12-05-2018
Walked 26.6 km, 5 hours 59 minutes
Ascent: 582 meters
Descend: 574 meters
Kilometers to be traveled: 917.9
The first walking day is always getting used to, I think, even now afterwards, when I think back, now that I am back in the Netherlands for a few months. Yes that first day, now that I think back, it starts to itch again. The adventure started long ago with the gathering of information, the purchase of equipment and the practice tours, but now, now you are leaving for the unknown. The ultimate goal is well known, that is Santiago dC, but this day …. the road and roads.
After breakfast, croissants, coffee, gravy and baguette, the trip can finally begin. By the way, this first day is the day that I last started (in terms of time) on a walking day. I have the route in French, a drawn map with information and the digital GPX route, but you have to interpret it all well and keep your mind there. I speak a little French but whether French will understand me? There will be times when you cannot ask someone for directions. Pay attention to the white / red signs of the GR route, but it does not pass through Lourdes, at least I did not find one.
Yesterday I looked at what time the pilgrim office opened, because I want to register as a pilgrim before I set off. Since I am on the early side, I am going to fill my bottle (one and a half liters) at the source, light another candle and walk along the wall. During my trip I will never try to drink the bottle completely empty, so that I always have some holy water with me.
On to the Pilgrim Office and to register, just specify the route I am going to walk on and where I will sleep my first night. It is dry when I start walking, but the sun cannot be seen. A cloud cover hangs over Lourdes. Now I immediately have to make a choice between what is on paper and what I have digitally (gpx). Since the text on paper is in French, following the gpx seems to be a better option. They are fairly similar, but the beginning differs. I do not walk directly to the river, but I pass the large church on the left. So go straight up a hill and countless will follow. Where I have doubts, I pick up the telephone and check the digital path. Oops, I missed 1 turn after 1 kilometer (luckily the only one this day). Up to the edge of the forest it was “dry”, but now it starts to drizzle a bit harder and it seems time for my beautiful orange raincoat / poncho. The biggest advantage is that I stand out well, the biggest disadvantage is that I sweat a lot.
A pilgrim meets me in the forest. He was on his way from Rome to Santiago, but after he arrived in Santiago, he was turned around again and on his way to Rome, still on foot. He left on January 1 with no money. Along the way he does odd jobs for food and shelter. It was not easy, now he had eaten little for a few days and did not expect to find much in Lourdes. He did not want to take anything from me, because he did not want to, because he could not give anything back. After our conversation a Buen Camino desired and continue the path.
After the forest, where my GPX has done its job well, you then end up on small roads and villages, until I come across a large sign on which the GR78 is indicated and written that it is a Jacobs route. Yes, now I can finally follow the white / red, the signage of the GRs that run throughout Europe. Sometimes you also come across a shell, but that is very little. Now that I can follow the white / red I can slowly turn off my GPX and only use my smartphone for taking pictures. It gives a good feeling that you now know that you are on the right track. Especially if there is a shell once.
The weather is not what you as a walker would choose, it stays drizzly all day, so you walk almost constantly with the raincoat on. Sometimes open to cool a little and to air. It stays pretty flat all the way to Lestelle Bétharram where I take a lunch break. Here I make a phone call to the hospice of the town of Asson, to see if there is still a place for me to sleep. In my best French agreed that I will call again when I have arrived at the church in Asson, she will also come to the church to guide me to the hospice.
After my lunch it goes up quite steeply, it’s a cross road that ends at a large chapel on top of the hill. All stations are shown in large pictures. A pity about the drizzly weather, with sunbeams it would probably look much nicer. Once at the top it goes quite flat again towards Asson, but we cannot take off the raincoat, it continues to receive blessings from above. At the edge of Asson, it is then half past two, where I come across the place name for the first time, I take a picture with Triple Jake (TJ) hanging on the board. I will try to repeat this every day, the places where I will spend the night.
Now on to the church and then call the hospice, so that I can get in on time and dry. The church is found quickly and the road to it is short. When I stand in front of the church I hear someone calling. I look around me, across the square and see a man further down standing by an open window and waving at me. Perhaps I can report there, after all I am registered as a pilgrim for an overnight stay. Once with him there is a conversation in broken English and fluent French on his part and stuttering French and fluent English on my part.
It is a strange “menneke” I think. He probably thinks that about me, but that doesn’t bother me again. If I understand everything correctly, he wants to offer me coffee, I don’t have to call yet, because he likes to talk to people. I stand outside, I also stand outside while he makes coffee. A weak cup turns out afterwards. We talk a little and at a certain point I want to say goodbye and call to go to a warm room. I manage to say goodbye and call. And after 10 minutes a woman arrives and she shows me the way to the room where I can spend the first “en route night”.
