Month: August 2018

Day 21: St Leonard de Noblat to Limoges

Finally Lomoges, in the Limosin region of France. I have been thinking about this place since I started. Why? Well I had nightmares about this place ever since I started researching this trip back in Canada. I do not understand it but I think it had to do with walking into a big city from one side and trying to figure out how to get out of it on the other side. Scary for a Pilgrim.

I woke up one night in a cold sweat. I had this dream of gargoyles attacking me as I was trying to figure out how to get out of the maze of streets. Gargoyles are those ornamental  medieval downspouts that you see on all of the big Cathedrals around here. They looked at me, laughing and frothing at the mouth as I was trying to run out of one medieval Cathedral after the next. It was horrible…..mommy!

” So you have come to France” they said.

” To take a walk” they gargoyled.

” In 30 plus degree heat” they screamed with devilish laughter.” “ Are you an idiot” they asked.

I could only run, and run and run and as I looked back in disbelief I saw a thousand gargoyles coming after me. Frothing at the mouth. Heckling and laughing at me. I have to get out of Limoges and their awesome roman Cathedral. But that is where all of these gargoyles come from. Where can I go? I thought. I ran down a narrow medieval street into a medieval alley that came to a medieval dead end. I was toast. I could only look back in absolute terror as these ugly gargoyles came down at me, ready to devour me. As I took my last scream on god’s green earth, I woke up. Whoa! Whew. Wow. As I looked over at the end table I saw a picture of Notre Dame with their medieval downspouts for rain. It was just a dream, I thought, but for an instant I thought I heard:

” So, you’ve cone to France have you?

True story. Whew. That was some nightmare. I got up and immediately went to the heads. And that is how I have been thinking of Limoges ever since I started this trek. And, like all things in life thoughts are way worse than reality.

Limoge Roman Cathedral. Not too scary is it?

The walk today was great. Still lots of hills and 31 C today but we made it by 1300 (1 pm). I am not going to belabor the hills anymore as I am told the rest of the route will be similar. Nevertheless, when you see sights like this what can one complain about:

Or this:

Met two new pilgrims today. Laurent from Brittany and Gil from Paris. Laurent was in a hurry as he likes to do between 30 and 40 kilometers per day. Gil and I walked together for the whole day and are staying at the same hostel tonight. Gil is an interesting character. He models in Paris for art schools and other artists. Only in Paris I would think. I have never met anyone who has every done that for a living. It is a wonderful world full of wonders. I asked him what he does when he has a twitch or a fly bugging him. Or if he has to sneeze, fart. This made for interesting conversation. Then as we were nearing Limoges he went on a rant about pilgrims. Jokingly, I told him to stop as the god of pilgrims may not be kind to us. Sure enough as we got closer to the Cathedral we saw that we were facing a monstrous hill to climb to get to where the cathedral was located. Damn Gil, but we had some good laughs over that rant of his. He was cursing the gods of walking to no end especially in this heat. “ You guys try this”he taunted them. Gil will be with me for one more day, then he returns to Paris.

Ran into Yannick today as well. Remember him? He was the young Danish guy from Finland who was having a  moment of crisis in his life. Well his girlfriend met him in Limoges and she will walk with him for a week. Great I thought.

By the way, St Leonard of Noblat fame was a 6th century hermit who lived in the dark forest during the dark ages. So, another mystery of life: how does one become a saint if you,re a hermit? Hmmm? Hmmmm? If you know the answer to that I would love to read it in the comments.

Some of these hostels we stay at are nicer than hotels. This one is a religious hostel right beside the Cathedral. Nice. And they have instant coffee here, which is what I like because it is instant.

A change in the tunes and also something new. My Swiss freinds mentioned a family member having a holiday in Scotland which they really liked. That reminded me of the trip my dear wife Marijke and I took to Edinburgh to see the military tatoo in 2015. Some of you will remember that trip and the fun Marijke and I had on the mega bus. Anyway, enjoy this:

And then this:

You know, one bagpipe is akin to a cat clawing his claws down a blackboard. But a hundred playing together is a heaven,s choir.

Day 20: Pont de Dognon to St Leonard de Noblat.

Picture yourself sitting on a cafe terrace having a grand cafe au lait in the town’s square surrounded by buildings going back to 1200 with a church even older than that. Narrow cobblestone streets. Shops, bakeries abound. Women shopping, the men chatting, smoking and cursing, laughing as well. You would be in the centre of St Leonard de Noblat, a medieval town restored in all its medieval glory and patina. Only problem for a hiker like me is that the town centre is at the crest of a hill. Closer to god than thee – so the saying goes. And that is why I had to climb a 2.5 kilometer hill to arrive at this scene. If only I had me a donkee.

But before all that I have to play this son:

Did you know that this song was not written by Cat Stevens but by a religious brother sometime in the 1800s.

The house is similar in design to Canada House, Juno Beach,  Normandy.

