Stage 24 Saturday 18 October: Conde-sur-Marne to Chalons-en-Champagne (17 km/10.5m)

Our last day of hiking! After a chilly start (6C/43F) it was a beautiful day with blue skies, gentle breezes and easy walking. Because we had to return the cars yesterday our initial plan was to get an Uber to our starting point in Conde sur Marne… but there were no Ubers available. Plan B: hike to the Via, avoiding most of the main roads by following the tracks. This would bring us out about 6km into the route… but there was a big hunting party on the tracks and they advised us to stay on the roads. Plan C: we hiked the 2.5km of roads to join the Via near Juvigny, then continue the Via along the Canal Latéral à la Marne into Châlons en Champagne for a total hike of about 12.5km/7.8m.

Route direction ➡️; our direction ➡️
Early morning misty scenes
Waiting for a break in the traffic at one of the numerous narrow bridges into Juvigny
Onto the misty canal
Today’s mushie … a Stubble Rosegill?

😳
Lunch break
Walking into Chalons-en-Champagne
WW1 memorial outside the Cathedral
Cathedral St Etienne
Our end point
Buildings near the town centre
Town hall (Hotel de Ville)
A hard to find coffee
Church Collégiale Notre-Dame-en-Vaux
At markets in the square
Mumu, out with his/her human
Across the Marne River and out of town to the train station for an Uber

At home tonight, preparing the last supper of this trip… Spanish Chicken, a favourite over past weeks.

The artistes
Into the oven
50 minutes later… dinner is served
Minions doing the dishes
Our regular evening entertainment… euchre (on the Trickster app)

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