La légende de la coquille

Au Moyen Age le pèlerin revenant de Compostelle portait avec joie et fierté sur sa besace, sa pèlerine ou son chapeau une coquille “Saint Jacques” qu’il était allé ramasser dans la baie de Padron.

C’était la preuve qu’il avait bien accompli, après une longue et rude route, son pèlerinage au tombeau de l’apôtre vénéré dans la belle ville de Santiago.

Pourquoi les pèlerins de Compostelle portaient-ils une coquille?

Nous ne savons pas exactement mais ce fut dès l’origine l’emblème de ce pèlerinage. Les braves pèlerins de jadis qui suivaient le chemin étoilé avec foi et confiance se posaient moins de questions que nous et ils se transmettaient la belle légende que voici:

Pour atteindre Compostelle les pèlerins devaient traverser une ria, embouchure d’un fleuve côtier de Galice, semblable à celles de de certaines rivières bretonnes.

Un chevalier qui cherchait le passage à guë risque d’être noyé par la marrée montante envahissant l’estuaire. Il adressa une prière à St Jacques.

La légende raconte que des milliers de coquillages remontèrent alors de la plage voisine pour s’amonceler sous les pieds du cheval, maintenant ainsi le cavalier hors de l’eau et lui évitant la noyade.

Ces coquilles étaient l’enveloppe d’un mollusque appelé “Peigne de Vénus”. Depuis, on le désigne sur sous le nom de “Coquille Saint Jacques” et la coquille est devenue l’emblème des pèlerins de Compostelle.

J’ai trouvé ce discours sur un panneau à la sortie de Saugues.

Je reprends le Chemin mercredi, le 21 septembre au plus tard.

Ramblings

Clack…..clack…..clack…..behind me. “Bonjour pélérin”, says Speedy as he zooms past me through the undergrowth of the track we were following before Cahors. He soon disappears. I assume that those who walk fast are travelling, daily, much further than I; but no, that evening, at the Auberge de Jeunesse et Jeunes Travailleurs, I find him in the bed next to me, asleep at 8.30pm! Fast walking must have exhausted him! He has not even got up the next day by the time I slip out of the building at 7.15am in the centre of Cahors, but later he again speeds past me with a single observation: “It’s difficult here…” and once more is soon lost to sight amongst the bushes and trees, stick clacking against the stones and rocks of the path.

Getting into the Auberge de Jeunesse et Jeunes Travailleurs was no problem for me who is neither young nor working, nor indeed for the Gang of Four in their 60s/70s, and others more of my age. Reception, by a young girl, very pleasant, was into an establishment rather like the military: “ID please; do you need a pillow / pillow case / blanket / sleeping bag / supper / breakfast… all of which will cost you if you do?” I indicate a pillow, supper and breakfast will meet my requirements (providing breakfast is early enough), and a bed, if possible. E22.10 it costs, sleeping in a dormitory with bunk beds for 8 (only 6 people that night), and a basin; loos and showers were miles away along old bare boarded corridors. Spartan furnishings, the strict minimum, one might say, but all quite clean. Supper OK (4 courses), taken with my new companions, and breakfast too and then we climbed the steep hill out of Cahors together before they slipped away ahead of me after we had admired a somewhat misty view of Cahors from above.

Hobbling along to Labastide – Marnhac during the morning I stopped from time to time to arrange my rescue from the Chemin which duly took place at lunch-time. Very useful to have a portable phone in my kitbag I can tell you. It was used extensively that morning (last Tuesday). I was not going to carry one but had my arm twisted; I’m glad it was!

Had to cancel 2 reservations I had made and one of my future hostesses enlightened me with a new expression for me: “Bon réetablissement”, so I told her that when I was “mended” I might well be coming to see her (at Lauzerte).

So what’s the state of the leg now after 3 days rest? Improving without a doubt, but still not ready to start walking.


While I am not walking I have time to write so if I stop writing that could be a good sign....

Blessé à J19!

Quoi? Blessé? Comment?

Eh oui, c’est un étirement du muscle sur le devant de la jambe gauche. L’effet c’est que je ne pouvais plus marcher sur le plat ou sur les descentes, donc je prends 5-7 jours de repos pour donner le temps pour que ça guérrisse.

Jusqu’à ce jour j’ai marché 350 km, même pas le quart de la distance totale, mais je vive dans l’espoir que je puisse continuer dans quelques jours, à partir de Labastide-Marnhac.

L’hebergement dans le Monastère des Filles de Jésus à Vaylats dans une chambre individuelle: très bon. Deux horloges comptoises tirent mon attention ainsi que celle à l’acceuil de l’Abbaye de Ste Foy à Conques.

