Assisi Post 7 - 30/06/2008, Etalans. 1466 kms to go
Am now just 4 days away from the Swiss border and apparently horrendously expensive living costs. Am almost tempted to change route to stay in France and bypass Switzerland and go direct to Italy. However that would play havoc with my schedule and on closer inspection I have noticed there is supposedly pilgrim accommodation with 'the parish'. Whether that proves to be the case remains to be seen. Another alternative for reducing costs in Switzerland is to do something pilgrims of old did, and that is to take a boat across the lake Léman to Villeneuve. This was suggested to me by Alison R and I am considering it. When I walked down the west side of France in 2003, I took a ferry across the Bay of Arcachon rather than walk all the way round it, adding at least a week if not more on to my journey. That did not seem like cheating to me! No doubt my next posting will contain the result of my deliberations!
It can be difficult not to make this sort of writing into a 'weekly report'. I have a horror of repeating myself or becoming boring. Anyway ........
Accommodation: Have managed to continue to find cheap pilgrim accommodation but have also had to camp wild a number of times. This has been for 2 reasons, one to save money and the other to even out the stages. As an aside, re camping sauvage, it had crossed my mind to wonder if this region of France had any snakes. Interestingly the day after the thought crossed my mind, I was given a slightly gruesome answer - a dead snake on the road. Don't know what it is though but here is a pic.
Despite the fact that I am still absolutely amazed that I can walk for 3 or more hours without it becoming excruciatingly painful, I still do not wish to provoke my feet by tackling a 30+ day. So far though I have managed several quite long (27+) days one after the other.
However by camping wild I have been able to afford 'normal' B&B or hotel accommodation on one or two occasions when it has been necessary. (I don't like to camp wild 2 nights in a row mainly because of problems with recharging my phone which as I said in the last posting doubles as a camera.)
Normally I would not 'plug' my accommodation but the one I found at Seveux merits an exception. First of all it is right on the Via Francigena and has a waymark right outside the door!
Next it is run by an exceptionally welcoming couple who really understand what it is like to be a hot, sweaty, tired pilgrim. And to top that, fluent English is spoken! Ted is English and his wife Charlotte speaks English, German, French, Italian and even some Greek! They really made me feel at home - I even got to watch a video, a real treat! Next morning breakfast was superb. None of your 'coffee, croissant & jam', it was boiled egg, ham, different yummy types of bread and great coffee! If any of you are considering doing the Via F, my advice would be do not stay in Dampierre, walk the extra few kms and stay with Charlotte and Ted in Seveux. The town has a shop if you want to self cater, it also has a bar/restaurant, it also has a restaurant that burnt down but is being rebuilt, and apparently there is a Mexican restaurant somewhere that will pick you up from Seveux and drop you back after your meal. Oh, nearly forgot, it has a hairdresser as well! Also it means there are less kms for the next day which is quite long. Their contact details are Le Tilleul, 7 Rue du Paquis, 70130 Seveux
(I promise I am not being paid to advertise them)
Visual stuff: all sorts of different things. The walking has varied in terms of surroundings. One day spent about 10 kms in a forest and when I stopped to rest, a butterfly for some reason, found my Irish Flag irresistible. It landed on it and stayed for ages. In fact I had to gently shush it off to put my rucksack on. Unfortunately I could not get a pic of it with its wings open. They were brown with an eye on each wing. Anyway there is a pic below
This area also seems to have a strong tradition of wash houses. Each village I pass through has one, now unused but usually decorated with flower baskets. This one also had a handy mangle outside!
The other interesting thing I discovered is that in this area the Churches (which by the way are open more often than not) have wood burning stoves. I have not seen this before
One of the Churches I visited (the Church of St Martin in Arc-en-Barrois) had a grotto within the Church with beautiful statues. The picture does not do it justice - the statue in the foreground was so beautiful though sorrowful. There were frozen tears running down her face. It was very moving.
Some parts of the Church date from end 12th c.
As the days passed the terrain became more mountainy and my approach to Besançon yielded some great views.
Also on that day I walked in Misery! (which reminds of my 2003 walk through France where in Brittany I encountered a place called Purgatory!)
I was 'off piste' again and had taken a very straight-looking road for a few kms. It was a mistake as it had very heavy traffic and no verge. But on the other hand I got the chance to walk in misery and get great views into the bargain!
Weather: It is warming up with a vengeance. I now get up at 05:30 and am on the road by 06:30 to race the sun! The day after Chateauvillian it was really muggy and humid. By 09:30 even though I was in a forest I was dripping with sweat. I had expected the distance that day to be about 18 kms - I was not following the guidebook but info given to me by the very kind lady at the Tourist Office the day before. Anyway by the time I had done 20kms I was dead beat. I reached a village and stopped for the 3rd time. All I wanted to do was go to sleep. The only thing that persuaded me out of that idea was that my destination was only 3kms away. But what a lovely welcome. I was staying again with a community of Nuns and the Sister who was in charge of guests I suppose could see how tired I was and she make me coffee and served it with a lovely cake! The day reminded me of the worst part of my 2006 pilgrimage, up the Riviera coast which was so hot and humid.
Fortunately the humidity was only to last for that day, but the temperature was rising. Because of this, there were clear blue skies and vivid colours. I took the pic below at 08:27!
Then just to remind me what the elements could do, I encountered a storm. Though fortunately I was not 'on Camino' at the time. I had arrived at Langes much later and hotter and sweatier than I wanted. I had hoped to get a couple of 'chores' done there. Anyway I was planning to camp wild the following day as the distance was too far for me. I woke at 05:30 and there was the mother and father of a storm going on. Thunder, lightening, heavy rain, the works. Well I just could not motivate myself to get dressed and get out onto the road. Stayed in bed! Got up and booked in for another night and fortunately there was room OK. I was in an Auberge de Jeunesse and unlike many it did not close during the day so I could come and go as I pleased. I was able to do the chores I had hoped. Next day was OK so off I went. The pics below show the same view at the same time on the 2 days.
Miscellaneous: I know I have shown pics of roses before but the smell of this one was magnificent. Really sweet and powerful. Could not resist including it.
And you know I was talking about plantains last time, well someone looked it up (thanks Sil) and it is an astringent herb with the following properties: diuretic, expectorant, anti-mucus, mild anti-inflammatory & anti-bacterial. (though I wont be sticking it up my nose Sil!). Amazingly enough I came across a giant specimen and had to include it too - see below
And finally
THE HILLS ARE ALIVE, WITH THE SOUND OF MUSIC!
In this region the cows have bells round their necks (and yes I have recorded them) and you keep hearing this lovely tinkling sound of all different notes. Took a pic of a gang of cattle that decided I needed to be investigated and came from the far end of their field to do so but alas it is a little blurred but you get the general idea.
So take care all, keep sending me your positive thoughts, they are what is getting me to my destination.
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