Sol Entry 10

TER de: Mulhouse a Belfort Ville a Besançon, Besançon a Dijon a Chagny (por accidente), Chagny a Montchanin a Nevers. Mid-September, 2021.

After a series of trains, each of which was easier to board than the last, we made it to Nevers. We were finally getting the hang of it–packing up quickly, scrambling over to the right platform, loading everything onto the train, and sitting tight to repeat the process on arrival. Yes, we'd become pros.
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Due to a slight confusion with signs, we accidentally got off at Chagny instead of Chalon (look, they both started with Cha-, and the train was moving very fast, and we had 30 seconds to get everything off). Fortunately, this was actually closer to Nevers than the other stop, which turned back westward, and Chagny was one of the loveliest towns I’ve ever visited. I really felt like I was walking through streets that hadn’t changed in the last 300 years.

I also found a cute bug in a cake, which turned out to be a French cockroach, and which I christened "Pierre" in a moment of inspiration. Surprisingly, the name caught on and since then the cockroaches that came and visited us every morning at campsites became "Pierres."

The next day, we (finally!) made it to Nevers, which was to be the start of our journey down the Loire.