This brief post is a summary of some more practical aspects of the walk, to contrast with my philosophical ramblings up to now. The...

Ten kilos or less of pack burden, to save the poor mule’s back This mule, however, is willing and able to start the 500 mile track...

The Chemin takes you out of the cycle of everyday life – your family, your work, your social circle. It replaces this with an experience...

God smiled on this pilgrim as he climbed the Pyrenee Each twist and turn did open sun-blessed vistas, him to see In pure elation did he...

Although the wispy Frenchman has set a fire alarm Although the cheese’s churning makes a nuisance of the calm My feet light over paths...

The Basque-ish welcome offered by the tractor man is harsh His angry fists and angry stick do stop a pilgrim’s march Ostabat historical,...

The jaunty red / white properties belie a trend I see Of slightly offish company: the Basque are hard to read Do they not like strangers...

The fortress is a bastion of culture, food and sport A place where pilgrims congregate, their journey to report And meetings...

Never let the moaners tell you France gets nothing done A stake in local culture and the Frenchie motor hums The planet’s biggest tourist...

Intergenerational appreciation club Desk-bound or vocational, along the pilgrims rub Insistent quizzing makes us all want other than the...

The fleeting views of snow-topped peaks make aches and pains worthwhile The end in sight, our destination closer by the mile Pilgrims’...

Half a dozen pilgrims, heads yet held up high In taking public transport they hardly bat an eye And in the rest day showing all their...

Little Simon whoopsie-daisy landing on his bum His walking partners snigger, seem to find the whole thing rum And when the gazelle...

’Tis long the green way in, and a tunnel tree-lined straight It happens not to turn into a happy bouncing gait The monotone of plodding,...

Moissac’s mud be damned, petty Castet, Miradoux ’Tis only reaching Condom where you’re turbid through and through The athletes dressed in...

Turns out we’re not exclusive on eccentricity The French have got collectors, their wares displayed for free Museum left behind me, my...

With Dylan’s black a virtue, the Chemin full of mud While waiting Albert’s phone call, while clouds did chill my blood I slip-slid into...

Some may like the dullness of straightforward clean concrete But though we’ve suffered the mud-ness, I prefer soft under feet While...

The Way reminds us of Flanders: the fields, not songster with Swann (Though they wrote a glorious ditty of blood-cooling, wallowing fun)...

The fleeting encounters delight us, for contemporaneously Are such meetings deep and rewarding, in binding the community For pilgrims and...