- Day 23
- Sunday, 10 September 2023
- Ornans to Pontarlier
- 544 km to yesterday (32 km to yesterday)
- 36 km today
- 580 km on the Via Francigena (68 km for 2023)
I break camp welll before daybreak and underway at just before sunrise.
The path is through verdant bush but the going underfoot is not the easiest. The opportunity for change comes at the first village, Montgesoye.
It is Sunday and I am not expecting much. But a small shop is open, I make a small purchase and ask about un café. The shopkeeper very helpfully steps outside and points the way.
I study the traffic for several minutes and decide to walk on the road, even though it winds back and forth.
All road users (mainly cyclists at this hour) cooperate with one another without difficulty.
And in no time I reach the next town:, Vuilafans, and a coffee.
Lods comes up quite quickly and the coffee goes down equally quickly.
Despite the winding road there is no aggressive driving. My practice for road walking, developed over many years is working. The main ingredient is to read the road and the traffic ahead. As a driver myself, I try to be aware of what a driver might do.
The next town, Mouthier Saint-Pierre, will be the last for a while and I ask only for water. My own water supply is holding well, despite the heat.
I strike off and soon see notices saying the Via Francigena route is blocked for repairs needed to keep users safe. An alternative is on the other side of the river and my map says it connects to the main path about 5 km ahead.
I casually look at alternatives and note the road is many km longer and quite windy. So the alternative it is.
To start, the path appears overgrown and little used. But that soon changes and I make good progress. Then there are little niggles. A fallen tree, mud, not a clear path ahead, them clarity. Each time there is a niggle, it seems to me to be worse than the niggle before. With the fallen trees it means taking of my pack, passing it across, scramble over, recover the pack and continue. Other niggles, more critical to me, are a narrow dirt path with a low side to the river in the canyon below and a high side to the bank above.
After many of these, requiring attention and effort, I am tiring and anxious. A previous history of a version of vertigo is very much front of mind. That laid me up for 10 days and unable to drive for another 20 days. Repeat not required.
The final straw for me is just ahead. What appears to be narrow steps cut into the limestone wall to my right with the river a good drop to my left. I stop and backtrack a few metres to a clearing. I check that I am on the right path. I am.
While I have a text conversation with my son in London, a man and young boy pass me. I get confirmation that I am seeing narrow stone steps ahead. My map says less than 500 metres ahead to join the normal Via Francigena route. Because of the conditions of the path I have already traveled, I feel quite unable to go back or go forward.
After much consideration I decide to push the button on the personal locator beacon I carry..
After a conversation via the emergency number, I am told a helicopter is being prepared.
When I hear the sound I wave a top. While I am doing this, I get a tap on the shoulder. While startled, I am so relieved.
My pack, then me, are hoisted up and taken to a grassed spot at the end of this track.
While waiting for my shoulder bag to come with the ground party, my anxiety and stress drop quickly away. But my tiredness remains.
Apart from the three in the helicopter, there is a ground party of nine. Six from a local station (Ouhans, which was to have been my next stop) and three with an ambulance from Pontarlier.
Asked if I had accommodation for the night, I show the confirmation for the booking.
The ambo team drop me at the front door.
And so to bed.
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