Sunday, April 21, 2024
End: Le Havre Train Station
Kilometers: 8.0
Total: 196.8
I woke up and stayed in bed while the kids watched TV. I was still feeling cold, and didn’t get up until the last minute.
We hiked up a big hill to get back to the blazes marking the GR21, and started moving West.
Along the way we got some good views of the harbor and the exit of the Seine into the English Channel. By the end of the day we would be following this same river upstream to Paris to get home.
It was a little cold and windy, but mostly for me. Alex and the kids were fine. We got some warm breakfast at a bakery, then made our way to the Jardins Suspendus.
We saw a lot there, including the greenhouses. Plants from all over the world, including deserts and jungles. I was looking for something specific, but found out it was not at this garden but rather back at Étretat. It was a good visit anyway.
We hiked down to the beach and walked over to the very visible UP#3 monument. We took a few pictures, then headed for the train station, looking for the last blaze.
It was a good way to end the trail, having started hiking from the train station at Le Tréport, 200 kilometers to the West. The kids were mostly counting down the steps until lunch. A few kilometers from the beach, we made it to the train station.
I took a few pictures of Alex and the kids in front of the closest blaze. We did it! The children accomplished their first ever thru-hike, my wife Alex as well. I was very proud of them, though perhaps a bit muted in my enthusiasm by the severe cold I had acquired the day before.
The trail complete, we went to McDonald’s where we had lunch and the kids played until it was time to get on the train home. We made it home at night and got a few hours rest before getting back to our normal routine on Monday morning.
