I found myself really enjoying the countryside in this area, clearly a fertile area that is a fruitbowl and a vegetable patch for many. It didn't take long to reach the villages of Bardigues, then St Antoine, a beautiful village where I could easily have stopped the night if it wasn't still so very early in the walking day...I had some unexpected company along the way - a friendly dog. Turns out this wasn't the first time in the past week he had followed pilgrims though, and the barman in St Antoine knew the number to telephone for the embarrassed young owner. There was a climb up to Flamarens, and again some farmer along the way had put out coffee etc for pelerins... and some boiled eggs. I gratefully ate one of those. At Flamarens were the ruins of a church and a chateau that had commanded a prime hilltop position. An artist who had a painting studio also had a 'buvette' and I was glad to have a break, sipping a lemonade under a shady tree. He had quite a few non-bag-carrying pilgrims stop for a drink, but seemed impressed I was carrying my luggage, and gave me another drink for free. Before I left Flamarens, the bells rang from the church tower with great joyful abandon, presumably because it was Pentecost.... I loved these sounds when I heard them in Europe: sadly we have largely controlled such 'nuisances' out of existence back home... Only four kilometres of walking remained, but there was another climb, to another hilltop town. In Miradoux I was staying with Therese, who has welcomed pilgrims into her home for many years. She used to be a farmer, and now works hard to nourish plants that grow in profusion around her house. Most of the others staying this night were a German group who were 'car supported'. There was a French woman cyclist there as well with whom I enjoyed conversation: she had passed through Aubrac just a few weeks later than me and she found that the spring flowers blooming there were amazing. The elderly Swiss couple were also here, and it was wonderful to see them still on the road.....
Everything was quiet in the town for the holiday, but a slow wander in the village soon showed signs of the pilgrim history of this place, with these scallop shells decorating the church.
When I was preparing to walk the route from Le-Puy-en-Velay to SJPP, I found there wasn't much info in English, and I hope this blog might fill the gap a little.... In 2008 I walked from Le Puy to Santiago. In 2012 I walked from Cluny to Conques, then spent three weeks in Spain, re-walking two sections of the Camino Frances. Please feel free to contact me if you wish.
Hunkered In
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The sky keeps changing colors, the wind roars all night and morning.
Sometime overnight it pulled the chicken-hut door off its hinges and
smashed it to k...
Beachscape
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I haven't blogged for a while, but here is a new poem.
*Beachscape*
*Surprising that I never knew before*
*the bright curve of this bay,*
*the way the wash...
Taranaki-born, long-time Manawatu resident and primary teacher; inveterate traveler, Camino walker, occasional cyclist, lover of sea and bush walks; getting into genealogy more; collapsed catholic; lapsed musician looking forward to doing more again in retirement
from the poem "The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver.....
" I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"
This quote is taken from notion900 on the Pilgrimage to Santiago forum: "Please know that although some people seem to imagine it as some appalling ordeal, the camino is a very health-giving thing - if you do simple things like healthy food, plenty of water, moisturise your feet and get plenty of sleep. Being out in nature for 5 weeks is just so life-giving: I finished the camino absolutely glowing with health and vitality. I hope you have a wonderful time."
'Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.' Goethe
"Glowing... this is the thing about pictures of people on the Camino. This light within... As if the Camino washed the soul and cleared the eyes." Claire Bangasser in a comment on Johnnie Walker's blog
It didn't take long to reach the villages of Bardigues, then St Antoine, a beautiful village where I could easily have stopped the night if it wasn't still so very early in the walking day...
I had some unexpected company along the way - a friendly dog. Turns out this wasn't the first time in the past week he had followed pilgrims though, and the barman in St Antoine knew the number to telephone for the embarrassed young owner. 
There was a climb up to Flamarens, and again some farmer along the way had put out coffee etc for pelerins... and some boiled eggs. I gratefully ate one of those.
At Flamarens were the ruins of a church and a chateau that had commanded a prime hilltop position. An artist who had a painting studio also had a 'buvette' and I was glad to have a break, sipping a lemonade under a shady tree. He had quite a few non-bag-carrying pilgrims stop for a drink, but seemed impressed I was carrying my luggage, and gave me another drink for free.
Before I left Flamarens, the bells rang from the church tower with great joyful abandon, presumably because it was Pentecost.... I loved these sounds when I heard them in Europe: sadly we have largely controlled such 'nuisances' out of existence back home...
Only four kilometres of walking remained, but there was another climb, to another hilltop town. 
In Miradoux I was staying with Therese, who has welcomed pilgrims into her home for many years. She used to be a farmer, and now works hard to nourish plants that grow in profusion around her house. 
Most of the others staying this night were a German group who were 'car supported'. There was a French woman cyclist there as well with whom I enjoyed conversation: she had passed through Aubrac just a few weeks later than me and she found that the spring flowers blooming there were amazing. The elderly Swiss couple were also here, and it was wonderful to see them still on the road.....
Everything was quiet in the town for the holiday, but a slow wander in the village soon showed signs of the pilgrim history of this place, with these scallop shells decorating the church.
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