Pilgrims on the Way

The French love to hike. The one constant about my pilgrimage through France was the sheer number of intersecting routes. This sometimes results in signposts like this one. The routes are well-marked in general, which, of course, never prevented me from getting lost. On today’s walk, I passed (or was passed by) several groups of people walking with packs. They […]

In the village I spotted this delightful old Citroën. Once ubiquitous, they seem to be pretty rare today. I suppose that’s not surprising since they haven’t been manufactured since 1990. Famously called the Deux Chevaux, meaning “two horses”, in reference to its two-cylinder engine, this was very much a cheap car in every sense of the word. It was inexpensive and cheaply […]

As I mentioned yesterday, there’s a statue of a Chinese saint in the little church in Labastide-Marnhac. I’m not sure who he is or why he is here in particular. He appears to be a martyr by crucifixion, but unfortunately, that doesn’t do as much to narrow it down as you might think. Any ideas? Date: 05 September 2023 Place: […]

The village of Labastide-Marnhac was roughly the halfway point of the day, and I arrived there at about 10 AM. I saw four or five pilgrims leaving the village as I entered. They must have gotten an earlier start than I did. Or perhaps they didn’t get slightly lost earlier in the morning. I visited a charming little village church […]

Rural France and Spain abound with ruins from all eras of their habitation. I’d like to think that this is all that remains of a medieval farmstead, but it’s just as likely to be a storage shed from the early 20th century. Date: 05 September 2023 Place: between La Rozière and Labastide-Marnhac, Lot Département, Region of Occitanie, France Maps!

Somewhere near La Rozière, I passed this lovely little home. I remember thinking at the time that this was exactly the sort of cozy place I could live. It’s just delightful. But of course, my home at Pistachio House is cozy and homey in its own way, even if it’s not in rural France. Date: 05 September 2023 Place: near […]

Once atop the cliff, the Camino continued its climb, much more gradually, up a woodland trail of rock and loose stone. Already, the land was feeling different than what I’d walked through the last week or so. It was about here that I realized I had forgotten to turn on my tracker. Hardest climb of my life, and I didn’t even […]

The orange sunrise sky makes it look like the world outside of Cahors is on fire. In the town, we can see the Devil’s Bridge below us and the cathedral in the distance. It’s interesting to see the juxtaposition of medieval and 20th-century architecture in the buildings. Scrambling up that cliff was no joke. There were switchback stairs cut into […]

As the pilgrim walks the Pont Valentré over the River Lot, he can’t help but notice that there’s a cliff on the other side of the river. Once, long ago, there was a tower built into the cliffside, and one would enter it and climb the interior steps to the top of the cliff. That medieval tower is long gone, […]

The Camino leaves Cahors by means of the Pont Valentré, also known as Pont du Diable—the Devil’s Bridge. Construction began in 1308 on what has been called one of the most beautiful fortified medieval bridges still in existence. It was finally completed in 1378. Why the “Devil’s Bridge”? Legend has it that the master builder, exasperated by the slow pace of the […]