Day 3: Dover to Ecottes

Song of the day: Radio Gaga — Queen

I didn’t select this song for a specific lyric (I’m not really a lyrics person) but more for the opening build-up of the song, which perfectly encapsulated the feeling of pulling away from Dover on the ferry, the white cliffs lit up in the morning sun.

I was up at 6:30 and spent the morning getting my bag packed and tending to my blisters. Sam (Nathan’s brother) recommended using duct tape to create moleskin-like patch. This ended up working extremely well, and though I have more more new blisters to deal with, I was largely able to get through the day pain-free.

My scheduled taxi arrived right on time at 7:30, and the drive to the passenger terminal was under 10 minutes. Therefore, I had almost an hour to till before the 8:30 foot passenger bus (the bus leaves 90 minutes before the departure, but based on this experience there wasn’t really much need to be there too far in advance of that deadline.)

There were probably about 30 foot passengers, and the bus took us to clear passport control and board the ship. I settled in on the outside deck and watched the cliffs recede as we departed, about 15 minutes late. On the Calais side, foot passengers are the last to disembark, so due to this and the delay, I wasn’t off the ship until about 1:30. Calais Port is essentially one massive superhighway, so I opted to take the free shuttle into town, alighting at Coeur de Vie to begin my walk. This means that I missed most of Calais town, but given my late start I was happy with the trade off.

All roads lead to Rome, and the many Via Francigena guidebooks make it clear that the VF is not a single path, but a collection of routes — some more faithful to Sigeric’s route than others. I am not a purist, and today was a good example of that, where I almost entirely bypassed the official signposted VF trail.

The official path leaves Calais along the coast, heading to Wissant, before turning and heading south to Guines. I decided to skip the Wissant leg entirely (many of the pilgrims whose blogs I followed had done the same, as it makes it nearly impossible to complete the trek in the 90 day Schengen limit) and also make progress toward the next stop, Licques. I found a room on Airbnb with a family in Ecottes, a ways off the trail, so spent the day navigating via Maps.Me instead of the VF app.

I left Calais around 2pm, stopping by a pharmacy on my way out of town to finally(!) resolve my medication issue, despite my limited French. The walk to Guines was peaceful and easy alongside a canal. I stopped for a lunch (a very sad sandwich purchased on board the ferry) and enjoyed the view of the canal. At a certain point, the bike path I was following ran out and Maps.Me had me walking on the (narrower than I would like) bank. I managed to not fall in and saw plenty of fauna: a family of ducks, some swans, many cows, and even a horse (+ rider) that passed me on my way.

Coming in to Guines, the town is quite charming, with lots of flowers and decorations strung across many of the streets. Unfortunately, the entire town was shut for a festival. I tried to go to the Mairie for a stamp, but it too was closed. An older couple was also trying to get in, and we struck up a conversation (if you can call it that, given my broken French). I explained that I was a pilgrim, walking from Canterbury, yes on foot, yes alone, and that I was continuing on to Ecottes that afternoon. I’m not sure exactly how much I was able to communicate given, again, that I really don’t speak French, but the wife wished me “Bon voyage” as she turned to go. Her husband turned back, grabbed my arm, and wished me a sincere — if skeptical — “Bonne chance.”

Leaving Guines, one quickly crosses from village to farmland, and I was once again joined by rolling hills of grain. I decided to try out my hiking poles this time, and definitely felt that they helped distribute the weight better. I was struck by the beauty of these hills — and even though they really didn’t look that different than the Kent countryside from yesterday, there was something about the view that was undeniably French.

I unfortunately skipped the Guines forest that the official VF path takes, and instead passed through two small villages: Campagne-les-Guines and Boquehault, whose Mairies were unsurprisingly also closed. I stopped for a bit outside the Campagne-les-Guines churchyard to rest my feet and call my parents, and also quickly poked my head into the church itself, which was open. It was a lovely white interior, and very different from the darker stone English churches of the past few days.

Finally, just before 7pm I arrived in Ecottes where I am staying in an Airbnb with a lovely French/English family. I joined them for a delicious dinner (I must have eaten an entire loaf of bread — I had forgotten how much I love French bread), and am off to bed. Tomorrow is a longer day than I realized — I had planned to stay in the abbey in Wisques, but realized I had never confirmed my arrival. Fingers crossed that they will take me in when I show up!

All in all, despite the late start and longer distance, today felt mentally easier than the previous days. Here’s hoping this trend continues.

Final mileage: 12.37 mi
Walking time: 5h 6m
Elevation gain: 555 ft

Accommodation: The Longhouse, Ecottes (Airbnb). Luce and her family are fantastic hosts, and the rental is a small apartment off the side of her house. It was a stretch above my budget, but well worth it.