Nearly time for the off! I started this blog six years ago when Rosie and I walked 264 km to Santiago de Compostela from Astorga in northern Spain. We had such a good time that we have decided to tackle another stretch of the Camino from Monday, this time along the Chemin de Paris in France.

After long haul flights to China over Easter to visit Ed, we felt we couldn’t justify any more flying this year so a starting point we can reach easily by Eurostar and SNCF is a bonus. We set off tomorrow for Paris and then Orleans for a weekend with Martyn and Sam. They will wave us off from Orleans at some ungodly hour on Monday morning to start our 250 or so km walk to Poitiers. We’ll follow the Loire valley south west as far as Tours (lots of chateaux and wine to enjoy, says Rosie) then head south across several of the Loire’s tributaries (the Vienne and Clain rivers) to Poitiers. I’m turning into Martyn, navigating by river catchments!

Bring it on!