Wednesday, April 22, 2026
End: Saint-Christ-Briost
Kilometers: 23.7
Total: 62.7
It was a chilly night, but I stayed warm enough in my sleeping bag. In the morning, we got up before our friends, and after packing up our bags, I set out with Daniel first.
We walked through the fields, and soon we were through the village of Pithon, and the spot where I had hoped to camp the previous night. We haven’t been able to make it to any of the spots I have picked so far.
Our group hiked on, and in no time we were in the city of Ham, the first city since Saint-Quentin, though not as large. My mission here was to get more food, get our family lunch, and try to mail our boats home.
The boats had not been as big a success as I had hoped. Though they were a fun diversion, they didn’t help us cover more ground, and they were too heavy to comfortably carry. Even though they were quite light for packrafts, I had severe pain in my shoulders after the previous days.
Guy, Timothy, and I got groceries and McDonald’s for our group, and brought it back to them. Isabelle suggested I try Mondial Relay as a cheap option to send the boats.
God really blessed me on this one. I grabbed the inflatable boats and headed back to E LeClerc where I saw Mondial Relay lockers. On the way, I passed by a business with empty cardboard boxes, which I used to pack up the boats. When I got to the lockers, the delivery truck happened to be there, picking up packages. He explained to me how to send something, and I got it all done on my phone. The boats were off our backs. For the paddles, I had to race back to our group, grab the paddles, and find a Mondial Relay collection point at a store downtown. They were so helpful in wrapping the paddles in a plastic bag so that they could be sent. The boats and paddles were no longer our problem.
Hiking out of Ham, we were again a bit behind schedule, but this time we atheist were not overburdened. Turning back to the canal, the trail led right through someone’s yard. This was a first for us. At thus point, Alex twisted her ankle. I didn’t know it at the time, as we weren’t all together.
We took breaks often along the canal, then left it for the rest of the day. The children hiked well, at the head of thre group, and I stayed with them, trying to keep us on the trail. The GR800 has not been particularly well marked, many turns not having any sign at all, and other Grand Randonées often joining and separation from our path, creating confusion.
I kept Daniel moving as best as I could. We play a game involving memorizing a growing list of words, each word starting with a different letter of the alphabet. Daniel of course chooses the silliest words he can think of. We also played with his Top Trump soccer cards.
We passed through villages with little to offer. Buny, Villecourt, and Flavy. I had to resort to asking a resident to refill our water bottles. There was not much else.
Our goal was to get North of the highway, then find a place to camp. Guy and I hiked ahead together and looked for a spot. We were going to settle for a mediocre spot next to farm fields, when I came across a nice little spot, away from the trail, down by the marsh. It was a peaceful place for us to set up our tents.
Here, Alex took another look at her ankle. She had definitely sprained it, though it wasn’t a really bad sprain. I thought about our options, and ended up reserving an AirBnB for us in the next city, Peronne, where we would try and get Alex back to hiking shape. But first, we would have to get there.
