in 2022, our trek is underway once again, this time taking us from Tergnier to Besançon over 23 walking days and 580 or so kilometres.

Notes from today’s adventure:

The day started out well enough. There would be a short twenty-kilometre walk to Genouille, the second last day of our walk on the Via Francigena. A calm mood was set by a dense fog. And then it happened, after just one kilometre. A quick misstep on the edge of a curb had Gail falling forward. Weighed down by her pack, her knee hit the concrete curb first, her cheekbone second. A passing motorist stopped to offer assistance but we thought, no, we’ll try to continue. That lasted about 500 metres. Gail was in obvious pain, barely able to move the leg that hit the concrete. So we made the decision to turn back and seek medical assistance in Gy. By extreme good fortune, a car approached and slowly pulled alongside. The driver offered to take us to a medical clinic in Gy. That driver was Mireille, who became our guardian angel, our saviour, our hero that day. After ushering us into the clinic and seeing that Gail was inspected by a doctor, she drove us to the pharmacy, took us to her nearby home, set Gail up in a recliner, wrapped her knee in an ice pack and then began preparations for our lunch. We were introduced to Mireille’s husband, Michel, who also had knee issues, although much more serious and involving recent surgery to both legs. Together, we all sat down for a filling déjeuner of Franch-Comté cuisine washed down with a healthy amount of wine (excepting Gail, who was starting her medications). Gail was quite immobile at this point and the doctor warned that any serious walking would be out of the question for at least five days. So we decided to make our way to our next planned destination, Geneuille, by taxi. However, Mireille generously offered to drive us there!

We arrived at the Gîte de la Brillianne mid-afternoon. And after conveying our inadequate thanks to Mireille as she left to return to Gy, Gail’s care was transferred to our hosts, Anne and Frédéric, who made sure Gail was made comfortable and had an ice wrap for her leg. Dinner was, of course, another exceptional spread of local specialties.

In yet another exceptional gesture of kindness, Anne and Frédéric offered to drive us the following morning to the final destination of our Via Francigena pilgrimage, the fortified hilltop city of Besançon.

Which finds us here, in a beautiful terrace suite at Résidence Charles Quint, where we will be staying for two nights before resuming the non-walking portion of our trip into Switzerland…with a few modifications to suit Gail’s mobility requirements.

What this means for you, dear reader, is that there will be no further blog posts for the time being. Once I have returned to Winnipeg in late October, you can look forward to updates on our visits (we hope) to Basel, Bern, Mürren and Geneva. Until then, be sure to check out our final soundscape of this year’s pilgrimage walk as well as photos of the people who helped us these last two days. We owe so much for their kindness!

At this point in my blog posts, you would normally find a summary of the day’s walk, the distance covered and the elevation climbed. Instead, let me summarize what we’ve accomplished. In total we have walked about 575 kilometres over 21 walking days. Although we were’t able to walk the final two days, we only missed about 40 kilometres, as result. All in all, mission accomplished. And we are already making plans for continuing our pilgrimage in 2023, starting back in Gy and continuing southward through Switzerland and into northern Italy.

Read on to view today’s photos, a soundscape captured along the route and an interactive map.

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Click the images below to view a full-screen slideshow.

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Overview map of the route from Tergnier to Besançon.