Getting High At Last

Another short tram-and-bus ride brought me through Montpellier's western suburbs to Grabels. From the river I climbed steeply up through pinewoods to an open limestone plateau. I followed a line of electricity pylons across a landscape of low, scrubby, grey-green plants (cistus, sage, thyme, juniper and stunted oaks). This was the garrigue - a landscape typical of the French Mediterranean, where heat-tolerant, lime-loving plants scrape an existence on ground long eroded by deforestation and grazing sheep.

After losing the path for a while (I often did this - the Chemin d'Arles isn't as well marked as the Le Puy route) I followed the road to Montarnaud where I spent the night. I was lucky to find any accommodation there at all. I'd almost given up when I met up again with Reiner, the German pilgrim. He kindly invited me to share a room he had found chez M. et Mme. Gallière.

The next day the Way led via Aniane (I had a picnic lunch on the church steps) to The Devil's Bridge (Le Pont du Diable), a popular tourist spot, then followed a main road road along a river gorge to the historic and most attractive village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. Saint-Guilhem was planned by Guilhem, grandson of Charles Martel (who halted the Moorish expansion into Europe at the Battle of Poitiers - also known as the Battle of Tours - in 732, and who also founded the Carolingian Empire) and cousin to Charlemagne (747-814), King of the Franks and the first Holy Roman Emperor. This photo was taken from the centre of the square:

And these are the cloisters of the abbey church... In the early evening, after the day-trippers had reboarded their coaches, it was a very peaceful and special place indeed:

Saint-Guilhem lies spectacularly placed at the head of a bowl-shaped valley or cirque at the foot of Haut-Languedoc's high limestone massif. This vast limestone plateau, intersected with gorges and ravines scored deep into the rock, is also known as the causse. In the morning I climbed in zig-zag fashion one wall of the cirque to the heights above, and stayed high for at least 15 km. The views were certainly not disappointing:

What a wonderful day's walking. I wish I were back there now. Not a soul to be seen - except Francis from Barcelona, my pilgrim companion for the day, and the occasional cyclist. Here's another typical vista:

That evening, in Saint-Jean-de-la Blaquière, the gîte was full, but the owners of Le Snack-Bar put me up, and charged me not a euro. And in Le Snack-Bar a pleasant evening was had by all - though I only ordered tripe sausage (andouillette) because I did not realise it was tripe sausage. And I only ate it because I was I was VERY hungry. The photo shows from left to right: Susan and Ralph from the US, Francis from Spain and Reiner from Germany.

Roland's Horn

Roncevalles (Ronceveaux in French) is famous for the Battle of Roncevalles Pass - especially for the rather embellished and distorted legend it became, as recounted in the Song of Roland (La Chanson de Roland), the oldest work in French literature.

On 15 August 778 Charlemagne (742/747-814), King of the Franks, was returning to his Frankish kingdom over the Pyrenees from Spain, when the rearguard of his army was opportunistically attacked, slaughtered and robbed at Roncesvalles Pass by native Basques. This was the worst defeat of Charlemagne's reign. Among these unfortunate soldiers was a certain Hrodland, Prefect of the Breton Marches.

However the epic chronicler of the Song of Roland has airbrushed history somewhat in order to retrieve Frankish pride and to accord with a growing sense of Frankish Christian national identity. Hrodland has turned into Roland, Charlemagne's nephew; the Basques have become the Saracens; and this time Charlemagne heads back to Spain to avenge the death of his knights.

In the Chanson 400,000 infidel Saracens ambush the small band left behind to guard the pass. Roland, with his trusty sword, Durandal, and his men fight heroically but are impossibly outnumbered. Charlemagne has told Roland to summon him back if in trouble by blowing his horn. This Roland refrains from doing until only a few of his brave knights remain alive. When he does finally put the horn to his lips birds fall from the trees, the ground shakes, chimneys topple down from houses, and people cry out from the pain in their ears. Charlemagne turns back but it's too late for all have perished.

The Song of Roland exists in various different manuscript sources, the earliest version being the Oxford manuscript dated somewhere between 1140 and 1170. It's an example of a chanson de geste, a literary form of epic poetry telling heroic deeds, written between the 11th and 15th centuries. Lines of early chansons de geste have assonantal endings, but later poems are fully rhymed.

Charlemagne is a pivotal figure in European history. He's considered the founding father of France and Germany. Indeed he was instrumental in christianizing and unifying the whole of Europe. He turned the Frankish kingdom into a Frankish empire, and, having conquered Italy, was crowned Emperor by the Pope.