Waking on Thursday morning after a fantastic evening meal, a great sleep and having reflected on the ‘walk smarter rather than harder’ concept, we set off heading North towards Verdun; a place synonymous with the slaughter that took place upon The Western Front. The approach to Verdun took us through the Foret Domaniale de la Montagne, which became known as the Saint Mihiel Salient sitting astride the Tranchee Calonne, a gravelled road that stretches for 25km through the forest. The area saw heavy fighting in 1914 and early 1915, but despite intense military activity around Verdun in 1916/17, the area remained relatively quiet for the rest of the war. The terrain does not lend itself to offensive operations, with steep sided valleys dissecting the plateau along which the Tranchee Calonne runs, making coordination of fire and movement extremely difficult.
We made good time through the forest, with the predicted rain thankfully holding off and quickly descended into the Le Longeau valley and the village of St Remy la Calonne. We took a breather in the sunshine by the immaculate village war memorial to eat our sandwich lunch (salmon and cream cheese today thanks to the fantastic breakfast buffet!) before setting off and following tracks and minor roads on our way to Watronville, a small village some 10km east of Verdun. Shortly after setting off, the heavens opened with the first of several cloudbursts we experienced that afternoon as we walked 12km through seven or eight deserted villages into Watronville.
Arriving at the La Haie Cerf at 5pm we met our host, 75-year-old Chantal, who though recovering from a recent hip operation looked after us in splendid (1970’s) style. Despite the language barrier, with the help of Google Translate we had a great evening: who knew that Baked Alaska was still a thing?!!
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