Tag gr65

French Camino: We Are Staying Where?

Reg Spittle 6 Comments

The French Camino offers long gaps between accommodations, pushing us to walk as many as 21 miles in a day. To avoid another day extending us beyond our comfort zone, we were booked last night in Lichos, hardly big enough to be called a hamlet.

See the photo on the left? That is where our digital map directed us for our shower, bed, dinner, and breakfast. It featured a garden shed and a parking lot. We were tired; it was at least 90 degrees. There was no sign of life, other than some colorful petunias. What now?

A text to our booking agent in England got a quick response and before we could have finished an ice cream cone, a tiny car pulled up and a much tinier old woman got out. “Bonjour!” she greeted cheerfully.

We were soon at her small home (that’s it, on the right). She spoke no English. You guessed it; we spoke little French. Let me tell you, we had an experience I never would have expected, as one extra-kind, 83-year-old woman gave us a bed, a shower, delicious three-course meal (with wine), and coffee, juice, toast, and jam in the morning. We chatted and even had a few laughs, thanks to Google translate. She told us she had lost her policeman-husband 10 years before.

In the morning, after we had said our “au revoirs,” Sue and I walked toward the French Camino. I turned around to take a last glimpse of the modest home. There stood our host, at the end of her driveway, waving.

Two days to go.

French Camino: A Day of Distractions

Reg Spittle 1 Comment
  • Our hotel building dates to 1740.
  • We were the only guests at the isolated La Prade Hotel.
  • Church number one was locked.
  • My favorite church of the day.
  • A room for Sunday school?
  • Church 3, filled with art, exuded warmth.
  • Whose shoes? We were stumped.

The air was crisp this morning as we departed our hotel and walked through the tiny village of Miramont-Sensacq. An hour later, we hoped for distractions from the cornfields, pavement, and the onset of heat that would fall just short of 90.

We were in luck, sort of.

Churches continue to be one of my favorite features of the French Camino and we visited three today. Outside the first church, a young guy was packing up his camp that featured his hammock. He would catch up with us later, and we shared a few steps while he described his intention to walk all the way—solo—to Santiago de Compostela, Spain. A French native, he had started in Le Puy just a few days after us. His would be a 1,000-mile camping journey.

The surprise return of cattle country and new calves, amongst the cornfields, also refreshed part of the day. But another rerun—hills—reminded us over and over that the Via Podiensis was not finished issuing challenges.

In sum, it was an up-and-down day.

We are trying not to wish away the remaining seven days of this trek.

Yes, we are tired, but we remain aware this is an experience of a lifetime.