It is a house in a yard, on the first floor, the ground floor looks like a small room. Once upstairs I see a nice big room with a table and four chairs, a small kitchen and a bunk bed. Further down are a shower and
separate toilet. I will certainly not complain, because it looks really nice. 4 chairs and 1 bunk bed, so there are more places to sleep? At least I don’t see them. First the formalities, registration, stamping and payment. The overnight stay costs 10 euros and leaves the room before 9 am tomorrow. When I ask if I am the only pilgrim, there is a negative answer, another Frenchman will come later. There is no shop open in the village, but further down, about 600 meters, is a pizzeria with a small shop, where I can buy food or possibly eat a pizza.
When she’s gone again and I am left alone, I take a moment to hang up my wet coffee and switch on the small heater if I want to go dry again tomorrow. Now first also send a message home that I have arrived at my place to stay. Then rest a while and eat some crackers, then a warm shower. That feels great, a warm shower after a damp walking day. Put on dry clothes and call home and tell my story.
The hospice returns with my roommate, the Frenchman who will also spend the night here in Asson, luckily he speaks English very well, so we can communicate well with each other. If we are alone we get to know each other well, he has been on the road for quite a while and comes from a town in Brittany. His name is Jean Angot and he is 70 years old, an age that cannot be denied by his face. Since I have already installed myself on the lower bed, Jean will sleep upstairs. The fixed staircase is not so nice, so he uses a chair to make the “jump” up.
He is also going to hang his things for drying, stuff old newspapers in his shoes ….. Hey, I have to do that too, I want to go out again tomorrow with a pair of dry shoes. They were not thoroughly wet, but drying is recommended because tomorrow little will change in the weather. Jean takes a shower and make my blog for today and try to add my vlog too.
And now I have to think back to the movie “The Way”, which is also about the camino with Martin Sheen in the lead role. At some point they arrive at an alberge where a somewhat strange man welcomes them and is enthusiastic about his greeting. The man who had offered me a cup of coffee at the church also seemed to have a bit of that same character, a bit of an odd person, and while I thought he would be a kind of hospitalos.
When it is 6 o’clock, I tell Jean to go and see what there is to eat in this village, he is not hungry yet, normally he eats around 8 o’clock. But he would like it if I could report later. So put on my extra pair of shoes, put on a raincoat and look for that pizzeria. I have to go past that one man again, luckily he is not sitting in front of the window and I can walk further. I find the pizzeria on a kind of commercial square. Only the pizzeria, a doctor and a pharmacy.
In the pizzeria you have a counter where there are some croissants and baguettes and some patisserie. There is also a rack with some pre-packaged food for the forgotten groceries. There is a tap and a bar and of course a workbench and oven. I take a seat at a table and order a large beer and a pizza Calzone. It both tastes delicious, my first unofficial pilgrim menu. Some people come in and out and when I’m done I go to the checkout to pay. An Asian woman is now asking something in poor English and French, I don’t understand much of it. The woman from the pizzeria asks her if she is a pilgrim and she answers yes, then she points to me and says that I am also a pilgrim. That’s how the Asian and I start talking.
She is from South Korea and is called Valeria. She has been traveling from Arles for several weeks. Today she left Lourdes, just like me, but she did not find the route, and certainly not the GR78. She then walked back to Lourdes and traveled to Asson by train and bus. When I asked where she is sleeping, I had not seen her where I spend the night, she said in the church’s hospital. We walk in the same direction and I am amazed, she walks through the same gate where I got my place to stay earlier today. Only she does not walk to the house, but she has to enter a large iron door. Then you arrive in a kind of former garage with a few beds and chairs. It is very fresh. Toilet and shower are in the house where I sleep on the ground floor.
She tells a lot about her experiences so far and asks me which route I will follow and how I have walked this day. I still remember that I would report to Jean about the restaurant, so we walk to the room where Jean and I share everything. When Valeria comes up, her mouth falls open with astonishment at the luxury we have. She talks a bit with Jean and then comes the question if she can walk on to the next place with us tomorrow. Jean and I say that we are not walking together, we are walking separately and this is the first time we have met. Jean also prefers to walk alone. Wouldn’t I find it annoying if she walked with me, Valeria asks. It is only for a few days until she has more confidence to walk on her own again. I like it, but I am running my own pace, she will have to adjust to me. She finds that no problem. OK, then leave around 8 a.m. tomorrow? Agreed, leaving tomorrow morning for 8 hours. Tomorrow we spend the night with Father Pierre, who gives pilgrims shelter in his parsonage. I had already read earlier this year about ‘Frere Pierre’ in Arudy, so that seems to be a good point, it is about 24 km away.
She goes downstairs with Jean again, when Jean thinks it’s time to eat. I will continue with my blog and vlog, want to try to deal with this daily, even though you may have to relax and reflect on what you have experienced. And of course, digitization, but that will be difficult for someone from the digital workplace world. Of course, just calling home again, that is just part of it. I think it is already an achievement that during the day I was not busy with music or something with the smartphone, no only the first kilometers for the route and then only for the photos. I also used the actioncam, in its watertight housing, it must capture my adventure.
When Jean returns, we talk a little and then turn out the lights in time, so that we can get up fresh tomorrow and take the next leg.
Good night everyone…..
Accommodation: Parish house Notre Dame de Piemont Asson
