What had for many hundreds (if not thousands) of years been a walk of renewal and cleansing for untold thousands of pagan pilgrims, the Camino was co-opted by the Catholic Church — with the earliest records of visits paid to Santiago’s shrine to St. James dating from the 9th century. As such, the main Camino […]
I’m pretty sure that this beautiful flowering shrub is called French Broom (Cytisus scoparius), and it glowingly graced my presence during this particular section of my Camino (blooming regularly alongside the path from St. Privat all the way to Beduer, some 12 days subsequent) , and I was always grateful for its radiant company … […]
I flowed without much difficulty up Up UP along the Path — all the way to the quaint little village of Rochegude, and into its warm little mountainside chapel, which was graced by one of the most warmly beautiful stained glass windows I saw on the entire Walk — a window that chose to replace […]
“There are only a few ways to be truly brave. One is to walk a hundred miles, another is care for a hundred strangers. If you want to know the truth of who you really are, then you must either have the guts to walk until not a person knows your name or the courage […]
The path (which had by then proven to indeed be almost as physically challenging as rumor had portrayed) thereafter began to wind down Down DOWN — through the village of Pratclaux and then into the town of Monistrol, where I entered its lovely Catholic church for another brief yet blessed respite from the dust and […]
“Obedient to no man, allegiant to no nation, with neither definite goal before them nor roof above them; dependent only on weather and will; owning nothing while sharing everything; open to every whim of happenstance and knowing all others as friend — the homefree wanderers lead their purely toddleresque existence; brave yet shabby, bold yet […]
This pathside shrine was quite remarkable for two reasons — one of them quite obvious (i.e. being adorned by the unusually beautiful small iron sculpture pictured below), and the other quite subtle (i.e. a tiny white marble that had been left there by a previous pilgrim; a white marble that allowed me to pay a […]
After leaving Monistrol the path soon became steep and quite rocky — and unendingly loooooooong as well … :O … Despite the same I was walking at a pretty smooth clip when I came upon fellow-pilgrim Jacqueline — a woman who was slowly dragging most of her belongings behind her on a type of wheeled […]
“I will be walking under the burning burden of the Sun. I will be walking through the pelting rain and in the wild winds. And yet as I walk the Sun will warm my chilled heart. And in the windy rain the gardens of my faith will flourish. And as I wear out my shoes, […]
I then walked up and into the small town of Le Vernet, where I hung out for awhile at Buvette la Coquille (“The Tavern of the Shell”) with these two wheelchair-riding brothers (who remained completely silent the entire time I was there) and their amazingly affectionate dog … 🙂 “Dogs are a primary link to […]
The Path got relatively steep and quite rocky again as I approached and then finally entered the city of Saugues, where I come across Pierre, a fellow pilgrim from French Canada who was experiencing joint pain very similar to my own. We bonded a bit over the same (while also marveling at how surprised we […]
;
