|||
09:18: Awake at 07:10. Up at 07:30. Washed, breakfast, socks and jocks washed, now I’m about to pack. The soles of my feet were very sore this morning. Not blistered, but bruised. Today is another long day but hopefully I can follow the canal towpath again, which is a very direct route. I need to buy lunch and some greens for dinner before I leave town.
The camping is not open, so I’ve booked a hotel for €48 in Vitry-le-François.
10:11: On the street. Decided to skip shopping; I have mackerel and lentils and biscuits.
10:24: On the canal towpath after some dithering trying to find a boulangerie. The bone under the pad of my right foot hurts.
11:34: Detouring into Sarry to find a boulangerie and maybe a fruit and veg shop.
11:50: Exactly what the doctor ordered: a boulangerie and fruit and veg shop.
12:08: €2.40 for bread, €10 for fruit, honey, peanuts and four tubs of caramel dessert — oh, and I also had a fruit custard tart. OK, back to the canal, crack on for another hour. Lunch is a more appetising prospect now. It’s chilly and overcast, with a bit of a breeze like yesterday. It’s actually perfect walking weather.
12:25: Back on the canal. My bag is impossibly heavy with all the shopping.
12:37: Stopping for lunch near a lock. Lunch will be hot lentils with bread and butter and fruit.
13:36: Ready to start moving again. I ate the mandarins and four tubs of a wannabe portuguese pudim. Even my bag of trash is heavy!
16:22: La Chausée sur Marne.
16:52: Short break passing Ablancourt. Bag off.
17:00: Moving again. 8 chocolate sable biscuits. I’ve been pushing it pretty hard the lasst few days, so I’m feeling this.
17:54: I’ve come off the canal through Soulanges and I’m leaving the village now.
18:03: Back on the canal towpath. I didn’t need to be on the main road yet.
18:50: Couvrot. Really feeling it. Just powering on.
19:06: Departed Couvrot.
20:10: Marolles.
20:13: Entering the hotel grounds.
20:22: I’m in my room. It’s a motel. Shoes off, onto the bed for a horizontal moment.
22:54: Climbing into bed. No dinner. Too exhausted and not hungry. 
