You may have seen the photo of the bright orange backpack a few posts ago that was to be my only bag for this trip. This was because I have planned longs walks in France (one, about 100 miles over five days), so I wanted to pack light. In preparation, I filled that puppy up, strapped it on my back, took exploratory walks around my property, and . . . reality check: turns out I am no longer a spry 18 year old able to carry any size backpack! Wishful thinking has been replaced with a more elderly-person approach, which is to take my trusty wheeled carry-on bag along with ‘Lil Orangey. I will still do the walks, but they’ll be broken up and involve train rides. You’ll see.

I’m also taking a little friend of my six-year-old granddaughter along with me. She’ll pose for pictures along the way, and tell stories about where we are. Here she waves goodbye in front of my house before we leave. Here we go!