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 […]
Day 3 – Back in the Aubrac
The hardest question one is asked on the Chemin isn’t “Why are you walking,” or “What will you do with your life when you return home.” No, it’s “Where did you sleep last night.” So much happens over the course of the day that when you finally pause and try to sift through the images […]
Day 2 – Some Sauvage Weather
Plenty of things went wrong today. The bakery in Monistrol-d’Allier was closed, due to illness. The farm snack bar in Rognac was also closed, as was the food truck after Montaure, and—crushing, for me— Chez Jérôme in Chazeaux seems to have shut down permanently. It drizzled off and on all morning, then abandoned all pretense […]
Day 1 – To the Tower of Rochegude
There are loads of differences between the first day of pilgrimage from Le Puy and the first day from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. For one, the former is quite a bit easier. That contributes to a second major difference: pilgrims tend to depart much later from Le Puy. In general, the start time tends to be more relaxed […]
A Whole Day in Le-Puy-en-Velay
Every time I’ve visited Le Puy in the past, I’ve arrived under cover of darkness and left the following morning, so I’ve never had a ton of time to explore. This time around, I was committed to giving myself a day. So what to do with all of that time? I was up at 6:30am, […]
Off to Le Puy!
When I first decided to walk the Camino de Santiago, I dutifully ordered the first guidebook I could find. It was harder in those days; the options were a lot more limited. I ended up with Alison Raju’s The Way of St James: Le Puy to Santiago. It’s something to marvel at today, that this […]
Comparing the Challenge of Different Caminos
A common question on Camino discussion forums involves the relative challenge of different routes. This is a difficult question to answer! Even if the responder has experience with the different routes involved, each is walked in a distinct context–different age, potentially different levels of conditioning or health, perhaps varied weather. A hard walk in a […]
The Camino Podcast – Episode 35 – From Vézelay to Heaven
The latest episode features one of the most prominent and influential English-language voices on the Camino de Santiago, a fore-runner of the pilgrimage’s resurgence: Episode 35 – From Vézelay to Heaven: Edwin Mullins has spent the better part of his life associated with the Camino de Santiago, with his first book on the subject–The Pilgrimage to […]