[Gocamino] Re: Gocamino Digest, Vol 13, Issue 3

[Rush Associates]

Kathy--were you alone?

Pat Rush, Schenectady, NY

PS--I made my Camino in September, it was wonderful.  I am still 
assimilating the experience.  I was alone for the last two weeks, and they 
were the best, I think.
----- Original Message ----- 
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To: <gocamino at oakapple.net>
Sent: Friday, November 11, 2005 3:00 PM
Subject: Gocamino Digest, Vol 13, Issue 3


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> Today's Topics:
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>   1. Pilgrimages and Chemins (Kathy Gower)
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>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 23:41:19 +0000
> From: "Kathy Gower" <kathygower at hotmail.com>
> Subject: [Gocamino] Pilgrimages and Chemins
> To: gocamino at oakapple.net
> Message-ID: <BAY108-F37A0C1743AAA6F43BDEDC2C8660 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
>
> Greetings,
>
> I have just returned from waking a portion of the Chemin de Compostelle 
> from
> Figeac to Moissac and it occured to me that I also promised a report about
> my Pilgrimage to Wales.  That one will follow in another e-mail.
>
> As much as I would have loved to walk the entire distance from LePuy to
> Santiago, after my 1999 Camino, I have been walking from LePuy westward in
> stages.  Last year I walked from Conques to Moissac and added on a few
> detours to Vezalay and St. Maximus, both Mary Magdalen sites, as well as a
> visit to Chartres.  (you might say I'm hooked on pilgrimage....)
>
> This year, given circumstances, rather than walk from Moissac to St. Jean, 
> I
> only had time, the end of October, for a profound segment of the Chemin,
> walking from Figeac to Moissac along the variant of the Valle du Cele.
>
> I started on October 25th, which is quite late, but the weather was 
> looking
> pretty wonderful and the plane tickets incredibly cheap.  I should hve 
> known
> something was up when I walked from Figeac to La Cassagnole, a favored 
> gite
> and was the only guest!  The doors were open, but no other pilgrims 
> arrived
> and after dark a hospitalera came in as a favor to the hosts, coming all 
> the
> way from Carcasonne!  Imagine, all the hot water one could imagine, 
> privacy,
> and a well stocked kitchen.
>
> It seemed prophetic that the host was unable to locate another open gite 
> on
> the Valle du Cele, except for a lovely chambre d' hote in Brengues, about 
> 22
> km away.  No matter, it was 70 degrees, sunny and beautiful---lots of
> walnuts for the picking and cracking, and figs & apples on the trees..but
> not a single pilgrim, even at the ruins of a 13th century Augustine abbay 
> at
> S. Espanac.
>
> The Valle du Cele is spectacular...a river valley bordered by high 
> limestone
> cliffs into which are built houses from the Hundred Year's War.  There is 
> a
> tourist industry there from canoes launched along the placid river, and at
> the end of the Valley where it meets the Lot, there is Pech Merle, 30,000
> year old cave paintings of bison and antelope and handprints.  However, 
> due
> to the time of year (end of October) and Tousssant, the French celebration
> of All Saint's Day, everything was closed.  I did manage a room in a gite
> and to ask for a meal or two from the loacls who happily served simple 
> good
> fare (magrets of duck, Cahors wine) but as there was no room at the inn so
> to speak, I did hitchhike to catch a twice weekly bus to Cahors.
>
> The French Confraternity has a list of gites that belong to their
> association and it was most helpful.  All meals were chambre d'hote with
> other guests (no pilgrims, though) and wonderful.  I did find another
> pilgrim finally at La Souliellou, another favored pilgrim spot at Moncuq, 
> a
> young Frenchman who had spent time in the USA and was trying to figure out
> his next steps.
>
> The gites were closed at Lauzerte (although I did enjoy the Royal Game of
> Goose there, Michel) but there was a wonderful stone pilgrim house just
> outside town, at a lavendar farm!
>
> For those walking in winter, it certainly is a lonely time (weather
> fantastic) with so much closed.  As usual, I felt entirely safe and 
> welcomed
> by the few who were around.  Please note the importance of Toussant and 
> that
> everything was shut for the most part. My pidgin French was okay, but I 
> have
> made a firm resolve to learn the language more thoroughly, a must for
> walking late in the season.
>
> I returned to Paris from Moissac, just in time to get off the Paris train 
> to
> the airport when it was shut down and find my way to CDG with only minutes
> to spare.  It is a complex situation with the rioters there.
>
> A Bonne Chemin and a Buen Camino to those starting out in
> November....American Pilgrims has issued about a half a dozen credentials
> for that time!
>
>
>
>
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> End of Gocamino Digest, Vol 13, Issue 3
> ***************************************
>