There is a town to the northwest of here called Tours. Tours is also the beginning of a camino. But Tours is also famous for a world changing battle during the medieval times. You see, the Muslims had just conquered Spain and now had their eye on France. So a large Muslim army marched into France to kick some French butt. The French were forewarned and this French dude whose name was – I kid you not – Charles “ The Hammer” Martel gathered all of the French peasants, trained them and set off to meet the Muslim invaders. On October 10, 752, the armies met at Tours.  Charles was a medieval military genius who held the high ground at Tours. And like an arch angel he came down on the Moors from on high and kicked serious Moorish butt and won the day. The Moors fled back to Spain never to return that is until the 21st Century. But what a name: Charles “ The Hammer” Martel. Like something out of Wrestling, don,t you think. True story. I researched this so you don,t have to.

Milestone:  today, while walking, as I looked down, I could see my belt buckle for the first time in 17 years. Wow!

15 km today of which 12 were uphill,including the 2.5 km hill coming into St Leonard de Noblat. Tomorrow Limoges, a place of which I had some serious concerns about before I left Canada. Seems like yesterday but also a long time ago.

5th day on my own. I sure do miss the Von Trappe family and Berry the Dutchman. We had some good laughs with da banker and his famille. Good luck kids. Like good ole Charles the Hammer, kick some serious studies butts.

Thanks to Mike and Jean I had 150 views yesterday on this blog.

Cheers and have a great medieval day.

Day 19: Chatelus to Pont de Dagnon Campsite.

I have to add a comment. Today, the 19th of August is the anniversary of Dieppe, which occurred August 1942. Over 900 Canadian soldiers killed and a few thousand captured. Total disaster. A typical brit f@#$up.

https://youtu.be/2uXWBR_Ht2Y

Decided to shorten the walk today. Instead of going to St Leonard be Noblat at 29 kilometers I decided to shorten it to 16 and stay at a campground by a river situated in this river valley, near a beautiful bridge among the lush almost tropical like vegetation. As I get further south I am told that the temperatures will remain warm and I will begin to see sub tropical like vegetation – mini palms perhaps. Also, this campsite is full of children laughing and playing and making all kinds of noise. Nice! Also, I have my own mini chalet, a shoe box really, but very clean and cool inside. It teminds me of my own youth and summers spent up at Georgian Bay. Magical memories.

Samuel cooked dinner last night – yup, PASTA again. Pasta seems to be a staple for us pilgrims or they all come from Italy. Actually, Samuel is a bit of chef and we were able to buy some ingrediants at the local Auberge, run by a middle age women in desperate need of dental work. But she was nice. The Auberge catered to the whole town. It was the town’s gathering, meeting place, especially in the summer months. And then, this woman appears out of  nowhere to entertain us. At first I thiught she was the village idiot ( I know, not kind) but she turned out to be a professional jester. We would call them buskers in Canada.

Actually, she was very jovial and entertaining. Notice the red nose.

Back to Samuel. Interesting fellow with just a few quirks. As I mentioned a few days ago he preferred to sleep away from the main dormatory and sleep by the heads (toilets). This time his place of  choice was in the kitchen by the fridge. I guesss he wanted to be close to the food for a midnight snack. He was very philosophical in his outlook on life. When I  entioned Michel and Yannick to him his response was that this  condition was  common  because this generation was not used to failures or hardship. Everyone gets the prize according to him. I could not really disagree with him. Samuel could be very intimidating but once you scratch the surface you find a very kind and thoughful human being. Samuel would not allow me to take his picture though. No problem. I always ask first.

I got underway today at 0645. Nice! Just me and the world….and the cows. Not a bad a trek as the last few days. Some hills but not too bad really. Sunshine and  cool  temperatures and lots a tree tunnels. For those of you not familiar with this term a tree tunnel is an area of road covered by a canopy of tree branches and leaves. They resemble a dark tunnel and provide the walker with a cool oasis from the heat of the sun:

Again, beautiful scenery. I arrived at the campsite at 1030. Probably the earliest stop yet. But I welcome it as it lets me recharge the batteries.

This post will be out early. Still hoping for some comments. Would love to hear from you. I will respond.

Why I hate my IPad? When I want to s@y so eth8 glime this tis is 2hT APPE@RS. SO IT takes me lo nger to cirrect th mistakes as to type th post. Translation? “ When I want to say something like this this is what appears. So it takes me longer to correct these mistakes then to actually develop and type the post.” Sucks!

That’s all she wrote.

Ramblin Man – that is what I am. The Pilgrim’s theme song.

 

Day 18: Benevent Abbaye to Chatelus de la Matevieu???

As I mentiond yesterday they were having a fete in town so I had to check out how the French liked to party. I walked the short distance into town and parked myself at the only opened bar. Across the road they had a band set up but no band. There were guitars, drums, electric piano but nobody around to play them. Some guy, who spoke pretty good English told me that the band would play later, after the bingo was over. Indeed, over half the town was under a tent playing bingo. Okay, I thought, I can wait for that. Well, at about 2200 (10 pm),I had had enough. That bingo must have been a real hoot as everyone was still there. The scene reminded me of Premery on my third day of  walking. Readers of this blog will remember:

” Oui monsieur, we have a bus. We have a bus stop, we have a bus schedule but we do not have any buses.” Reminded me of the department of silly walks.

