Next Steps

I was walking again the Via Podiensis, that outstandingly beautiful pilgrim path which runs diagonally for nearly 750 km across south-west France from Le Puy-en-Velay in the Auvergne to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port near the Spanish border. This time, however, I only had two weeks, and I quit at Limogne after completing 300 km. But I can honestly say that most every day was a blessing, and most every stride was a footstep of love.

The weather was kind in the end: rarely did I have to put on my rainshell, and the majority of days were warm, even hot. I'd walked all my former Caminos during the autumn and winter months — a time I preferred, as I liked the solitude of the path in those seasons. Walking a springtime Camino was a first for me. And I loved it. Although there were many more pilgrims — at least until Conques — the wild flowers, the burgeoning of leaf and bud, the clarity and translucence of the air were a revelation...

    

That first day, the Sunday, I followed a high rocky pathway above the gorge of the Gazelle, a river as lovely as its name...

I ate my picnic lunch in the shade of the 12th-century church tower at Saint-Christophe-sur-Dolaison, then continued along old and waterlogged trackways between the tiny hamlets of Liac and Lic...

Before long I'd reached the Chapelle Saint-Roch, which I clearly remembered from my first Camino...

My first night was spent in La Grange, an excellent new gîte d'étape in Montbonnet. After five years I discovered this time many more gîtes, auberges and herbergements along the route. Presumably to cope with demand, as each year these pilgrim ways become more and more popular. This was the view from the huge panoramic window of the gîte...

Not bad, don't you think? A small group of us — Australian, French, Swiss, me the sole English person as ever — had dinner in front of this stunning backdrop. And later in the evening we watched on TV François Hollande being elected the 24th President of the French Republic...