Leaving Beaumont the next day, I found Saint James keeping watch over the Place de l'Église...
Soon I passed the Chartreuse de Pomier, originally a Carthusian monastery, founded in 1170. I love the Chinese lanterns hanging from the trees. This grand and historic building is now used for weddings, conferences and conventions...
The stone portico at the entrance is all that remains from the 12th century...
Rain showers set in during the morning, but by mid-afternoon all was dry and bright again. Low clouds drifted up the valleys...
At one point I had to skip rather abruptly over an electric fence to make way for this herd of cows...
More wayside crosses punctuated the route. Note the stones left by pilgrims to mark their journey...
Here I'm looking across wooded hills and valleys towards the Alps, as the afternoon becomes ever warmer...
I spent a few moments contemplating this beautifully situated and sympathetically constructed Marian shrine. It has the air of a fairy grotto about it...
The views were superb as your gaze opened out from unharvested crops of maize in the foreground, across swathes of dark green forest and a patchwork of lighter green pasturage, to a formidable mountainscape of sheer white cliffs in the distance...
9 comments:
Wow! Another cow encounter. Thankfully, no stampede. Love the Marian shrine; quite beautiful! Have a good weekend.
You've been off on another wonderful adventure.
How absolutely marvellous that your passion takes you to so many wonderful places, always on foot, which is really the only way to travel, the pilgrim's way.
I went back and read over your previous posts. Even if pressure of time means I don't always comment, I always catch up with you.
Yes, the Marian shrine is very special indeed. The photos are so very beautiful Robert, I can easily see why you loved this route- and your photos are becoming more and more 'persuasive' all the time!
Beautiful, beautiful captures! Loved the last two the most, and the shrine indeed has an elfin appeal. Thank you so much for sharing all the gorgeousness.
HI George, my good friend. No stampede - though I had to get out of the way pretty quickly as the lane was so narrow. I was outnumbered! (Think Pat and the Farmer would also have done the same under those circumstances.) Having a great weekend. Hope you are having the same.
Friko - lovely to hear from you. On foot is surely the best, the most authentic and the most profound way way to travel. Or so i find, anyhow.
Margaret (Kiwi) - thanks once more for your most appreciative and appreciated comment.
And Suman - I love all those wayside crosses and stones and markers along the Way. Reassuring, somehow.
Robert, you have already convinced me.... Have just been out for a lovely walk in the morning sunshine and was thinking 'why not?'. I had originally tossed up between the Cluny and Geneva routes, but opted for Cluny. But really there is no reason why Cluny-Le Puy can't be a 'warm up' for the more strenuous Geneva route. I'll just have to hop on a train once I reach Le Puy, and go to Geneva. Ahhh the glories of having been to Santiago once- it frees me up to do be a bit more 'bitsy'.
Those white cows are exquisite Robert - maybe Charrolais I think, although they are not heavily built so not sure. The weather seems glorious too.
Your photos testify to the wonder of what happens when you envision one sort of beauty through someone's words, and then the reality is even better. This is better than I anticipated, Robert!
That shrine-grotto is incredible.
Thanks Kiwi, Weaver & Ruth, as always, for your visits to my blog.
Post a Comment