“Il n’y a pas de hazard.” It means “Everything happens for a reason”. When I stopped in Sauvelade for lunch and got my Creanciale stamped, that is what the host wrote there.
It is the nature of things that the reason is not always apparent, and also there is a difference between reason and cause. But when I was forced to go as far as Ostabat to find a gite yesterday, perhaps the reason was that the fates decided it should be better if I had less distance to walk today. There were two other people staying at the gite: one had come via the Tours route that comes through Paris, Poitiers and Bordeaux; the other had come the Vezelay route that comes through Reims, Limoges and Perrigueux. So here we were in Ostabat, having come by three different routes. And we all left separately. I was out of the gite at 08:15 and on my way. The signpost in Ostabat said 21km to St. Jean.
The way from Ostabat to St. Jean is mostly along small lanes and greenways. One of the greenways became a forest path that would not have looked out of place on Game of Thrones.
The route ran parallel to the main road, crossing it in places, but being away from the main road, it gave me views that most main road travelers don’t get. The architecture here is most visible in the farm houses, with gentle sloping roofs, and all painted white. Those gave added effect to an already impressive landscape.
I like to observe the flora and fauna, and today there were lots of buzzards, wheeling and circling in the sky like in some old Western movie. I tried to capture them on camera, and though I know that it does not do them justice, I show a photo here. These are big birds, and I can only wonder at what they catch in the fields and woods below. But to watch their seemingly effortless flight was something special.
And so, after some 16km or 17km, I came to St. Jean-le-Vieux. It is a small village, but it was a good place to stop for a beer. I Chose a local brew instead of some “Eurofizz” that the big breweries would have us consume.
And then I was on the road again. The houses, as I mentioned are white, but they have stonework around windows and doors that occasionally offers interesting details
I passed the Magdalena church which is reported to have an interesting interior. There was a function in progress there, thoguh whether it was a baptism, wedding or funeral I cannot say.
And so I came to St. Jean-Pied-de-Port. This is an old town sitting alongside what was in former times a strategic route between France and Spain. It has the fortifications of the old town still present in many places, together with a citadel designed by Vauban, the famous French engineer who designed and supervised the building of many fortifications across France.
At the fortress, I looked out over the landscape towards the pass to Roncevalles. As when I was in Le Puy, the way forward beckons, though I have not yet made up my mind whether to take the Camino Frances or the Camino del Norte. My thinking sways between the two.
The town is “Hiker Central”. To find the railway station, one only has to wait and watch for an influx of backpackers, and then go in the opposite direction to them. It seems like each incoming train disgorges a few dozen backpackers who make for the various types of accommodation and for the pilgrim registration office.
At the same time, it is a picturesque town, and I enjoyed walking around it. And as usual in such a place, I had dinner this evening. One again it was excellent, as befits my last such dinner for a while. Tomorrow I will make the journey back to Basel.
And of course, to end this entry, my step count for the day was 40,623. My total over the 13 days was 630,034. The distance, according to the guidebook was 391km.
Walkingman 