21 September: Ostabat to St Jean Pied de Port

FINIS

An appropriate song to end this journey.

A Canadian singing group covering a song written by the late Canadian poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen.

Hallelujah. What a trip. 750 kilometers in 31 days. It was great and not so great. The first 10 days from Le Puy to Conque were fantastic. The scenery was out of this world. It was very physically demanding but at the end of each grueling day you were exhausted but you felt like a million bucks psychologically. It was an international affair as you met people from all over the world. It was also very hot and humid with temps each day in the mid 30s.

End of the walk at the gate on St Jean Pied de Port.

From Conque to Cahors I sensed a real change. The scenery flattened out somewhat from low mountains and river gorge to rolling hills. The real hill climbing started as you were going up and down all day long over terrible terrain underfoot. It also started to rain – for eight days. I almost felt like quitting but persevered. It was also during this section that I met the mad Spaniard and St. Paul, who was a real inspiration to me. Paul was the disabled man who was born with one ventricle. I stayed with him in the pouring rain covering ten kilometers in five hours.

I sat at that exact same spot in September 2018 at the end of my Chemin de Vezelay walk.

The Cathedral in Condom made a huge impact on me. That alone was worth all the sweat and physical challenges. I get emotional just thinking about it. It has strengthened my faith.

The last bit was the most beautiful part of the walk, especially in Basque country. What wasn’t so nice for me were the evenings. I felt so lonely. It was all French. I was the only foreigner and I was ignored. The two French Canadian women would not speak to me or give me the time of day. Yet I was willing to talk with anyone even in my broken French. Most responses I received for by efforts were huh…huh…huh???

Le Puy is a French Camino. After Conque 95 percent of the pilgrims were French and they would not or could not speak English. It got so that I dreaded the evenings as diner would last two hours with everyone speaking French. It is their country after all but I was hoping for more of an international flavour. That was the downside of this walk and it is for that reason that I could not recommend this way.  In many ways it lacked the Camino spirit. It is in truth a French walk:

The way was 750 kilometers.

It was in the mid 30s for the first 10 days.

I took the bus for 18 kilometers as it was 36C  that day.

We had 10 days of rain 5 of which were heavy.

I camped two nights.

I stayed in a hotel one night.

It cost on average 50 euros a day but with food included.

German beer was by far the best. In my humble opinion.

Swam in the Lot River and two different swimming pools.

Lost two reading glasses and one pair of sunglasses.

A Concrete (baguette) roll every morning with a cereal bowl of coffee got tiring after a few days. I craved eggs.

Most of the gites were dirty.

I had 5 vegetarian meals with a woke lecture on the perils of meat whether I wanted it or not.

I did not have a single blister. Good wool socks are the key here.

My umbrella was invaluable as both a sun and rain shield.

Very few real French pilgrims. Most were part timers who booked all the rooms.

You better be fit if you ever consider doing this walk. Train for hill climbing with hard strong legs and cardio.

That is it for me. I hope you enjoyed the trip.

I have no esoteric, altruistic, existential reason  for doing this. I love to walk and this is a great way to see French countryside, immerse yourself into the culture and enjoy French food and wine. Or, as one of my walking companions once said:

It’s a great way to lose weight bai.

Back in November.

Oh and it rained again today.