4 Wisques to Amettes
460m climbing
5h 44m elapsed
21st July 2018, 25°C, sunny
48.30km
2h 43m moving
53% off-road
Red line - the route I took, Orange line - “official” Via Francigena, Blue line - Sigeric’s probable route
La Coupole at WIZERNES
Today’s hightlight was something else. Unlike the last couple of days, today I did in fact manage to take a slight detour to an interesting sight pretty much on the route: an old Nazi V2 rocket base that has been converted to a museum on the history of rocketry.
Although you're shepherded around a fairly predictable route, you can get a feeling for the scale of the place. But the highlight is the "history of rocketry" that kind of starts at places like this. For example I didn’t know that more V2s were aimed at Antwerp than London. Good story telling of how these Nazi weapons of terror led to the space age basically because the Americans, Russians, British and French took the technology and more importantly all the German scientists. Certainly some difficult moral choices in the process that put a man on the moon.
River beds?
Was certainly easier cycling today without the clay/rain combination. Though some of the tracks today were more like river beds than footpaths which made going pretty slow at times.
Today was the first time I came across others on the Via Francigena: a Swiss couple traveling from Canterbury to Lausanne.
Saint Benoît
Apparently the patron saint of pilgrims is Saint Benoît and he was born here in Amettes. So its worth seeking out his story and taking in the charm of his birthplace.
Overnight: Ferme Des 2 Tilleuls
I think this place is one of the "must have" stops on the Via Francigena. A wonderful old farm and family that cook a great common meal in the evening. This was the beginning of my improvement in French for the trip > there's no English spoken here.