North of France

Northern France is a surprise. We expected industry and motorways, but the GR5 leads us through a green and peaceful countryside of forests, fields, rivers and lakes. The big cities are neatly avoided — except Metz, which turns out to be a revelation.

We start in the atmospheric but crumbling Sierck-les-Bains, where elderly men tend their window plants in half-abandoned houses. Through fields of wild garlic — the scent is intoxicating — we walk 36 kilometres to Metz, our longest day yet. The city we expected to be ugly and industrial turns out to be beautiful: a cathedral, cosy squares, and a campsite right in the centre by the river.

We discover the "lavoir" — the old stone wash houses found in every French village — and the chausson aux pommes becomes our regular hiking snack. At Pont-à-Mousson we pass war memorials between the peaceful forests, and realise how thin the layer of peace over this landscape is.

Somewhere near Liverdun we pass 500 kilometres — exactly one month on the road, further south than Paris. We turn east, toward the Vosges. And from a hilltop near Brin-sur-Seille we see them for the first time: the mountain peaks on the horizon. Our hearts beat faster. That’s where we’re headed.