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Awake at 07:04, sitting up at 07:12. That was a tough night, mostly because the ground is rock-hard and the traffic on the motorway was very loud. I’d opted not to put earplugs in, but I should have — or at least had a pair within easy reach. As it was, just one wild boar (that I’m aware of) passed during the night. They do their foraging in the early part of the night and this one was no exception. It didn’t announce itself until it was parallel with me (I’m on a strip of woodland between the motorway and a minor road which runs parallel to it) with a coughing bark. It must have been just ten or twenty metres away. It stood in place and continued the barking for a while, then moved off eastwards along the woodland ribbon barking regularly until I couldn’t hear it anymore. I had no other nocturnal visitors.
After a while the traffic on the motorway subsided and I got some decent sleep. I feel okay this morning. I need to get into Ligny-en-Barrois before midday to have a chance of restocking on supplies and water for today, which is another wild camping day. My destination for today is the village of Void, whose population for some reason is not listed on the map. The type size of the village name on the map indicates it’s in the 1,000 inhabitants range. That may not be enough for a boulangerie, even. I may need to knock on doors for water for the first time.
I’m going to leave a warm tasty gift for the hog as a thank-you for not disturbing me too much. I’m carrying the empty sardine tin and yoghurt container out.
09:09: Ready to move. Breakfast, toothbrushing, washup, sock wash, gift for the hog. Now heading for Ligny-en-Barrois and hopefully some successful shopping.
09:59: Back on the bridge over the motorway where yesterday evening I decided to turn back to the bookmarked spot.
10:03: I’m noticing much higher litter levels here than in other parts of France I’ve passed through. I wonder why that is.
10:09: Entering Ligny-en-Barrois.
10:43: At the Carrefour supermarket. €12.77 for honey, cheese, bread, water, raisins, porridge, one-litre ziplocks.
11:08: Packing.
11:31: Packed. Ready to move. Lovely chat with a lady about the trip.
11:45: Leaving Ligny-en-Barrois.
12:19: Stopped to take some layers off. The sun is bright and there’s a stiff, warm breeze blowing from the south.
12:34: Stopping to put sun cream on arms and legs and have a drink of water.
13:05: Going well. Morlaincourt. (Population unspecified.)
13:14: 6 km to St Aubin.
13:16: Exiting Morlaincourt.
13:22: Stopping for lunch.
14:23: Moving again. Sun, flies, wind, no flies.
14:41: Oey.
15:42: St. Aubin sur Aire, finally. The last hour was a tough slog out of the valley over a crest and down into the new valley. The climb and crest were populated by windmills and very beautiful.
15:50: Leaving St. Aubin sur Aire.
15:53 Parallel with the motorway again. I can see the turbines in the distance that flank the section after next. The nearest is probably five kilometres away.
15:58: Earplugs in. I’m glad I chose to avoid the motorway this morning, thanks to the detour made necessary by the trip to Carrefour.
17:12: Menil la Horgne.
17:17: Leaving Menil la Horgne.
18:19: Forest has given way to grassland, but it’s all fenced off with barbed wire.
18:47: Void. There are some nice-looking crop fields bordered by forest just outside the town, I’m aiming for another spot just beyond the town.
19:11: OK, dead loss. This is also parcelled-off grassland. I’m heading back out to where I came in to town — hopefully I can slip across a field unnoticed.
19:49: Found a spot where a field is surrounded on three sides by forest. No evidence of wild boar — trails, hoofprints, etc. I’m going to find a flat spot and pitch up for the night. It’s clouding over. Google was forecasting rain a few days ago. I hope I can drive a stake into this ground! It’s very rocky.
20:20: All set up. It’s muggy. I expect rain. I’m in a superb spot at the top of the field with a ditch between me and the forest on my uphill side. Tomorrow is May Day, but farmers still have to work. I’ll need to get the basha down fast in the morning. Hope it’s not a rainy one or there’ll be not hot breakfast for me — which would be a shame, because I’ve lugged half a kilo of fresh oats all the way from Ligny-en-Barrois. I’m not hungry for dinner. I think I’ll just have some chocolate biscuits and keep the baguette. The sky has completely clouded over and there’s about half an hour until sunset.
I can see the motorway running perpendicular to my line of sight at the bottom of the valley. I can barely hear the cars. This is a vastly preferable setup to last night’s. I hope the ground doesn’t feel as hard as last night. And I hope the wild boar don’t frequent this part of the wood.
OK, setting up the sleeping bag and packing all the superfluous stuff back into my rucksack. It’s nice to have an established system by now.
20:47: Final wizz and then shoes off and clothes off and into the bag. The wind is still. The sky looks no worse than it did earlier. I remembered to put DEET on my face — though I haven’t been pestered by insects at all, thankfully. The two shallots in my sandwich at lunch probably help. I can hear pine cones dropping through the branches. I could really do with a good sleep tonight. 
