7 Trefcon to Laon
436m climbing
4h 17m elapsed
25th July 2019, 42°C, sunny
62.20km
3h 38m moving
61% off-road
Red line - the route I took, Orange line - “official” Via Francigena, Blue line - Sigeric’s probable route
La canicule, The heat wave
Guess where I am on the map today.
Most days on the Via Francigena in summer are going to be pleasant sunny days, not too hot, not too cold. Even the days when it has rained the forecast has been spot on. So I knew today would be tough.
So today I kicked off at a quarter to six whilst it was still dark. I would really recommend setting off so early at least a few times on the Via Francigena, especially in those areas where you are immediately in the countryside. You just see lots of animals... rabbits 🐇, hares, a fox 🦊, a weasel ... all before sunrise.
I also saw an irrigation machine on fire... I guess the temperature got to that too.
The route today followed the official route only for a couple of km at the very start. This way I missed out Tergenier and the Foret de Saint Gobain. However I did get to do more gravel and had an amazing run in to Laon from 15km out: much like last year with Mont St Eloi, here you can see the cathedral at Laon from miles away from the route that I took. The following photos don't really do it justice but it just keeps getting closer and closer. I know this isn’t much of an official route but I love the feeling when you can constantly see your destination getting slowly closer.
Touring Laon
I got into Laon just after 10am and I love this place. It had a feeling of being deserted, almost haunted. Many of the businesses and shops seemed closed forever and I'm quite sure it wasn't just the heatwave shutting everything that didn't have airconditioning (which I think would have amounted to everthing apart from one cafe and the pharmacy).
The place just feels like it has a sad story behind it.
The star of the town is the amazing cathedral. It's probably the most impressively sited cathedral outside of say Lincoln or Durham, yet feels much more part of the town than either of them.
I will come back to Laon.
Overnight: Laon, Hôtel De La Banniere De France
Very old school hotel. Couldn't check in so early which isn't unusual but then they found a room. However none of the rooms had airconditioning and if there was ever a day it was needed it was today. Old narrow staircases with old carpet with old rooms were somewhat reminiscent of Faulty Towers and the "boss/owner" was a tall guy with a mustache.
Food in the evening was pretty good however and I felt comfortable arranging a very early checkout with Basil... to be continued tomorrow…