Category: Pilgrim Reports

Ten I think in the gîte last night, including one Spanish cyclist. Breakfast at 7:00. Rain is predicted for today and pretty much the next week. And possibly thunderstorms. Looks like I’ll be living in my poncho for a while.  A group of us left at about 7:50 in the morning. Today is Christian’s last day – he walked to […]

The advantage to having experienced pilgrims as hospital errors is that they understand intimately the needs and desires of pilgrims. Case in point: breakfast began at 6 AM today, and despite the usual conversations and packing up, I was out the door at 7:30 sharp. And I wasn’t even the first one out. Philippe at least was out the door […]

We had five pilgrims in the gîte last night, three French (Christian, Luc, and Louis-Marie), Philippe the Belgian, and me. That’s pretty much been the ratio through most of this Camino: mostly French, with a minority of other Europeans, primarily from Belgium and the Netherlands… and me. I know that there is another American (from Seattle, no less!) walking about […]

After two long days walking, I’ve planned for two relatively short days. Part of that of course is just geography – where are the villages where I can stay? Some of it, though, is my own Camino rhythm. Breakfast at the gîte this morning wasn’t even served until close to 7:30, so it was about 8:20 before I left. A […]

Didn’t sleep well last night, so it was already after 7:30 when I left. A long day today. It was cold and overcast when I left. The forecast called for rain this afternoon, and I could well believe it. I anticipated that most of today will involve walking out of Limoges and it suburbs. After a bit of a false […]

There were four of us in the gîte last night: Philippe and me, a French woman named Martín, and a taciturn Frenchman named Jean-Michel. I saw from the gîte’s guestbook that Wim and Tineke had been there the night before. The morning started with me pulling a tick out of Philippe’s backside, so you know it’s going to be one […]

Another cold and clear morning. Philip and I left the gîte just before 8 AM – this is getting to be a habit – and headed backwards on the Camino to a place we thought we might be able to get breakfast. Indeed, I was able to get a croissant, but sadly no coffee. And then it was road walking […]

Our communal breakfast began at about 7:30. It was quite the spread! A welcome change from yesterday. We were ten pilgrims for breakfast. Ten! Claudine our hostess did not stamp our pilgrim passports, but instead drew individual little doodles for each of us. Daniel left early – he has a train to catch in Marsac. His Camino for this year […]

All five of left before 7:30 AM. The morning was cold and clear. Once we were through the village, it was uphill on a hiking path. Much better than road walking! The views of the valley were just stunning. Walking along the river through idyllic woods, passing charming, almost faerie-tale houses as we talked.  We discussed our faith, and loss. […]