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07:40: Up and out of bed. I have a difficult geometry puzzle to solve this morning.1
09:09: I’ve figured out an approach to getting to Paris. I’ll walk to Méru today (20km), take a train to Gare du Nord and stay in the youth hostel Jules Ferry on the boulevard of the same name. It’s a kilometer from Gare du Nord. The map shop, IGN Monde des Cartes, is another kilometre or two away towards the Seine. I get to do a bit of walking in Paris too! I’ve phoned the youth hostel and they’ve a bed for me for a couple of nights. I’m relieved.
10:26: Breakfasted, packed, goodbyes, on the road. Packing was much less of an ordeal than I was expecting2. It’s a bright, windless day with some high cirrus.
10:53: Top off, trouser legs off. It’s great to have two functioning poles again. I’d tried gluing the old pair, but it was the wrong type of glue and anyway I didn’t trust them not to fail again. The new Decathlon poles are pretty good, not as light, but simpler in design. Best of all, they’re quieter on the road. I’m going to have to put sunblock on too.
11:12: Fay-les-Étangs. It’s so lovely to be moving again. It’s like being rocked in the cradle.
11:29: Earplugs in. I’ve turned onto a fast road.
11:47 Fleury. It’s a relief not to wince in pain when my foot shears in my shoe landing on uneven ground.
12:42: Ivry-le-Temple. Ready to take a break for lunch now.
12:50: Found a grassy spot in the town where I can assemble a cheese, tomato and shallot sandwich.
13:34: That was very delicious. Chased down with a cucumber, another tomato and twelve chocolate biscuits. Bag on, ready to move. Next port of call is Hénonville, then Méru.
14:12: Hénonville town limit.
14:18: Méru 7kms says a signpost. I could be there by 16:00. Let’s see. I’m going well in the new socks and with the new poles, but it’s not without some discomfort. The best I can hope for is to approach the trance-like state in which the kilometres dissolve.
15:22: Crossed under the A16/E401 “L’Européenne” motorway.
15:33: Méru town limit.
15:53: At the train station, ticket for Paris Gare du Nord bought. My train leaves at 17:03 and gets in at 17:55. The one-way ticket was €10.40.
From my reading matter: (Geoff Nicholson’s “The Lost Art of Walking”)
Guy Debord invents psychogeography in a 1955 paper titled “Introduction to a Critique of Urban Geography”.
Books: Denis Wood: “The Power of Maps”; William Manly: “Death Valley in ’49”
17:57: On the concrete at Paris Gare du Nord. Heading south and slightly east to the hostel, which is about a kilometre away. It feels great to be in a big city.
18:29: At the youth hostel. I’ve booked in for two nights. The only dorms available are four-bed dorms. €57.26.
18:42: In the room. I seem to be the only person in this room so far.
19:14: Back out on the street for a bit of flânerie — though I do have south Indian food in mind, which I saw up around Gare do Nord.
19:50: Sitting in an authentic south Indian restaurant somewhere near the station. This area is packed with Ethiopeans or Eritreans, South Indians, Algerians and who knows what else - definitely a mongrel Dutchman wearing Irish wallpaper.
20:56: That was spectacularly good. Dhal Palak with rice and a paratha. I’ve followed it with a delicious cup of sweet masala tea. I’m reading “The Lost Art of Walking”. I should re-read “Dharma Bums”. I was too young when I read it; I didn’t get it at all at the time.
21:19: Heading back to the hostel. My legs are very stiff. It takes a while to get them moving fluidly again. Looking forward to the trip to the map shop tomorrow and then a day of pure flânerie. Geoff Nicholson mentions Debord’s “constrained walks”: I’ll invent an algorithm to take me around the city based on the letters of Debord’s name.
