French Divide - To Toulon sur Arroux

The French Divide to Reims had been reasonably flat. Onwards it became a bit hillier, then it entered the Morvan national park which is definitely lumpy. The next checkpoint was the other side of the Morvan at Toulon sur Arroux.

First we visit the Champagne region.

The weather over the first few days had been warm. From here on in the afternoons were HOT.

We were either drinking water, or looking out for more water.

In the UK, we'd manage with one bottle between us. On this trip we carried 3, and that was only just enough.

A top tip is that cemeteries usually have taps.

The route towards the Morvan was agricultural.There were lots of tracks that skirted between fields.

The cross reminds us that this part of the route follows an old pilgrim's trail.

This is the first time we'd seen this particular plant (below) growing in a field. ;)

After the fields and big skies, we entered the Morvan which is mainly a forested area.

You know what trees look like, so there aren't lots of pictures of those.

The afternoons continued to get warmer, and by the end of most days, we were fried and could not wait to have a lie down in the shade.

12 days after leaving Bromsgrove we arrived in Toulon sur Arroux.

We'd missed the French Divide checkpoint time limit by a few hours, but it didn't matter, we were just glad to have made it.

That evening we ate pizza, and were interviewed by a local journalist who'd heard what we were doing.