And onward & onward I walked & walked – down the entire length of Switzerland’s beautiful (and arduous) countryside, and then across yet another invisible border and into the nation of France … “They want us to be afraid. They want us to barricade our doors and hide our children. They want us to hate […]
And then I finally made it to the gorgeous city of Le Puy enVelay, what was the first of four primary “destinations” (the other three being St. Jean Pied du Port near the French/Spanish border, Santiago near the NW coast of Spain and Chattanooga in the southern U.S.) along my Walk … “There are two […]
What the village of La Clauze lacked in human hospitality (not only had the high-end Coustette rejected my pleas for assistance, but the local pilgrims hostel and even a handful of local residents had coldly turned me away as well) it more than made up for in logistical support — mostly in the form of […]
One of the more memorable happenings of my entire pilgrimage came I made a wrong turn while exiting the town of Saint Chely and walked in exactly the wrong direction for many hours before realizing my mistake. Devoutly believing in the principle of “never going back” the way I had already come, I shrugged my […]
It was some four days later when, after a very long day of foggy-misty walking, I stumbled into the town of Beduer; a town where no amenities were at all available for a Peace Pilgrim like myself. It was starting to get dark and the rain was beginning to fall and I was thinking I […]
And then it was, after another five days of walking, that I came to the town of Espalais, and rediscovered how Home both looked and felt. For here is where I came across the phenomenal Gite of Le Par Chemin (at the time run by the lovely couple Frederic & Muriel) – a place where […]
And then it was thereafter that I finally, after some 6 weeks of walking all the way across the entire country of France (not to mention the month it had taken me to get from Stuttgart and down the length of Switzerland to the French border), arrived at the blessed destination of St. Jean Pied […]
Just a few days later I entered the town of Azqueta, and was deeply blessed to spend that night in La Perla Negra (The Black Pearl) – a cozy & loci g hostel that proved to as much a rarity as its namesake. For rarely indeed have I ever known such gentle warmth and sincere […]
And then onward I walked & walked, across the dusty yet beautiful expanse of northern Spain … “Yearn not for the easy path, but rather for the right one. For ‘easy’ and ‘right’ are almost never compatible. The moment you choose to boldly begin your truer journey, the entire Universe will begin to revel in […]
And then a few days later I wandered into the oasis-like village of Hontanas, where I was asked by a local hostel-owner to remain for an additional day – greeting previously met pilgrim-friends as they moseyed after me into town, helping local saint Father Fran serve the community’s small indigent population, and even offering a […]
And then, after another long four days of walking, I paused in the town of Bercianos to retape the only pair of shoes I would use for the entirety of my Walk … “Humility is a perfect quietness of heart. It is to expect nothing to be done for oneself, to wonder at nothing that […]
;
