le Chemin d'Arles vers Saint Jacques de Compostelle

The latest adventure Starting in Arles on 2 April, we walked for 12 days through the Camargue, the vineyards and orchards of the Rhone valley, the gorges of the Herault, the heights and vast pine, oak and beech forests of the Haut Languedoc to Castres. Our guide book put the distance at 308 kilometres. A couple of times when we got lost and deviations to places to stay probably added a few kilometres to that. We found the walk much tougher than the Camino Frances from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago which we walked in April last year. This was partly due to the weather - mist, rain and snow - and partly due to the long daily stages - 25 to 30 kilometres - determined by places to stay. At Castres, about a third of the way from Arles to Puenta de la Reina, our original destination still 500 kilometres away - we decided because of the forecast for more bad weather to call it a day. perhaps we will return to walk the rest of the Chemin - from Castres, through Toulouse, Auch and the Somport pass to Puenta de la Reina some other day. Then again, perhaps not. Another day, another walk. For now we're back at home and planning the next adventure (not quite so strenuous perhaps!!). Meantime here are some photos.

1 April En route Granada-Arles

The start of our adventure. From Salobrena, Pete took us to Granada bus station where we took a coach, first to Madrid, and then to Arles - a 21-hour trip in all. Our travel companions were mostly French of North African origin returning to France. It was the first time we have travelled by coach for many, many years - an interesting experience. But the cheapest and quickest way to get from Salobrena to Arles.

2 April Arles

Arles has long been a stop on the pilgrim route between Rome and Santiago. The plaque marks the traditional start from Arles.

3 April Arles-St Gilles 21 kilometres

The clouds cleared and the sun shone as we crossed the Camargue. The path was mostly well waymarked with the red and white grand randonnee signs and, as we went on, often by the scallop shell of the Chemin de Compostelle. The welcome at the Pause Pelerin in St Giiles was wonderful. A great dinner - salad, lasagne, madeleines with strawberries and creme anglaise washed down with local red, rose and white wines - shared with our hosts and three Germans and one French pelerins. The rain began again in the evening and we retreated to a bar to write postcards.

4 April St Gilles-Aimargues 30 kilometers

5 April Aimargues-Vendargues 30 kilometres

One arch of a 13-arch bridge remains at the roman town of Ambrusson. Here we became quite lost as we had left the waymarked path to find accomodation for the previous night. Our hosts gave us directions to rejoin the path at the bridge but somehow we missed the signs and became hopelessly confused in a maze of on and off ramps to a major road. We did eventually rejoin the path and arrived in Vendargues to find the only hotel - where we had planned to spend the night - closed on a Sunday and the only bar serving no meals because of a bingo session. To our great delight, we met a French potter who let us her very comfortable gite for the night. It is right on the path and involved no lengthy detour. On exploring the town while waiting for the water to heat for a shower we found a pizza takeaway and a bakery for the next morning's croissants. All's well that ends well. She gave us each a pottery scallop when we left the following morning to catch a bus through Montpellier to save us pounding kilometres of city pavements.

6 April Vendargues-Aniane 25 kilometres

Lost again first thing this morning as we left the bus at Grabels. But we spied the path on the garrigue plateau and rejoined it fairly soon. In Aniane we found accommodation and food at a small hotel along with two Swiss, two Norwegians and two Dutch pelerins. The hotel owner was rather the worse for wear when we came to leave in the morning but not too rude to us as apparently he was to some of the others.

7 April Aniane-St Jean de la Blaquiere 32 kilometres

Today's walk along the Herault gorge through the medieval town of St Guilhem le Desert and up into the limestone causses is apparently spectacular in good weather. The rain started as we were walking through the gorge and as we made the hour-long zig-zag climb up out of St Guilhem we entered the clouds. We were soon soaked. Fortunately we found some rocks to shelter under for a bite to eat.

8 April St Jean de la Blaquiere-Lodeve 20 kilometres

We spent the night in the municipal gite in St Jean de la Blaquiere - comfortable but the hot water system for showers was not working so we made do with basin baths with hot water heated by kettle. Another rather wet day followed. Fortunately we had been able to dry out most of our clothes in front of the heaters in the hostel. The walk today was rather shorter but we still got pretty wet. In Lodeves we stayed at a B and B run by an English artist and his wife. Great dinner and breakfast.

9 April Lodeve-Lunas 25 kilometres

Sunshine for a while and so great views. In Lunas we stayed in a small auberge, the Hotel Gourmande, with a huge welcome. Shared a great dinner with the Swiss pelerins we had met previously and two others, a young Swiss and a Frenchman, both of whom were pounding along at 40 kilometres a day!!

10 April Lunas-St Gervais 29 kilometres

11 April Lunas-Murat sur Vebre 28 kilometres

Another wet day through the pine, chestnut, oak and beech forests of the Haut Languedoc. Lots of clear trout streams and waterfalls tumbling down steep hillsides, cowslips and violets. But this was the day when we began to question whether this really was fun - plodding through the persistent rain and low cloud that blotted out the views - wet and cold.

12 April Murat Sur Vebre-La Salvetat 22 kilometres in the snow

Easter Sunday I was amazed when I looked out of the window in the morning to check the weather to find that it was snowing! Hard! Our host had welcomed us to the gite the previous evening with a fresh baguette and had turned on all the heaters so that we could dry out soaking clothes and boots. When we asked if there were any shops he opened a store cupboard and invited us to take what we needed and leave the money in a tin. We dined hungrily on sausages and lentils, ratatuoille and local wine. In the morning as we were leaving our host appeared through the snow to warn us that it would be dangerous to take the path in the snow. It would be slippery and if we had an accident the mobile phone coverage was not good. We wondered what to do. The prospect of spending the day in the hostel was not very appealing so we decided to walk along the road to La Salvetat our next stop. The Swiss pelerins had stayed in a hotel a kilometre or so back and were also taking the road route so we followed in their footsteps until they drew ahead.