After leaving the Chateau (after having indeed found the resident manager thereof, who was extremely surprised to see me, and yet who did offer me a refreshing glass of water before I left) I walked through the town of Jongieax proper. Both the church and the local town hall were already closed for the day, […]
The Path eventually brings me all the way up a not-so-small mountainside, and then graces me with a glorious view of the day’s final destination: the lovely town of Yenne … 🙂 “I could not have climbed any mountains while looking from the ground. I could not have flown without having leapt, or surfed without […]
After soaking up the majestic view, it was then time to continue onward — down, Down, DOWN a somewhat disturbingly steep, rocky path that proved to be very difficult for my injured legs to manage. How odd it was to learn once again that walking downhill with an inflamed right hip and a left hip-flexor […]
While mountains provide the grander view, their valleys offer the more traversable roads … Such was the case today after I descended the previously mentioned steep & stony path to enter & cross the flat plain leading to the city of Yenne; a beautiful river-side way that was as soft underfoot & easy on the […]
I eventually arrive in the town of Yenne proper and even though the church was already closed and the folks in the local church parish proved to be far less than helpful (and only mildly friendly at that), those same parishioners did encourage me to check out the local Tourist Information Office — where Lisa […]
I made it to the local donativo hostel without any problems and was promptly welcomed by Marcel, an supremely gentle elderly man who co-runs the hostel with his wife Michelle. Michael (the kind Austrian pilgrim I had met the night before at the hostel in Chanaz) was there as well, and we were both amusingly […]
Up early after a fantastic 10+ hours of sleep ( :O ) and share a delightfully charming breakfast with Michael and Marcel and Michelle. Head back out onto The Way with the former and bid our final farewells* as he walks on while I wait for the church to open before departing … 🙂 “Like […]
The swallows that congregated around almost every church steeple along The Way were some of my very favorite walking companions — so much so that I often stopped walking when they were out & about; so much so that getting anywhere in those particular moments took a comfortable backseat to stopping and being and watching […]
I walked a loooooooong walk up The Way’s tight, rocky path this morning, and despite aching feet and a surprisingly intense level of overall fatigue I eventually reached the lovely little chapel of Notre Dame de la Montagne — a mountaintop sanctuary nestled into a copse of evergreen tree; the beauty of which being matched […]
“It was a blinding, mineral, shattering silence. We hear nothing but the quiet crunch of stones underfoot; an implacable, definitive silence, like some sort of peaceful yet fully transparent death. The sky was a perfectly detached blue, and we advanced with eyes down, reassuring ourselves that we could flow on and not stumble. The shy […]
Whenever I found an intriguing stone along the path I tended to pick it up and carry it with me — either to give to someone I would later meet along the way, or (as in this particular case) to add some additional form &/or beauty to the various cairn-tributes with which previous pilgrims had […]
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