Bursting with Hospitality in Decazeville
On the Camino Francés, many pilgrims begin in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. As the towns roll by, though—Roncesvalles, Burgos, León, Sarria—even larger numbers of reinforcements arrive, turning that initial stream into a full-fledged torrent in Galicia. By contrast, on the Chemin there’s a reverse effect, a continual dwindling down of walkers. Many—maybe even a majority—conclude their journey in […]
And Then Back to Conques Again…
It rained all night. I slipped into the breakfast room at the Couvent de Malets—a massive and impressive complex overlooking Saint-Come—around 6:45 and heard from a couple of other pilgrims that they were going to delay their start until around 9am, when the forecast gave them some hope. My plans, though, were locked in, as […]
Going Full Circle to Saint-Come
So we’re at dinner last night in Le Soulie, having a great time. Our host, Michel, doesn’t speak much English, but he actually engineered the seating at the table to surround me with English speakers (all young Parisians), along with another fellow who speaks Spanish. I’ve never had that happen before, but it was awfully […]
The Highlight Reel: Saint-Come, Espalion, Estaing… and Le Soulie
I previously wrote that the walk leading into Nasbinals is my favorite on the Chemin, or at least the co-favorite. If, for some bizarre and/or tragic reason you could only walk one stage on the GR-65, though, I think you might have to pick the walk from Saint-Côme-d’Olt to Estaing. With two of the “most […]
A Detour to Bonneval
Four times now I’ve marched out of Nasbinals in the crisp cool of early morning, with a long day’s walk ahead. And did I ever get lucky this time with the weather, as the skies were already cloudless at 6:15 and before long they had a sapphiric quality to them. Climbing steadily, I left humanity […]