Je formais de nouvelles relations avec les gens que j’avais rencontrés depuis mon départ le dimanche passé mais ils ont disparu devant moi. Certainement, il y aura d’autres personnes à rencontrer plus tard car, comme on dit, on n’est jamais seul sur le Chemin.

Je lisais l’autre jour un journal à propos du Chemin qui racontait que l’auteur, après être arrivé à St Jacques, était un peu deçu avec la fin de son pélérinage, la réception à la Cathédrale, la Messe, puis il se rendait compte que le Chemin et le pélérinage et les gens qu’il avait croisés pendant le périple étaient bien plus importants que la fin du Chemin….. Il y a plus de pélérins sur le Chemin qui ont l’intention de marcher jusqu’à St Jacques que je n’attendais. A Estaing, dans le livre d’enregistrement de l’Hospitalet, j’ai compté pour le mois d’août 45 pélérins qui faisaient le longue voyage – et cet établissement n’était pas le seul dans la ville pour recevoir des marcheurs. On n’a aucune idée combien y parviendront…..

Injury and frustration at D19!

After resuming my walk on 11 September without any problem the next day proved difficult: I “developed” a strained muscle in my the front of my left leg which made walking difficult. A night’s rest might solve the problem, I hoped, but not so. On leaving Cahors and after climbing up a steep slope, which was quite OK, it was walking on the flat and downhill which proved uncomfortable – to say the least. I decided to stop and rest for a few days. Suddenly, another 22 km seemed a long way let alone 1200! My normal walking speed is about 4 km/hr; it took about 4 hrs to do 10 km on Tuesday. Frustrating this is, having to sit around in the sun waiting for one set of muscles to mend while others, in excellent condition, become flaccid and weak! What value training?! I always did say the intention was to walk to Santiago, but the body must be willing.

People on the route were very helpful: they offered pills and potions, told me all about their ills, aches and pains – but were able to carry on! New relationships I was building up with other walkers have now come to nought but there will be others amongst the “Camino Community”.

So now I am resting……and I hope, as Churchill once said, that this is not the end but only the end of the beginning.

Lately, on Monday in the monastery in Vaylats where I was staying I met those I have dubbed the “Gang of Four”; 4 old boys aged in their high 60s or 70s going to Santiago, one equipped with a backpack plus wheels (for use on roads), whose philosophy is to let tomorrow look after itself without booking beds or worrying about where they would get to; the “Noisy Ones”, being the group of women I met on Tuesday whom I had recognised from the day before in Cahors, not so much by sight as by the amount of noise they made – and which quite amused them; the man who had walked part of the route 2 years ago (stopped because his mother died), and who had met an 87 year old man who said to him to come back in 2 years time on the same day and eat truffles with him and have onion soup, so here he was about to do this! He’s walking from Blois to Santiago and back next year: 3000 km over 7 months. Then there is the 20 year old who has been living outside at night until she was soaked in a storm and is now moving into gîtes at night……

By the way, at the last pause I reduced the weight of my rucksack to 12 kg (including water and food), so it has been easier to carry. I reckon that is the best I can do.

And finally an amusement:

Several men are in the changing room of a golf club. A mobile phone on a
bench rings and a man engages the hands-free speaker function and begins
to talk..... Everyone else in the room stops to listen.
MAN: "Hello"
WOMAN: "Honey, it's me. Are you at the club?"
MAN: "Yes"
WOMAN: "I am at the mall now and found this beautiful leather coat. It's
only £1,000. Is it OK if I buy it?"
MAN: "Sure ... go ahead if you like it that much."
WOMAN: "I also stopped by the Mercedes dealership and saw the new 2005
models. I saw one I really liked."
MAN: "How much?"
WOMAN: "£26,000"
MAN: "OK, but for that price I want it with all the options."
WOMAN: "Great! Oh, and one more thing.... the house we wanted last year is
back on the market. They're asking £950,000."
MAN: "Well, then go ahead and give them an offer, but just offer
£900,000."
WOMAN: "OK. I'll see you later. I love you!"
MAN: "Bye, I love you, too."
The man hangs up. The other men in the locker room are looking at him in
astonishment.
Then he asks: "Anyone know whose phone this is?"

Resting - D 18

A striking point about all the accommodation I have stayed in is its variety. I stay usually in “gîtes d’étape” which are “hotels” where one sleeps in dormitories of 3 to 20 people. They are quite cheap – E6-12 – and sometimes offer supper – E9-12 – and sometimes breakfast – E4-6. I have been in a convent, at St Côme d’Olt, which had recently been completely renovated such that it was now like a modern hotel with rooms for 3 people, en suite bathroom, but still retaining its old characteristics. It was very nice and pilgrims were very well received: strongly recommended. I have been in the Hospitalet St Jacques at Estaing, a refuge run by laymen and a laywoman which was free but where one is invited to make a donation. They provided supper and breakfast, a service of compline in a very old chapel in the evening, and a service of prayers in the morning at which they pray for all pilgrims for 2 months after their visit that being the time it is expected to take to reach Santiago. Another nice touch: for the pilgrims going all the way they escort you across the bridge over the Lot River to see you on your way. Other walkers do not receive this treatment! I have stayed in an old pigeon tower (converted I hasten to say), private houses converted into gîtes, hotels which convert a loft into a gîte. All, without exception so far, have been spotless upon arrival, and they provide one with a bed, sometimes double-bunked, mattress, a blanket, and a pillow. One must, therefore, carry a sleeping bag or sleeping sheet. I think arrangements will be different in Spain…..we will see.

