A change in landscape as I leave the Moselle River valley behind and cross the gentle hills of Lorraine's plateau.
While the street lamps were still reflecting off the waters of the Moselle I made a trip into the town to pick up a croissant and what turned out to be a variation on a sausage roll. Sierck-les-Bain has at least three boulangéries, maybe a sign I was now in France.
Having enjoyed breakfast at one of the tables at the campsite, watching a couple spending much effort to fold their tent and shake off last night's raindrops, I packed up my own. Just as I was leaving my allocated pitch, the little white haired lady next door in a small caravan offered me a large orange. Her timid smile and outstretched arms offering the fruit made it impossible to refuse so I accepted it with a "Merci" and a smile and headed on my way. Such kindness was surprising as I had not thought she had noticed me before. I attempted to eat it for a mid morning snack. Although orange in colour it was more like a very juicy grapefruit, which I am not meant to eat with my blood pressure pills. (I later wondered if it was a Pomelo).
As I climbed out of the suburbs of Sierck-les-Bains watching parents take their children to school, I discovered that the waymarks did not match the route on my GPS, my guidebook or my phone's OutdoorActive App. After discounting the possibility that it was another GR trail I followed the waymarks. They looked fairly new so presumably there had been a change in the route. Leaving the houses behind they took me along a pleasant woodland path to the village of Montenach where the deviation re-joined the trail on my GPS.
From there it was a climb up to a plateau of undulating mixed farmland. As well as a few cows, there were ploughed fields, the remains left after harvesting maize, fields with rolls of hay in pastel coloured plastic wrapping, sunflowers in seed, their heads drooping, and some leafy vegetable crop. Unlike earlier parts of the E2 the route was mercifully straight and direct, following farm and forest tracks and quiet roads.
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| Farm track across Lorraine. |
I walked through one farming settlement. Its houses looked neglected, some with large cracks, quite different from the neat villages of Luxembourg.
The straight tracks continued into woodland of deciduous trees. Half hidden in the undergrowth of one of the woods were remains from the Maginot Line. Consisting of concrete bunkers and armoured gun turrets this defensive line was built in the 1930's to protect France against German aggression. It failed. The Germans advanced at the start of the Second World War through Belgium and Luxembourg outflanking the Maginot line. Long abandoned, green moss and undergrowth were trying to integrate these relics into the natural world of the forest.
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| Gun turret on Maginot Line. |
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| Straight tracks through woodland. |
Today the red and white GR5 waymarks and the Scallop shell symbol of the Camino de Santiago shared the same trees. Both paths were heading for Metz. At a crossroads beside a bench there was a wooden sculpture celebrating the pilgrimage route, and a sign motivating pilgrims by announcing that they still had 2200 kilometres to walk to reach Santiago de Compostela.
After a further diversion off the trail in my guidebook I reached Kédange-sur-Canner and my hotel for the night.
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