|||
08:13 Up and out of bed.
Porridge brekkie, last goodbyes, snaps in the garden.
10:00 On the road. Lesley accompanies me to the end of the lane.
11:05 Stop to drink almost a litre of water.
11:42 4km to Saint Lô. Very muggy. Bright. Birdsong.
12:39 Saint Lô city limit.
12:39 Took €80 from an ATM. Looking for a lunch spot. Saint Lô straddles a steep-sided valley. The old town is surrounded by an imposing fortress wall.
12:46 Sitting down to roast chicken followed by Spéculoos tart. €11.95.
I need to phone my brother, get a refill of water, pack my dry clothes away, maybe pick up something for dinner - though Torigny-sur-Vire doesn’t look far, I have to take opening times into account.
13:49 Finished a 28-minute chat with David.
13:56 Find the Supermarket.
€3.53 for loo paper, baguette, petit beurre biscuits, two onions.
14:16 Walking out of town.
14:51 Four litres of water is an almost impossible load. Stopping to quaff another litre from one of the bottles. I got a refill of both two litre bottles in the café where I had lunch. I also scoffed chunk of chocolate and ate the last three chocolate biscuits after shopping.
15:20 Stopping to peel my trouser legs off.
16:27 In the centre of Condé-sur-Vire. Buying a snack in the boulangerie and maybe an apple in the veg shop, if there is one.
16:34 €2.55 for a pain au raisins (a Danish) and a croissant au amandes (I think) sitting enjoying in the sun on the church yard steps.
16:47 €0.55 for a Boskop apple. They’re sublime.
18:08 Arrived in the centre of Torigny-sur-Vire (which it isn’t on at all - Lesley told me a funny apocryphal story about the naming of the town you’ll have to remind me to tell you). I’ll camp somewhere beyond without seeking permission. Sunset is at 20:23, so plenty of time.
18:26 Gorgeous little town! The tourist office is closed, but the informational sign board next to it indicates there’s a campsite near the town. A helpful young woman tells me it’s about 5km away, opposite a stadium. I’ll check it out!
18:36 Okay, it’s actually only a few hundred metres away, but it’s closed. They open 1 April, five days from now. Move on out of town and find another place to sleep.
18:58 Got one of the bottles refilled in a bar.
19:36 Found what looks like an ideal spot on a high bank between two fields, shielded by trees and not overlooked by houses. I’ll start setting up the basha!
20:15 Basha set up. This is a nice quiet pitch. The brambles will probably fuck up the Magic Carpet though1. I hear and see tractors and hear a donkey. Putting the sleeping bag in the bivvy now, then a quick cheese sandwich dinner and into bed.
2017-03-27/DSCN4237.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4238.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4239.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4240.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4241.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4242.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4243.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4244.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4245.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4246.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4247.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4248.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4249.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4250.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4251.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4252.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4253.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4254.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4255.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4256.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4257.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4258.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4259.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4260.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4261.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4262.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4263.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4264.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4265.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4266.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4267.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4268.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4269.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4270.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4271.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4272.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4273.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4274.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4275.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4276.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4277.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4278.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4279.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4280.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4281.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4282.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4283.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4284.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4285.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4286.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4287.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4288.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4289.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4290.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4291.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4292.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4293.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4294.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4295.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4296.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4297.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4298.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4299.JPG
2017-03-27/DSCN4300.JPG
It wasn’t the Magic Carpet that got damaged, but the self-inflating mat. It never stayed inflated until morning ever again - and I never found the holes. Not that I looked that hard for them, despite having a repair kit.↩
