Pilgrims on the Way

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 […]

The forest was warm and muggy, and the infrequent breezes gave delightful relief. The whole place seemed a little Entish, with trees that seemed to speak or leaned over the road with grasping arms. One even warned of something being guarded; what it was, I’ve no idea. I did not dawdle to find out. Date: 02 September 2023 Place: between Rocamadour […]

The Camino wound its way through farm and field. Just after 11:30 I came upon a small wooden shelter and a nearby picnic table with a view of the pasture, so I figured this was a good time to pull out my packed lunch. There were numerous days on the Via Podiensis where I had to carry food, as the […]

As we all know, French sheep tend to say “beh” rather than “baa”. This little fellow wandered right up to say… something to me. He seemed very earnest about it, anyway. Perhaps he was complaining about the stifling humidity. Date: 02 September 2023 Place: between Rocamadour and Labastide-Murat, Lot Département, Region of Occitanie, France Maps! The site I’ve been using […]

This is interior of the village church of Couzou. It’s this weird amalgam of styles from the early Gothic architecture through the Baroque furnishings right up to the 20th-century altar. You name it, it’s in there. Somehow, though, it all seems to work together. I am puzzled, though, why anybody thought that putting the altar outside of the sanctuary was […]

When I left Rocamadour on this morning, I had forgotten to top off my water bottles. This is a rookie mistake. A violation of rule seven of my “practical rules for the Camino”. To be clear, it’s not as though I had no water. One bottle was half full, and the other had a little bit in it as well. […]

After getting myself un-lost, I wandered into the little village of Couzou. I was looking for somewhere to refill my nearly empty water bottles. I decided not to stop here. Call me crazy, but the flag dissuaded me. Fortunately, there was a village water pump in the little yard outside the church. More on that tomorrow, perhaps. Date: 02 September […]

This was the exact moment I suspected I was lost. I was walking a gentle forest path, and I had been lost in contemplation. When I came upon this structure, I briefly paused as I didn’t remember it being mentioned in my guidebook. Just a dozen meters or so beyond, I came to a fork in the road and could […]