” Oui monsieur, we have guitars, we have drums, we have pianos but we do not have anyone to play them….Sacre Blue” A virtual band.

The main drag at the height of the party.

I was staying in a pretty nice gite (jeet) run by a another English couple from England. The man had his own business installing septic systems and other human waste management technologies. We shot the shit (meerde) for about an hour. He then told me that the hike to my next destinatlion will be a difficult one. I didn,t k now whether to believe him after Duncan in La Souterraine. For all I know, given his occupation, he could have been full of shit. As it turned out he was right. The hike was a dichotomy of sorts. A very beautiful scenic hike that was uphill all the way. Clean crisp morning air, about 17 C, a light wind and scenery that was breathtaking. I find it difficult to find the words to describe the scene. Rolling hills, a tapestry of green. Fields of golden virgin hay, like a patch quilt separated by the lushest canopy of forest you will ever see. Deciduous trees. I can just imagine how beautiful that fall colour must be. And alas, you can already detect a hint of colour in the distant forests:

Mystery of life! Have you ever noticed how much cows look alike. I mean, look at this picture

:

They all have big ears, sad eyes and big snouts. So how does a mother cow know how to distinguish her baby cows? Huh? Huh? These are the sort of thoughts one has when going on a 900 kilometer walk. Crazy! You bet. Just another mystery of life brought to you by moi.

I covered off my 20 kilometers in about 4.5 hours. I found a cafe open where I parked myslf and ran into Yannick, a young Danish man from Denmark. Had a beer with him. I ran into him and Sara a few days ago. Another young man who told me he is doing the camino because he had a breakdown, or a crisis of being as I like to call it. Yannick is the second young man I have come across in the last few days who have had this  condition. Michel from Belgium has also suffered this malady. Sooo sad. Young men in the prime of their lives having a personal breakdon of confidence. What on earth is going on in this world? Hug your kids, no matter how old and tell them you love them each and every day. I tried to reassure Yannick and Michel when I walked with them, but alas, they will have to find their own path on their own time.

Then, out of the bleu Samuel appears. He is the guy at a hostel a few days ago who wanted to sleep by the heads as he is a averse to snoring. After a few hellos, how are you we decided to stay at the local git and cook dinner together. Yannick left. No Samuel is a colourful  charactet. Tall, husky, about 275,  tatoos all over his arms,  neck etc. Bald, someone you would be intimidatd by. But after getting to know him you find out he is highly educated, great sense of humour and one who speaks very good English. He is from Paris and has completed 3 caminos. The Camino virus as people relate to this. Yeah,Samuel seems to be s great guy. It just shows you that you cannot judge a person by his or her appearance. Samual is a sensitive man trapped in a Hell,s Angel,s body.

This song is for Yannick and Michel. I hope they find their way:

https://youtu.be/b-7c4VNGOgU

 

 

Day 17: La Souterraine to Benevant Abbaye

Had a wonerful day in La Souterraine. Lots of cafes and shops were open…yay! My Dutch colleague and I had a few pils before heading to our pelerin hostel at 1630 (430 pm). The lady at the hostel would not let us in early. Na pas problem.

Great evening sitting outside with another French family having dinner. This was fantastic as dinner and breakfast were included in our 35 euro tariff. But it did take a long time to be served. The place was run by an English couple from England! Duncan was the husband and he talked a great deal to us. Given the hard slog we had I asked him how tough the terrain was between La Souterraine and Benevant Abbaye. He said that it would be a breeze, flat all the way…..na pas problem!

Good dinner and good wine. My friend Berry was leaving for home in the morning. I would now be by myself for the first time in about 5 days. Na pas problem. That is Duncan the owner standing.

I left at 730 am the next morning. Today, the 17 th of aout. I said farewell to Berry and  was off. Bon chance.

It was a gloomy overcast day that threatened rain. About 21 C but the humidity was through the roof. It was not long before I was soaked from sweat.  It did drizzle a little bit but not much. The moisture in the air was reflected into the landscape which was lush. It almost seemed as if I was walking in a rain forest and not central France. It was another brutal climb.  It became so bad that I had a fantasy to return to La Souterraine and strangle Duncan. But I didn,t want to walk back 20 kilometers. “Duncan, you are a lucky man today” I thought to myself.

To put things into perspective for my Victorian friends, the brutality of the hills yesterday can be described like this. Put yourself on Dallas Road and then walk all the way to the ferry terminal at Swartz Bay and do that walk going uphill all the way. That is what we are dealing with here.

As I was walking  beside a field of cows I started humming out loud the theme from the Great Escape movie. It was loud. Well, all of those cows came running in my direction and then followed me to the end of the field. That was cool and funny. I seem to have a way with cows. Don,t know for sure though!

I am now sitting in the gite etage in Benevant Abbaye refreshed, writing this  blog. There is a ”fete” going on here this weekend so I am going to go and check it out. For the uninitiated a ”fete” is a fair.

Oh and I met three more pilgrims today. Michel from Belgium, Sara and Sophile from Paris. They are finishing in Limoges.

Love this photo . It says it all to my non French friends:

The price of pain. Pour moi? Ne pas problem!

Another good hiking tune: