Day 6: Licques to Wisques

April 19, 2019

As I was going to bed I got one of those tingles in the back of my throat. I drank a bunch of water and took some vitamins and tried not to worry. I woke up this morning, and it was a full-on sore throat. I couldn’t tell if I was sick or if it was allergies, so I just took more vitamins, some ibuprofen, and drank a ton of water and two steaming-hot cups of coffee, hoping for the best. As I was walking out of the house, the garage door was going up next door and there stood Delphine’s husband and son (I never did get their names) we waved vigorously at each other, seemingly both cheered by the unexpected opportunity to say goodbye. Delphine, if you or your family are reading this, thank you again for the hospitality!

It was supposed to be a double stage today at roughly 33.5 km (Licques to Tournehem-sur-la-Hem and Tournehem-sur-la-Hem to Wisques), but if you look at that on the map, you’ll notice that Tournehem-sur-la-Hem is actually kind of in the opposite direction of Wisques for a bit, so you have to go north and then sharply back south. From what I can tell that wasn’t even really on Sigeric’s route but was added because Tournehem had a number of pilgrim services in this part of France that doesn’t seem to have many. Wisques is the real pilgrim goal in this stretch, with two Abbeys and a history of pilgrim hosting.

In a number of pilgrim blogs I read they took another route on main roads, taking a more direct path to Wisques, so at the last minute this morning I decided I wasn’t going to be a hero; I’d take the more direct route, thus shaving off about 10km. I had some misgivings after I turned on to the main road. It was a beautiful morning and I assumed taking more roads wouldn’t offer as much of the gorgeous scenery I’d been enjoying. I was wrong:

I’m glad I didn’t check the elevation because this route had a lot of hills. 1,370 meters of elevation gain, to be exact. It was tough, but I thought of it as training for Switzerland. 🙂

Another benefit I hadn’t considered of the road route was the little villages I’d walk through. I got to see a bunch of churches and I checked all for signs of pilgrim stamps, but no one answered when I knocked. Maybe they’re all busy with Easter festivities?

My feet started acting up again about the 16km mark. My back and knees were fine today (have they started to acclimate? fingers crossed), so I was grateful for that.

I was losing steam and hobbling along when out of nowhere a bakery appears. I got tomato baguette and some pastries that I saved for dinner tonight. Also, as I was leaving the bakery I spotted my first pilgrim of the day. I’d expected not to see any, but I think it’s where the Tournhem route meets up with the more direct route.

I lost all sense of shame as I entered Wisques and crept to my lodging. I wasn’t supposed to check in until 4 and it was 1, but I went and stood outside anyway, and saw a man was checking the mail. I approached him and asked if it was too early to check in. He told me to follow him and he’d see. It turns out my room wasn’t ready, but he showed me outside where I could wait, and the resident puppy followed. I scratched her head and we became buddies.

After about 30 minutes, my room was ready and he brought me the key.

I’m going to take a hot shower and tend to my feet. I also want to get in bed by 9pm and get an extra good sleep. Tomorrow I’m continuing on to Auchy-au-bois and will stay with another Delphine!