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Published: July 10th 2009
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Week Nr 5
It's a long time ago since my last entry, but it's rather difficult to find Internet-Cafes in the regions I have walked through.
It was actually March 30th when took off Geneva and headed into France after having reorganized myself and having overcome the blues.
In addition to that there were a few other encouraging things that occurred:
- my blisters had gone
- my physical constitution had improved so that uphill walking didn't bother me much. Thus, shortly after Geneva, there was a village called Neydens after which the Camino went up steeply for about half an hour. When I arrived at the top I said to myself Was that it already.
- climbing up that hill I overtook another two pilgrims climbing up although with much bigger difficulties. So I waited for them on the top to say hello. They were Wolfgang and Christoph from Germany and had just started this day in Geneva. So we kept talking and walking until they arrived at their planned stop for the day. Unfortunately they hadn't reserved anything and so they found out the place they wanted to stay was closed so they decided or better, were forced
to go on and finally went on with me to the hotel where I had reserved a room. Which means that the poor guys had to walk 28km instead of 19 on their first day and that with three quite steep hills. They admitted that they felt a bit tired.
Thus, we took a short diner and went to bed early.
Since then we have been walking together, that is, Christoph decided a week later to walk on alone due to the lack of interests between the three of us. Apparently, he is very catholic whereas Wolfgang and I are rather the opposite.
The next day we walked another long way in addition it was cold and windy and we had to walk through a lot of ways where there was a lot of water or earth mixed with water which made walking very difficult.
We were compensated the next day by incredible weather, wonderful landscapes and finally a great hotel. We reached the river Rhone this day, that is, we walked along its coasts high upon a hill, then we descended to the plains to hit a charming restaurant. Here we stopped to have a drink and reserve
rooms for the night. We phoned and asked at about 20 places and all told us that they wouldn't take us. A few days later I met a French guy who was gladly accepted at the same places. That was only the first of a series of xenophobic occurrences we had so far.
On the other hand the restaurant turned out to be a hotel, too, and they let us stay there for a very nice price which included a top class dinner.
The next day the way followed the Rhone except for a small bit. As we knew better than our guides we chose a way which seemed to follow the river but developped within a few minutes into thick undergrowth on a hillside. Thus, one wrong step and we would have been able to test our swimming capacities. We decided to climb up that hill and leave the jungle and from then on we walked on a wonderful way to a place called Vions where we spent the night at a farmhouse which offered guest rooms with dinner and breakfast. The place was absolutely charming.
The next 2 days are best described as hilly: Up and
The weather wasn't nice
but the landscape is impressive all the same down it went through landscapes which were so beautiful that I had goosebumps most of the time but also because I became aware of the fact that this is what I always wanted. Walking through wonderful landscapes in warm sunshine.
I met 2 new pilgrims during these 2 days: André from Annecy and Magaly from Neuchâtel. As Magaly seemed to walk much faster than me I thought I would her once and not again, a thought which turned out wrong. Now, sitting in an internet café in Santiago and looking back, I am glad that we bumped into each other relatively often as it turned out that we were looking for quite the same experiences on the Camino.
These 2 days, my two companions, Wolfgang and Christoph took the way along the river and told me that it was quite beautiful and not as exhausting as the traditional way over the hills which was very exhausting indeed. At the end of the 2nd day André and I arrived at a gîte which should turn out to be one of the most bizarre on the whole Camino. As we arrived we were told to leave our bags in the hall until
A stone cross
in Neydens, one of many I should find on the Camino we would be assigned to our beds, and then sit inside for a drink. As it was a fairly warm and sunny we told the girl that we wanted to sit outside which she refused, saying it was cold. We insisted and sat outside, so, grumbling, she brought us beer. As I don't like beer and saw Wolfgang drinking white wine I asked her whether I could have a glass of white wine too. She refused, saying there was only beer left although I could see the almost full bottle of wine through the window. So I insisted and she allowed me a glass.
Then we were assigned our beds (there was only one sleeping room for men and one for women) and told to wait there until we would be allowed to take a shower. That permission came 10 minutes later, however at the same time for men and women so that we all met naked in shower.
We then were told to come to dinner where we met him. Louis Revel, the owner of the place, former catholic pastor until he fell in love and run away with a women. He told us that he had run the
Wolfgang and Christoph
Christoph is the one with the beard gîte for the last 42 years, from 1969 to 2009, always with the same vocation, to accomodate pilgrims. Now, the house could be called something next to almost completed (or a near ruin), and was quite dirty (I tried to kill a cockroach but it was to fast). He wanted to know our nationalities for his own statistics, so when he learned that there were Germans he kept repeating the whole evening the Bild Zeitung headline "We are Pope". The meal was presented as the traditional meal of the region and was disgusting.
There was then a fairly ridiculous service at a kind of chapel he had installed and where he had placed statues of a large number of saints where we had to place a candle and the say a motto for the Camino. My motto was: On the Camino we meet people and say goodbye to them. Let's hope we can all cope with this." I didn't know then how true that should turn out to be over the weeks to come.
The next morning Monsieur Revel complained that he had to write so many bills for the pilgrims (all in all 7) and kept repeating "We are
A statue of Santiago
also one of many I was to see on the Camino Pope". Finally, after we had paid he made us leave with a nasty remark for each one of us. I have to say that, for the rest of the Camino, I didn't have no overnight stay which was more awkward than this.
The week closed with a beautiful day and a night at a camping place with charming little mobile homes where we met Andrea, a young women from Zurich which, like me had started the Camino in Zurich. We spent a wonderful meal, joking and laughing about the night before and enjoying a very quite full moon night.
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