Day 40 - Walking the Via Francigena - Ornans To Lods, France - A Leisurely Walk Along The Clear River Loue
Day 40 - Walking the Via Francigena - Ornans To Lods, France - A Leisurely Walk Along The Clear River Loue
Over breakfast, we chatted with the owner of our hotel in Ornans.
He told us that not many pilgrims walk the Via Francigena at this time of the year.
Most people come in the summertime, even though the summers are very hot, and it is much more difficult to walk all day in the heat.
He told us that he lived in the USA for years, and also in the Caribbean islands.
As an avid fly fisherman, he has fished in Montana, Utah and Colorado.
Now he has returned home, to run a hotel that caters mostly to fishermen who come to fly fish for the golden yellow trout, perch and pike that live in the river.
We do not have a long day of walking today.
The reason for this is that we will be staying overnight at a bed and breakfast in the nearby village of Lods, in order to break up the distance to the city of Pontarlier, our next stop after Lods.
We started the day relatively late, and tried to walk very leisurely, in order not to arrive at our B&B hosts before 3pm.
The path was mostly a forest path, overlooking the river.
We took several short breaks along the path to Lods, stopping to sit at every bench we found that was not wet from the previous night’s rain.
We were not tired, we simply needed to slow down our pace.
We looked at the fish in the river, listened to the birds and to the sound of the rapids.
In a small village along the way, we stopped for some tea.
The old villages along the river were very picturesque.
We even tried to stop in a busy restaurant to have a light lunch, not because we were hungry, but just to spend the time.
Unfortunately the place was not very clean and the menu of the day was all meat, so we kept on walking, and instead had some cookies sitting on a bench in the forest.
Finally, we stopped for coffee and ice cream in Lods, at the only restaurant in town.
We made reservations for dinner at seven in the evening, and then climbed up a steep hill to visit the local church and to check into our guesthouse.
Our host in the Chez Nous B&B was a woman from Switzerland.
She showed us to our room and we made arrangements for breakfast the next day.
We showered, cleaned up and rested until dinner.
The nice sunny day had turned into a very rainy evening.
We dressed in our rain gear and walked down the steep hill for dinner.
We were the only guests in the hotel restaurant that evening.
The food was superb.
We ordered the menu of the day, which included an appetizer, main course and dessert for €25 per person.
The appetizer was “Finds From the Forest,” a collection of mushrooms in cream sauce served over a toasted baguette.
It included morel mushrooms, champignons and oyster mushrooms.
The main course was a seared fish with couscous, vegetables and potatoes.
The Loue river is a fishermen’s Paradise.
Many inns and houses are available for rental to fishermen who come to fish in the clear river.
We could see the fish swimming in the river, just by standing on the shore.
The dessert was a white cheese that tasted similar to a thick yoghurt, served with raspberries and raspberry sauce.
The whole family that runs the hotel and restaurant was having dinner when we got ready to leave and paid our bill.
Walking up the very steep hill back to our room was actually easier than walking down, since the rain made the road very slippery.
Tomorrow is predicted to be a very rainy day.
We plan to dress up in our rain gear right from the start, and hopefully get to Pontarlier at a reasonable time.
With love and blessings,
Tali
Today’s Stats:
Daily Steps - 22,108 Steps
5 hours of walking
Active walking time - 3.75 hours
Daily Kilometers - 16.5 Km
Total Kilometers walked from Canterbury UK - 899 km
Accommodation:
Chez Nous Bed and Breakfast in Lods, France
A small B&B located in the picturesque village of Lods with charming hosts.
