I woke around seven and tried to pack up quietly so as not to disturb my friend, but she seemed to sleep soundly, it was her day off. I went back into town in hopes that at least one cafe was open, and I was in luck, there was... so I had the requisite coffee before hitting the road. I had my instructions on how to leave the town and what markers to follow and which to ignore, so I got out of town without getting lost... and as I had been warned the trail went up into the hills ..but the trail was wide enough and the grade was not too steep for someone with a back pack (unlike some of the trails I had taken in Italy)...i went slowly up... this being the first time in three days of starting to hike again on healing feet... I also took frequent breaks.. I had almost too much food today but I took my elderly friends advise and snacked each time I stopped to keep my strength.. the sky was grey, with threatening clouds, but with the exception of very fine rain here and there it, did not ever get raining hard... but it was humid enough to build a sweet. The landscape was pretty, forested with grey cliffs accenting the landscape... near the top I met the only hikers of the day... two german girls from Freiburg, with much lighter packs and faster gait, they were just walking 15 days of the walk...the tall red head said in german, isn't it wonderful to get across this landscape totally by your own power? she had great energy, i could only agree mildly still feeling uncertain of my own powers.. Then I was alone again... the trail took a very slow descend first on a dirt road which was also used by the water company... a man in a truck drove by, he did not speak english but still wanted to know my country of origin, and when he found out I was traveling solo, he seemed surprised.. then on I went.. the trail went off this road to narrower walking trails with quite sharp rocks so it hurt my still tender feet and I had to take the descend slower than I would have liked. I passed rock walls with signs saying that this was prehistoric settlements.. and then an interesting castle wall ruin...i saw small villages in the valley bellow.. again the GR trail for pilgrims did not lead through the towns but outside of them...so if there was any profit to be made on pilgrims, with coffee or water or food, this was safely avoided at the loss of both village and pilgrim... me and the italian had both wondered at this oversight. I went through a village called Montepeyrouy, it was beginning to drizzle rain, a woman jumped out of her car and asked me if I needed a Gite, but I did not know what she meant, I thanked her but said no.. I did try and find an open cafe but after going opposite direction of the trail for half a km I just assumed this town did not have much.. so I headed back to the trail and continued walking.. the town Aboras was suppose to be only 15kms from the start of my walk this day, but it seemed like a very long 15kms... since this was my first day back to pilgrimage I was a bit anxious about how hard I was finding it..i came to a bridge which went over a revine it had a trail marker for the Compestelle only 1474kms left to go! I wondered how many ions that would take me... then I climbed up into a small village, I was not sure..but as I went through it at the end of it I saw the sign for the town this was Aboras... so I headed back into it... having forgotten the information from the day before I mistakenly thought this was the town with two hotels... as I headed back through a man called for me, I turned around he was on a cell phone so it was not clear he meant me.. I pointed at myself..still not clear so I walked towards him..he spoke to me in french... and I said the usual pardon, I dont speak french, in french... he asked me in french if I was a St Jaques pilgrim, I said yes... he then took a moment of silence...it was clear he was pulling internal resources together to focus his energy but I was not sure to what end...it turned out he was trying to pull out rusty english just for me... he asked “are you in need?”, what a question! I asked if there was an aulberg or hotel here.. he said no, I made the international symbol for sleep two hands together against my head.. and asked where? He said come with me... he brought me to a building I had passed with the word Mairie on it..so town municple building, he then used the german word and explained to me he was the Burgermeister of this town.. he brought me into a big room bellow the Mairie, it looked like it had formerly been a ladder with meat hooks now it looked like a converted meeting room with modern windows and fairly clean, he said I could sleep here.. I though he meant on one of the tables..why not..then he showed me were the toilet and a sink was, he warned 'no warm water' and showed me a closet with a giant foam piece the size of a mattress I could use that for my bed. He asked if I needed anything else.. the town also had no shops..he asked me if I need food or had enough..he seemed a little reluctant at this point.. I assured him I had enough food..which I did thanks to my friend from yesterday.. so I decided instead of going back four kms...or trying to walk another 11kms or so forward... that I would spend the night here... good decision too, because it started pouring..after he had given me the small tour he was done with me and went back to being a burgermeister in the offices above... I took a cold-water sink shower as best as I could and had myself a picnic, it was late afternoon.. I journaled etc... then a cat came in and kind of took over.. I had had a dream that morning of me walking down a narrow street in a village and two perky tail-in-air cats walking ahead of me, I saw this as a good omen to start to walk as pilgrim again..and in fact that morning I did see a cat walk in front of me in narrow lanes of the village, but more in a slinking manner non the less there was something satisfying about having reality mirror the dream...but the cat this evening was like the perky one in the dream...she was inquisitive and affectionate.. and made herself quite comfortable on my bed...also she would periodically come up for petting ..and pretty much walk all over me... she would be my companion through out the rain until my bed time... then she started crying for food which I did not have... it had mostly stopped raining so with a little guilt I had to kick her out so she could find her owner and some cat food..she was well kept and had a collar so I am sure she would find what she needed... I actually slept surprisingly well in the room with meat hooks..
No comments:
Post a Comment