Category: Via Podiensis

The terrain today was gentle hills for the most part. There were few big ups or downs, mostly just an undulating path through pasture land and woods. And it was absolutely beautiful. Give me a dirt or gravel path through meadows and farms and woods, and I can walk all day. Date: 03 September 2023 Place: between Labastide-Murat and Vers, […]

Sometimes it’s roadwalking, and sometimes it’s practically bushwhacking. The walking surfaces of the Via Podiensis in France are perhaps even more varied than those of the Camino Francés in Spain. On this particular day, there were still segments of roadwalking – I feel like it wouldn’t be the Camino in France without them – but they were much reduced compared to […]

There were three of us in the gîte that night: myself, Bruno, and Anne. Anne runs a gîte in Moissac, but she’s taking some time off to walk. We never did actually see the gîte owner here, but she left pretty clear written instructions. I slept like a baby, and I woke up today feeling refreshed and energized. The three […]

We checked into our gîte by phone. We never even saw the landlord. After the usual pilgrim ablutions, we headed out to see if we could find someplace for dinner. The options in the village were limited, so we ended up going to a local burger-and-pizza joint. I had a pretty tasty burger, although I found it interesting that all the burgers […]

While I sat in the cool village church of Sainte-Catherine de Labastide-Murat, Bruno was busy finding a gîte for us. By the time he texted me, I was (mostly) recovered. The church interior is highly decorated in a 19th-century revival of a classic medieval Romanesque look, and I found it mesmerising. Date: 02 September 2023 Place: Labastide-Murat, Lot Département, Region […]

Out of the forest, the Camino quite suddenly approached the village of Labastide-Murat through a lovely park beside a pond. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there was a manicured lawn, benches, and picnic tables. It reminded me of Wright Park back home in Tacoma, where Francine and I have logged countless training kilometers over the years. I thought that surely this […]

About 1:30 PM, I passed through the outskirts of the village of Montfaucon. I seriously considered calling it a day here, but I realized that tomorrow me would not be very happy with that decision. And then I saw the bizarre sculptures in the gardens of several of the houses here and figured that, with just 5.5 km to go, […]

After the highway tunnel, I began wondering when I would see my old friend Bruno again. Part of my brain was taking bets with another part of my brain on whether he would catch up to me before I reached the day’s final destination. Just after 1 PM, there was a short, treacherous, rocky decline, and it was here that […]

The Camino is not all glamourous medieval villages, soaring Gothic Cathedrals, and beautiful scenery. Sometimes you have to go through a damp, smelly concrete tunnel under a highway. That’s just how it goes. There’s an important lesson there, I think. And eventually you get to the end of the tunnel back into the light. Date: 02 September 2023 Place: between […]