Beautiful stage mostly through shady forests, but also sections along fields and passing through a few small villages. A little over halfway there is a detour in the route which is signposted, but we missed, resulting in some tricky sections with fallen trees. The last kilometers pass through the medieval town of Liverdun.
Yesterday we moved from Metz to Liverdun, to make the last stage south from there. After a night at camping de la Moselle, we took the 8:11am train to return to Pont-à-Mousson via Nancy.
Originally this was supposed to be 2 stages, with a campsite halfway through, but after further research it turns out you need an FFN license for this campsite. And we don’t have one… So we walk these two stages as one, making it a good 34 kilometers.
The first 2.5km we walk along the main road of the village and when the main road turns right, we walk straight into the woods and fields. It’s a beautiful route with typically French, rolling wheat fields and narrow little forests through which the paths pass, providing a bit of shade. Quite nice, for a day on which almost 30°C is predicted!
Halfway through, we come across a bridge over a small river, which is nicely shaded by a bush. The coolness of the river is ideal for taking a break. We are looking for a suitable place to sit, when Malou notices something moving behind a tree. A large snake is crawling, slowly through the tree roots into the grass. Fortunately, he is just as startled by us as we are by him, and he quickly crawls away. It turns out to be a non-poisonous snake, the “slippery snake,” but it makes quite an impression, partly because of its size.
After the break we continue our journey and while chatting we (apparently) miss a detour of the GR5. The original route over which we walk becomes narrower and narrower and it has some tricky sections, where we have to clamber over and under downed trees. Toward the end of the hike, a fellow GR5 hiker tells us that the detour would have been 3 kilometers longer. So we’re not too sad to have missed it…
Once we get out of the woods, the trail runs along wheat fields. Beautiful to walk through, but pfew, how bright the sun is… We put on our caps and sunglasses and luckily we have plenty of water with us (4 liters); we drink it all.
It is wonderful to walk the last kilometers up to Liverdun through the forest. The end of the trail runs through the medieval center of town and we walk under the old city gates. We look out over the Moselle and the valley below, where our campsite is located.
It was another long, beautiful stage, which was special for several reasons. We passed the 500-kilometer mark today, got further south than downtown Paris on foot, and we are exactly one month on the road today. Surely that feels a bit further than yesterday!
When evening falls and we have enjoyed a lovely shower, we reminisce the beautiful hike, the accomplishments and a delicious home-cooked camping meal.
As we lie in our little tent, the village clock strikes 11 p.m., a train passes in the distance, and with the sound of crickets and frogs, we fall asleep…
