Shortly thereafter I entered the city of Tence proper, and headed straight away to its intriguingly lovely Chapel de Notre Dame — to gain respite from the now glaring sun and to rest my already weary feet, yes, but also to pause for a bit in what can only be properly called “prayer” — not […]
I left the cool confines of the church and steadily began walking through the rest of the city. The path began to rise on the far side of town, and I had almost exited Tence completely when I noticed Pascal & Sonia hanging out on the front porch of their home — one of the […]
“It’s not where you take things from — it’s where you take them to. It’s not where you are headed — it’s how you are traveling. It’s not what you do in life — it’s for whom you are doing it.” ~ inspired by Jean-Luc Godard
And there I was — once again walking along reasonably well (my hips were protesting less and less the closer I got to Le Puy; the first of The Walk’s three primary “goals”) under beautiful sunny skies. And yet still I found my ego instinctively wondering where I was going to sleep that coming night, […]
“History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days. And yet what is the worth of all this? The only true guide to a man is his conscience, and the only true buckler […]
I walked steadily onward, into and through the lovely village of St. Jeures, and eventually arrived in the town of Aroules. I had heard from pilgrims previously met that a kind couple ran a donativo hostel here, and — with the help of a few friendly locals — I eventually found the same. The co-proprietor, […]
“There is more than enough evidence that we are all innately privy to the greatest secret of the Universe, which, in case you’re wondering, is simply this: Everything is intimately connected — EVERYTHING. Many, if not most, of said links are difficult to designate or determine, it’s true. And yet we have all been equipped […]
Even though my hips were actually doing quite well on this day, I still chose to be extremely grateful for the alternative route that immediately presented itself when I came upon the hindrance pictured below … 😉 “Avoid loafing about and timidly whispering to your destiny. Light out after it fully instead, with the loudest […]
Selfless service is not only lending a helping hand to a fellow human in need or boldly freeing an animal being enslaved &/or commodified. Sometimes selfless service means walking in peaceful solitude, and then pausing to cleanse and thereby beautify the landscape … 😉 “Sometimes it’s a form of Love to listen intently to somebody […]
And then it happened: I finally walked far enough to allow Le Puy en Velay, the first of my pilgrimage’s three primary European waystations, to come into at least a known-yet-hazy presence upon my clearly seen horizon … 🙂 “Sometimes, when one is moving purposefully through an utterly expansive landscape, an overwhelming hallucination comes over […]
Even though The Way was ever more clearly marked the closer I got to Santiago, there ever remained the random intersection or two where the path was quite difficult to find. Fortunately, I could almost always rely on my general ability to locate “southwest”, and just as fortunately, a bit of patient searching more often […]
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