Flat stage through the beautiful French countryside, mostly on smaller asphalt roads. Only a short section through the forest is unpaved. The route passes the village Dieuze, where you have the opportunity to do some shopping.
Today, after 2 days of rain (yesterday we stayed at the campground; in the morning we heard it splashing on the tent so loudly, that we decided to stay in bed…), we set off again with sunshine. It promises to be a fairly easy stage; around 20 kilometers and almost flat. After leaving the village we follow a somewhat larger road for the first few kilometers, with beautiful flowers along the vast wheat fields. We understand where the name “field bouquet” comes from, here you could pick a beautiful one! A little further on we turn and walk into the meadows, through a narrow path through the grass. We walk up a small hill and come to a path along fields and some old orchards. We’re surprised to see that the cherries already look red, as it feels so short a time since we saw the trees in full bloom. A little further on we see a couple with baskets and ladders picking cherries. Too bad, we can’t taste any….
The “monsieur” has apparently noticed that the cherries are very attractive and asks if we would like to try them. He and his wife live some distance away, but have a piece of land here with fruit trees and beehives and they are picking the first cherries of the year. We have a nice conversation about cherries, honey, what we are doing and get some French lessons right away. Apparently “Metz” is not pronounced with a “t,” it sounds way too German. The couple tells us that they’re planning to go to the “Keukenhof” next weekend to see the tulips, and we continue on our way after a nice meeting with hands full of cherries (we even got to fill our caps!). What a treat… Last year we ate the cherries from our own garden and now we are eating them from French soil.
While feasting, we continue our hike along small asphalt roads and pass an old village with a beautiful entrance gate, Marsal. The city walls are still completely intact, truly a picture!
The GR5 stage ends in Dieuze, but we continue for another 2 kilometers to the camping à la ferme in Val-de-Bride. On Google we could find little information about it, or if it still existed, so Malou called yesterday to see if we could camp there and we were very welcome. We experienced this when we arrived and spoke to the owner. He soon brought us strawberries from his own garden and later a wheelbarrow full of wood so we could make a fire in the evening. It’s a small campground with room for a few tents, with an ecological toilet and running water from a spring; totally the country feeling!
We will soon cook our meal and finish the day by a fire. This was a truly spoiled day, especially after the previous stage. How lucky we are to be able to do this…
