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 the rustic pilgrims refuge (that also doubled as the local Catholic sanctuary) pictured here. It had no flooring and no insulation and no electricity and no restroom and no running water (though there was a public well/spigot across the street), and yet it did provide shelter for the night — shelter that somehow felt far more “real” to me than its far more pampered competitors; shelter that was medievally rustic, yes, and yet shelter that I truly adored and in truth wished to have found much more often over the course of my Walk …

“In pilgrimage, as in life, success comes to those who eventually come to embrace the Truth that circumstances do not create the pilgrim. rather it is the pilgrim who adjust to — and thereby in effect creates — his circumstances … All things that give great light must first joyfully endure their burning. Similarly, any person wishing to shine great Truth must just as joyfully endure the trials & tribulations that ever accompany the same” ~ inspired by Benjamin Disraeli & Victor Frankel

Filed under: My Life in Pictures by Scaughdt