I am enjoying 3 days of rest as at Limogne en Quercy; resume walking today. After the magnificent scenery of the Aubrac and Magaride the countryside has become different and closer and, to an extent, less interesting. After Cahors I can expect changes, especially more rugged country. I have met several groups of people: the “Singers from Marseille” who offered songs last thing at night; the Bretons who were down for a week’s walking along the Way, doing a week each year to get to the end goal; the Normans, doing a similar thing and having their baggage transported from gîte to gîte on a daily basis; the 2 ladies one of whom is frightened of cows and had to be helped through a field of them; the French couple from St Etienne who have stayed in the same lodgings as me throughout the trip and with whom I have supped on almost all evenings since the start, but who, now, will be some 100km in front of me; the retired school-teacher who gets up at the time I have done 2 hours walking and who always arrives at the same gîte at 5pm exhausted by the heat or rain not to mention the walking! I expect to see him again before St Jean.

On... on…....ultraeia!

Sur le Chemin – J 15

Du Puy à Limogne - en - Quercy en 15 jours.

Départ précédé par la messe dans la Cathédrale du Puy avec l’éveque. A la fin il a proposé que tous les pélerins se présentent, bien utile plus tard pour les rencontres entre pélerins sur le Chemin.

Moment émouvant: être debout à la sortie de la Cathédrale avant de prendre les premiers pas vers St Jacques.

Points forts jusqu’ici:

La messe au début
Le couvent de Malet à St Côme d’Olt
L’Hospitalet St Jacques à Estaing
Traversée de l’Aubrac
L’acceuil bien chalereux dans tous les hebergements
La bonne volonté de tous les pélerins / randonneurs sur le Chemin.
Conques et son Abbaye

Points faibles:

Aller se coucher à 21h30 chaque soir
Gîte non ouvert avant 16h00

J’ai passé à travers des paysages vraiment formidables mais avec quelques rudes épreuves de temps en temps, par example après Monistrol sur Allier et après Conques. Par contre les jours de marche sur l’Aubrac n’étaient pas difficiles car il faisait beau et chaud, vues magnifiques et longues. On voit des crètes à longue distance, on se demande combien de jours il faut pour y arriver; parfois c’est le même jour, parfois le lendemain. Le progrès est lent mais inexorable!

Au couvent de Malet à St Côme l’acceuil dans les lieux récemment amenagés était très chalereux. Le soir, au couchant du soleil, dans le jardin la compline était un moment pour se souvenir.

A l’Hospitalet de St Jacques tout le monde est enregistré dans le livre des pelérins: pour ceux qui continue jusqu’à St Jacques tout de suite on offre des prières tous les jours pendant 2 mois, le temps on estime qu’il faut pour y arriver. Autre tradition: on vous accompagne, si vous allez jusqu’à la fin du Chemin, à travers le pont du Lot depuis l’Hospitalet. Ces traditions, j’ai bien apprécié.

Conques est un village superbe, bien préservé, avec son Abbaye de Ste Foy. Autre moment précieux: concert de chansons et orgues / piano dans l’Abbaye samedi soir, le 3 septembre. L’hébergement dans l’Acceuil de l’Abbaye de Ste Foy est bien récommendé. Dîner avec quelques 50 pélerins / randonneurs; quel vacarme! Tout le monde avait tant de choses à raconter à sa voisin, la plupart qui ne se connaissait pas.

J’ai rencontré de gentils pélerins avec qui j’ai passé des nuits, accompagnés sur la route, de plusieurs nationalités: Français, Allemands, Belges, Anglais, Luxembourgois, Canadiens, Suisses. Quelques uns vont jusqu’à St Jacques, autres fractionnent, c’est à dire ils feront tout le trajet mais pendant quelques années, autres ne sont que les randonneurs, et encore d’autres marchent avec un petit sac à dos pendant que de grandes valises sont prises en charge et transportés en voiture entre chaque hébergement.

Alors, pour ceux qui partent: aucun souci! Les gens sont chalereux, les vaches belles (on en voit beaucoup notamment en Aubrac), les chiens pas trop méchants, et le monde est à l’écart…….