Walking the Camino de Santiago
Reveille came at 5 AM in the form of Templar chant over loudspeakers, followed shortly thereafter by actual bagpipes. As you might imagine, breaking camp was an exercise in controlled chaos. But at least there was hot coffee. We started at about 7 AM. This is more like a procession with backpacks than any pilgrimage I’ve been on. Our group […]
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A relatively smooth trip to Tulsa. On the first leg to Dallas, I sat next to an enormous man wearing an enormous cowboy hat. Fortunately, on the second leg the seat next to me was empty. My old friend Shelly picked me up from the airport in Tulsa. I haven’t seen her or her kids in years. Hung out with […]
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Several years ago now, some friends of ours (and fellow parishioners) up and moved to Oklahoma. Shortly after Francine’s death, they reached out to invite me to join them on a short annual pilgrimage that takes place in the hills of Oklahoma. This is called the Three Hearts pilgrimage, and it ends at the Abbey of Our Lady of the Annunciation of […]
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The main chapel of Le Grand Couvent de Gramat is striking indeed. Thanks to the stained glass windows, during the daytime this place is filled with a soft, blue glow. Ávila was so struck by it that she immediately came to fetch us to see it with her. I was the only one who could get away immediately, but Bruno […]
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The pilgrim dorms at Le Grand Couvent de Gramat all open to this long arcade, which itself faces an open courtyard. Although the spaces were crowded, they were comfortable enough. In our cramped little dorm room, we had Ávila, Bruno, Martinique, me, and two empty beds. But you can’t beat the architecture! I snapped this photo as Ávila led me […]
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We passed through the little secret village, through gardens and past houses. The path led us through a magnificent grape arbour, which you can see across the little river bridge. We could see our destination in the distance: Le Grand Couvent de Gramat. It is the mother house of the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady of Calvary, and […]
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Sometime before 3 PM, we entered the suburbs of the town of Gramat. The houses were mostly new construction. Some of them are in traditional styles, while others were quite modern. We found ourselves walking on a sidewalk along a busy highway, and shortly afterwards, we were in the town proper. But then, in the midst of this very urban […]
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Just past the dolmen, we sat down for a picnic lunch by the side of the gravel road we were walking – a road which was not on any of our maps or GPS. It was remarkably difficult to stand up after lunch. At some point, the fence became a wall of sorts. Clearly, there had been a gate, or […]
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It might not look like much, but this is the remains of a collapsed Neolithic dolmen, a kind of tomb or ritual gateway. It’s roughly six thousand years old. It’s clearly seen better days. Unfortunately, these days its location is on private land, so this is an extreme telephoto shot using the maximum magnification available on my phone. I think […]
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Next year, I plan to walk a long Camino for Francine. Some background is probably in order. At the annual Gathering of Pilgrims back in 2022, Francine attended a talk on one of the four main Camino routes in France: the Voie de Vézelay, also known as the Via Lemovicensis. She was immediately smitten with this route. For one thing, […]
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