Le Puy to St Jean

[bill deutschman]

Snip"-----Original Message-----
From:   Norman Bone [SMTP:bone1966aYAHOO.COM]
Does anyone on the list, who has done the whole Way from Le Puy (or any of the
other routes through France), feel the same?

Norman Bone
Portland, OR"

Norman;

Elaine and I cycled from Paris to Le Puy and then on to Santiago and Finestere
in 2000.  I felt that there were three sections of the trip.

 From Paris to Le Puy where we were "pilgrims" but the local people considered
us as just tourists.  We had lots of fun and met a couple of pilgrims from
other parts of Europe.

 From Le Puy to San Jean we were on the "Camino" and were able to interact with
dedicated pilgrims from all over Europe.  It was a fantastic part of France
where the local people were very friendly.  We communicated in a mixture of
French, German, Spanish and mostly English.  Elaine and I have an agreement;
 she is responsible for French and Italian and I take care of German and
Spanish.  Throughout out France she would start to speak " her French?" and
suddenly the people would ask if we wanted to converse in English.  The
accommodations and people were fantastic.  One day we stopped for lunch at a
small restaurant/bar in a terrible rain storm.  We were two wet, cold and
bedraggled cyclists who walked into the restaurant and asked for some hot soup.
 The lady served us soup and added some pasta which was the remains of her
dinner without charge.  We found that throughout France.  The French section
was very strenuous as the trail followed the top of the ridges.  Many days we
climbed up to the top of a ridge, then  descended to the valley bottom only to
have to climb up to the next ridge.  Services were much farther apart and more
primitive than in Spain.

People were also friendly in Spain but I felt that they saw far more pilgrims
and the interaction was more commercial.  I'm sure that the priest who stamped
our credentials in Paris  had not seen very many pilgrims.  In contrast, we
found many churches in Spain that had an ink pad and suelo by the door so
anyone could stamp their own credential.  We found more "tourist type pilgrims"
the closer we got to Santiago.  On our last day, a group of "pilgrims?" from an
un-named country arrived in the campground with their support van.  They told
us that they had "completed the Camino" by walking the important parts and then
driving past the "un-interesting parts."   Of course they skipped the Meseta as
it was too hot.  They also climbed the last 500 feet to the iron cross and then
got back into their vans at the refugio just below the summit.

Our entire trip was great but I felt the section from Le Puy to St. Jean was
the best part of it.  As I've said before, God, St. James and I know what
Elaine and I did.  I assume other pilgrims are also observed during their
pilgrimages.

Bill

bill deutschman
455 hillside avenue
klamath falls, or 97601
olcbillafireserve.net