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08:09 Checked my watch for the first time. It’s a dewy, mild morning.
08:37:20 
08:38:06
08:41 Sitting up, about to get dressed. I had quite a fearful night expecting to be nuzzled by badgers. I heard scufflings and murmurs, but the scufflings were probably mice and the murmurs were probably me. Still, I don’t think I’ll choose to sleep in a wood again where there are animal burrows in evidence1 unless I absolutely have to.
10:28 Finally ready to move back to the road. Lie-in, breakfast, kind-of washed my socks by wiping down the basha, washed the breakfast things (moss makes a very effective pot scourer) and broke camp. Zero water left. Looks like a beautiful sunny day!
10:37 Back on the road.
11:11 Stopping to fill up on water at a tap in the grounds of the church at St-Aubon-de-Scellon. Going really well, mood good, the day is beautiful but still chilly. I have my fleecy and gloves on.
11:18 Quaffed about a litre, packed three litres. Also washing my socks. Giverville is 8km, which should be doable in two hours if I crack on. Say 13:20.
11:23:59 France is a dedicatedly secular country; if the church has a presence in a town or village, no matter how inconsequential, so does the state in the form of the Mairie. 
12:24:48 
12:25:44 
12:57:57
13:00 Arrived in Giverville. The only thing open is a charcuterie truck. He has nothing ready to eat, only patés - and the boulangerie is shut. I’m scoffing nuts and looking at the 12km to Brionne on the map. I also need to figure out how I’m going to approach Rouen, so I’m doing that now. I also have a chunk of cheese and a tin of tuna so I won’t lack for calories to get me through the rest of the day and make breakfast tomorrow. I have the current and next maps spread out in the sun on the pavement next to the main square. I’m the only person here, apart from a few cars rumbling by every few minutes.
13:36 Wow, that was tough. Just found a route to get me across the Seine. I’m skipping Rouen because it’s just in the top-left corner of the new map and I don’t have the bit in between to get me from here to there. I want to keep striking East. I’ve also decided to skip Paris - its suburbs spread out for days and picking back roads between them is likely to put me in some very dodgy areas.
13:54 Moving again, towards Notre Dame d’Epine, on the road to Brionne.
14:53 My GPS is telling me there’s a municipal camping just to the north of Brionne! Superb discovery. I calculate I’ll get there by 17:00 with minimal faffage.
14:57:20
15:21 Brionne 5km. Through oceans of rapeseed and coarse grass fields, fringed with mansions, farm buildings and church steeples.
15:50 Starting to descend into the river valley along deciduous slopes.
15:52:13
16:06 Brionne town limit.
16:28 Arrived at the municipal camping. Seems to be open - bonus.
18:41:46
19:52 Got my basha pitched and then dropped in to reception where a lovely helpful girl gave me a million pamphlets about things to see and do in the area. She also recommended places to eat in the town (and places not to eat!)
After a half-hour orientation chat with her, I strolled into the town and took a look at what’s here: a large Carrefour Market, a couple of boulangeries, a charcuterie, some bars and a pleasing enough situation in the wide valley, bracketed by wooded hillsides. The town also has a slight edge. It doesn’t feel unsafe, though - but then again I’m a fit white middle-aged male so probably the lowest-risk demographic for random shit to happen to.
I’m in the only open restaurant in town now: the pizzeria recommended as first port of call by the girl at the camping. Better order!
OK, ordered: tomato salad and Caesar salad and chips.
After wandering into town and exploring the main streets, I parked myself in a noisy, smoky bar for an hour or two and chatted on Telegram with Aisling while rotating the snaps on the camera2 which seems to be the quickest, most reliable and least tedious (though still tedious) way to do it. I supped a decent pot of black unsweetened (€2.40) Lipton’s tea while doing this. I kept the four sugar cubes for breakfast porridge enhancement.
So even though this town isn’t very happening, I’ll probably stay a day tomorrow in order to get some clothes washed… then again I could just get out and make more progress eastwards. I don’t bang that hard3 yet.
I cracked out 25km today without any hardship, and that without even a proper lunch.
Caesar salad just arrived - it actually looks great.
Wow, that’s hitting the spot - some salad ingredients, but slathered in dressing with enormous chunks of chicken breast.
So another option is to use this place as a base for a few days, to allow me to visit Rouen by train, do some sightseeing and find a decent bookshop that’ll have the IGN maps of France that I’m using. I’m accustomed to the scale now, (1:100,000; 1cm to 1km) and they’re very complete, but with a disconcerting convention of representing everything from a rutted boreen to what would be an R (regional) road at home using the same colour. Most of the time they’re equivalent to Irish L (local) roads though - low traffic volumes and uneven enough to keep sane drivers below 100km/h.
Some questions to answer tomorrow:
Tasks:
I’d better make a move so I’m not putting my bag in the bivvy in total darkness. I’m going to skip dessert - I don’t need it. €16.20 for dinner.
21:01 Back in the camp site, prepping my bedding in the fading light. The bathing block is heated!
I hadn’t mentioned it the previous evening, but attempting to put a stake in the ground among the roots at the base of a tree, I found lots of small, partially leaf-filled burrows.↩
The same day we bought the camera on a whim while walking in Germany, it took a tumble onto concrete. I suspect the gravity sensor got knocked senseless by that: the camera’s never been able to reliably indicate snaps taken in portrait orientation, so it has to be done by hand.↩
stink that bad.↩
