Tergnier to Laon – 38km

Laon is a well-preserved medieval hilltop town with a spectacular gothic Cathedral, one of the first built in France.  The walk up 450 stairs from the plain below is well worth it. We stop here for 2 nights for provisioning, laundry, and rest.  The Cathedral is well reviewed but what impressed us most is the ambitious, massive, and yet ethereal gothic decorations of the structure which, while built in the 12h century, has survived intervening wars relatively intact.  One can’t help wondering at the devotion and dedication of the thousands of peasants who toiled over 80 years building this stairway to heaven. Laon is also home to one of the few Knights Templar churches, and octagonal structure that is supposed to replicate the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.  The Knights who resided there were captured, tortured, and killed in 1307, under orders from King Philip IV of France, for heresy and satanism or because he wanted their loot.  We feel rested and ready for the next phase of our adventure.