To be a Pilgrim .......

From memory this is a line from a hymn I used to sing in church - never meant a lot to be honest, but I did like the tune. He who would Valient be. This was brought into sharp focus today in Saint Jean. The start of the Camino way to Santiago de Compostela. I watched a film once with Michael Sheen called ‘The Way’. It was written by his real life son - Emilio Estevez. It’s a super little film and, if you have Amazon Prime, you might like to watch. We’ve had a bit of a fascination for the Camino Way, but didn’t learn about it til 10 years or so ago. We have spoken about doing it, but time and the knee joints may have dictated it’s a bit late. Whatever, a few nights ago in Oleron, I was in contact with a fellow Sunlight owner and she recommended this place to us - and all the little fragments of things we knew, or thought we knew, fell into place here today.

Now it rained all night on and off and didn’t look too promising this morning. Nevertheless, even though it was darned chilly, as the pictures I’ve posted on social media will testify, the rain pulled away, to show us some blue sky and a little bit of sun, so off we went over the river and into the town itself. Very close indeed to our campsite. The River Nive is so beautiful and the city walls tower above you. There are parts of the town that are very ancient indeed and we made our way up the many steps to the top and walked the ramparts. Beautiful mountain views draw your eyes back to the houses sat at their feet and it really does give you the feel of an alpine village. As we walked down the other side of the ramparts, we entered the gathering point of the camino and the advantage of being here this time of year, is the lack of people - now I like people, but this place is rammed from Spring onwards with Pilgrims, hikers, cyclists etc - so we’re lucky to have had uninterrupted views of the main cobbled ancient streets. Many people do this pilgrimage for a vast number of reasons - I can imagine wanting to do it and it must be a triumphal experience to complete it. When you remember the pilgrimages here started in the 11th Century so have continued for over 1,000 years it’s a bit mind boggling to say the least. At St James Gate (now a World UNESCO site) there is a lovely church and we always take it in turns to go and look at a church or cathedral due to our Tommy - it was completely empty when I went in and again, very beautiful, but quite simple in its architecture and contents. We went out again this evening for the last Tom walk before bedtime - the bridges and River Nive are lit up which again captivates the imagination and seems to put a seal on how special place this is. When we got back to the van, I persuaded Al to watch ‘The Way’ with me and, of course, it has more resonance now having spent some time here. We also managed to sit out in the sun this afternoon for an hour before the cloud gathered again - Alan had bought me a little treat of a local goats cheese - a nice glass of red, a chunk of baguette and a smidgeon of cheese - aaaah these are the things that make me smile 😊

So, planning has taken place and we make our way to Lourdes tomorrow via Oleron (retracing some steps) - maybe more warmth is around the corner - as long as it stays dry, we can take what comes Nighty night