Three Hearts: It Begins
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 led the long column of pilgrims.
We started out of the gate singing the rosary in Latin. Francine would have absolutely loved it.
Most of the morning was under tree cover, but it was already getting hot, and I was told that the trees wouldn’t last much longer. We took a 15-minute break at about 9:30, and I pulled out the umbrella, much to the amusement of many.
After the break, we made the definitive transition from asphalt to gravel Road. Much preferable, although I did slip a couple of times. We sang the Litany of the Saints. The long version.
The path remained in the woodlands for quite a while, but I was grateful for the umbrella when we came to the occasional clearing.
By 10:30 AM, we were back to road walking. By about a quarter to noon, we arrived in a large open field for Mass. It was so brutally hot that the servers carried umbrellas over the priests serving communion.
Lunch followed.
And then we set out again at about 2:45 PM. It hadn’t gotten any cooler, and we had already walked almost 19 km.
This time it was again mostly on gravel road, which suits me just fine. Fell into conversation with some of my fellow pilgrims.
The next break was about a quarter after four. Fifteen minutes. This was at the 30 km mark. I was really feeling like this was a death march at this point rather than a pilgrimage.
And still, we continued.
The road continued to be gravel, but now instead of scattered semi-rural neighborhoods, it was bucolic farm and pasture land. Complete with white fences.
Eventually, we were back in the woods, and the gravel road was in interspersed with sections of concrete.
Utterly exhausted, I arrived at our destination just before 7 PM. While the Copelands did their best to set up my tent, I sat, drank water, and watched the sunset. Faith Copeland brought me my dinner.
Today I set a personal best in terms of distance walked in a day.
Date: 10 October 2025
38.9 kilometers
Today’s Photos!
