Berlioz And Jongkind

Bidding goodbye to Roland and Elizabeth, I regained the Way - which headed first through woods then along country roads. Suddenly out of the mist came a procession of grey-clad nuns, their leader carrying a large cross. It was surreal - like a scene from some Bunuel film. I greeted them, and they smiled timidly, but said not a word. Perhaps they were a little shy of talking to a tall, unshaven stranger? In the fog I must have seemed like a startling apparition to them. Later someone told me that they were completely lost! I wonder if they had been trying to get to Rome which, according to this sign, was only 0.2 km away...

By noon the sun was blazing down again, and I had a beer in the attractive, typically French commune of Le Grand Lemps. It was market day and the streets bustled with life. I love French markets, so I spent quite a long time there soaking up the atmosphere and buying some bits and pieces for lunch. At a cheese stall I pointed to a small round of local cheese. 'I'll take that one,' I said. The stall owner - a bohemian-looking girl with nose studs and long, braided hair - asked if I was a pilgrim. When I said yes, she insisted I took the cheese without payment...

This sign on the road out of Le Grand Lemps reminded me that the famous composer Hector Berlioz was born in La Côte-St-André, my day's destination...

This is the approach to La Côte-St-André. You turn left at the castle on the hill and approach the town through a maze of stone staircases and alleyways and these formal gardens until you emerge at an old, timber-framed market hall...

This lovely hotel, the Hôtel de France, was beyond my budget, so I stayed at the cheaper, delightfully eccentric, pilgrim-friendly Hôtel de l'Europe instead...

La Côte-St-André was the home of Dutch painter Johan Jongkind. He died here and lies buried in the cemetery. Jongkind was a forerunner of Impressionism and influenced Claude Monet...