Day 15 – Corbeny to Saint Thierry – 23.5kms

The Cormicy village, en-route from Corbeny to Saint Thierry, was resplendent with these colour coordinated blooming Tulips.

In the morning shadows the very new growth on the plane trees could be easily seen.

Here’s a little history of the town of Cormicy.

A church of some form has been here since 300AD.

A little Street art seen on the pavement at the village of Cauroy-les-Hermonville. Half a dozen people were standing around in front of the Marie – but we couldn’t see what was drawing them there. When a bus with lots of little kindergarten children on it stopped in front of them we instantly knew why they were there. The local school has closed and all school age children are now bussed to a bigger town for their education.

Getting ready for  a picnic lunch, (is there any other),  in Hermonville.

Here is the first thatched cottage we’ve seen outside of the UK. The vines on the land beside it are pruned in a different way to those that are done in Australia. They are pruned much lower with a single cordon and all the cordons face on the same direction.

These rogue tulips sprung up in the public park’s lawn, but are almost past their prime now.

Many villages have beautiful roadside gardens such as this one, tended by a local garden loving resident.

The villages all have a grand memorial to their fallen soldiers of WW1. WW2 rarely has it’s own Memorial – and we wonder why? Were the French just very war weary by then?

We passed by this vine worker who was tying his vines to the wire. Despite no common language we all understood each other; he indicated we had a halo on our head and we indicated we were walking to the Monastery to stay the night.

Here is the Benedictine Monastery we’re staying at tonight.

There are 17 remaining sisters living here and most look quite elderly.

The grounds and lawns of the Monastery are quite extensive, offering a beautiful back drop to these pink hued tulips.

A little about the history of the Monastery.

Here is a poster showing the history of the Monastery.

Another poster shows the work the Benedictine sisters undertake.