Hitching France Pt. 9 – Caen

I was relieved to be on my way again, especially after spending most of the day walking around in the same landscape and patiently waiting on the side of the road. The girls didn’t talk much to me, only briefly whenever I asked something to try to get a conversation started. They had done a make-up expo in town and were now heading home. They seemed pretty consumed about issues with the boyfriend of the girl in the passenger seat, as a text would come in and they would go on and on about whatever the problem was. I soon tuned out and just admired the scenery out the window. I generally love car rides, so I was content.

Once we were within ten minutes or so of the city, the girl in the passenger seat turned around and asked me where I was staying. “Nowhere,” I said. “the town center would be great.” Then the driver asked if the train station would suffice and I said of course. Maybe a minute after that they pulled over abruptly; we had arrived. I clumsily jumped out, thanked them profusely and then tried to get my bearings of where I was. I remembered being at the train station two years before as had dinner in the area after a trip to the D-Day beaches with my university’s exchange program. There was a shopping center right there too which had wifi so I went inside to use up the free internet and formulate my next move. All the benches in the center area of the mall were taken up so I walked to where the windows for the shops ended and sat on the floor with my pack and my back resting on the wall. None of my couchsurfing inquiries had gotten any luck and an initial look at hotels proved they were reasonably expensive so I found an area just outside the city that looked to be a potential spot to set up my tent. As I then proceeded to check social media and see what was going on in the internet world, two shopping center workers approached me and told me I had to leave. I think they thought I was planning on sleeping there or something and my sign sitting on my pack probably didn’t help. I said okay and that I was just using the wifi. They looked puzzled and then said that I just couldn’t sit on the ground. I looked around at the full benches, they saw that they were full as well so I took my pack over my shoulders, smiled, and walked out. I still had part of a large lunch that my host family had left me with for the day so I ate the remaining sandwich and snacks while sitting along the small river that went through the edge of town. It was peaceful and a beautiful late afternoon. I was just happy to be there.

I finished my light “dinner”, took in the scene a bit more and then made my way into the town center. Caen has some great old architecture with various cathedrals, old buildings and a large fort built up basically in the center of the town. Oh, and I found some extra cardboard too on my way in! But the stroll was just what I needed after that long day and eventually I made my way up to the top of the fort and had my breath taken away by the amazing view of the city below. The sun was just beginning to go to sleep so the sky had a mix of colors and cast the buildings in just the right kind of light where the faces are lightened but with their intricate details brought out. There seemed to be too much to look at over that horizon. After some time I wound my way back down to the streets and took a loop through various roads and back ways before returning to the main stretch where I had entered town. I made my way to a McDonald’s to charge my phone and hop on some wifi. After some French fries with a side of internet and power, it was getting pretty dark so I figured I mind as well set off and try to find a spot to camp since my couchsurfing search didn’t pan out. I was essentially in the center of town and had scouted out a wooded area about a mile and a half south west that seemed to be the best bet to stealth camp. The walk was long and tiring with my heavy pack but once I got down to the trail in the area, in the near pitch black, I’d be lying if I wasn’t nervous. I walked a few hundred meters into the path out on the edge of town and climbed over a small hill into a large clearing with a solid tree line between me and the path. It seemed like a great place until I noticed that there was a parking lot about a half mile directly across the way. It was about 9:30pm or so and there were a few cars coming and going which seemed unusual out there at night. So I bailed on the initial stealth camping plan and walked back to the town center since I didn’t get a good vibe. I found some wifi and got the information on the two cheapest hotels I could find. I called the first but it was full though the second had some rooms available so I had to walk another mile and a half north west to get there. I was getting pretty exhausted at this point as this leg of the journey was gradually up hill but on the flip side I was seeing part of the town I wouldn’t have laid eyes on otherwise. The walk wasn’t very fun but before I knew it I arrived at the hotel and received some great news. Since it was only me checking in, the room was ten euros less than I had thought so I soon hit the bed, enjoyed some French TV and called it a night.