Walking the Camino de Santiago
Last night, for only the second time since I’ve been in France, I had all of my clothes laundered in a machine. As much as the daily hand washing of clothes is something of a ritual for the pilgrim, I know that it’s really only getting the clothes cleaner, not actually clean. It’s amazing what a difference a washing machine […]
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Yesterday, I broke out my rain jacket for the first time in France. I wore it to the grocery, and then to my trip to the center of Nogaro. I returned to the church of Saint Nicholas. It is a solid Romanesque structure with enormous supporting pillars. It projects a feeling of strength, solidity, and permanence. The church was consecrated […]
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I had quite the adventure trying to find a place for dinner last night. I was staying in the Gîte Communal, so there was no dinner there. And it turns out that nearly every restaurant in town is closed on Mondays. I ended up going to a small hotel restaurant. The food was out-of-this-world fantastic, but it definitely put a […]
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Jacopo and I spoke last night about today’s route. It was planned to be a long one, more than 33 km, but the possibility exists of breaking it in half. Doing so would be the first major change I had in my planned schedule, but especially given the heat, I have been thinking about it for some days. The truth […]
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This morning, I overslept. After breakfast with Jacopo in the Presbytery refectory, I didn’t make it out the door until about 6:40 AM. Jacopo was running just a little behind me. Slept like a baby. I definitely needed the rest. The streets of Lectoure were dark, and there was very little in the way of street lights. I could find […]
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Yesterday evening, I returned to the church of Saint Pierre to pray vespers. Mass for the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary began at 6 PM. The priest was a young, dynamic African immigrant, apparently responsible for a large number of the churches in this area. Afterwards, there was a small reception hosted in the parish offices for the pilgrims. […]
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Today was a lesson in listening to your body. Or, rather, a lesson in listening to your foot and not your stomach. Or perhaps, today was a series of lessons that I need to learn, or remember. Jacopo and I shared dinner last night with a Canadian couple, Etienne and Colleen. I immediately noticed that both of them wore the […]
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Serge sure puts on a spread! Dinner with the other pilgrims in the gîte was enormous, and enormously fun, even if most of the conversation was in a language I can’t understand. Breakfast was similarly generous, and I had a hard time getting out the door. We finally left about 7:00 AM. My goal today was the city of Moissac, […]
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This morning, after a hasty breakfast, I left the gîte at about 7:15. There was enough light to walk, and the air was cool, but the sky was still that leaden color of yesterday. My goal was to get to my first village – Montcuq – no later than 9:30 so I could get a proper breakfast. My dinner last […]
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This morning, I crawled up the face of a cliff. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s begin where I left off yesterday. I returned to the Cathedral yesterday for Mass and a pilgrim blessing. As at Le Puy and Rocamadour, the priest also gave medals to all of the pilgrims. Dinner by myself at a lovely local hole-in-the-wall mom […]
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