California to Jerusalem
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Walk every step in peace. |
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After a bit more than three months in the US and Germany we returned to Arles to continue our pilgrimage walk. This time we are walking without our cart. We left it in Germany so we could walk on smaller and rougher paths. Besides the roads have been too narrow for the carts and rumor was they were going to become more difficult.  Some of the shops around the Roman Amphitheater in Arles. 1 Oct 10.  Petra takes a rest as we pass through a field east of Arles on our first day back on the road. 1 Oct 10.  Vegetables for sale in a store. 2 Oct 10.  Mountains east of Aix in Provance. 5 Oct 10.  These mountains are a few kilometers more easterly. Geologically they are quite interesting. They are not only tilted almost vertically but also folded in a great right turning arch from top to where we are. And then the softer alternate layers have eroded away leaving harder upstanding stones almost like stone walls. 5 Oct 10.  Mountains, grapes, and our first Camino sign in this area. It's the little thing on the post below the main sign. 6 Oct 10.  The ruins of Abbaye Saint Hilaire are hidden in morning fog. The night before we were headed for an Abbaye Saint Hilaire where we were going to stay for the night. We thought it was a true abbey since it was on our maps. So when we got here we walked around and realized it was not occupied save by some rodents and other small mammals. Our Abbaye turned out to be a inexpensive and clean hostel on a vineyard. They even made us some sandwiches since their restaurant was closed and the closest place was a too distant several kilometers. We had a very pleasant stay, alone in a place with room for ten or fifteen in two-person rooms. Being alone gave Petra the license to find the breaker and turn off the noisy ventilation for the entire place. We had the window open for our ventilation. 7 Oct 10.  Hundreds of webs like this one hung bejeweled by the morning moisture as we walked this morning. 7 Oct 10.  This goat was very interested in Petra as she passed. I missed the picture of him almost kissing her as they went nose to nose saying hello. 7 Oct 10.  This was our guiding sign for this part of the Camino. This one is on a power pole. They were quite well placed as long as they were with us. And they seemed to be as well placed for those of us walking toward Rome as those walking to Santiago. The paint was fresh enough that they could have been painted only a few weeks or days before we passed. They were with us for quite some time. 10 Oct 10.  This has little to do with our walk except that it is something we saw in passing. We often glance at real estate advertisements as we pass them. In this part of the country, prices were high. But this is a bit wild. Look at the picture of the house--it looks like a shack; The lawn is a mess; the scraggly palm tree hasn't been trimmed in months and that says nothing of the tree on the right. Is this the best picture they could take for a 489,000 euro (a whapping $685,000) home? It does not look to me like a "manifique villa" as it says in the description. 11 Oct 10.  A ridge of rocks east of Le Muy in the morning sun. 12 Oct 10.  A crazy-quilt pattern of houses on a hillside in Menton. It's all topped by the golden dome of some church. 17 Oct 10.  The cost looking east in Menton. The cliffs are actually at the border and mostly in Italy. I like the palm trees.17 Oct 10.  A plaque in Menton announcing that you are standing on the Rome-Santiago Chemin de St. Jacque, the Way of St. James, the Camino. We were a long 1,890 kilometers (1,167 miles) from Santiago--we had covered ground to get here. And there were only 750 kilometers (467 miles) left to Rome. GR 653A is the French name for this walking path when it is disassociated from the Camino. 17 Oct 10.  So we decided to stand for our picture here too. Just ten days later Petra slipped on the path south of Sestri Levante and broke her leg. She is standing strong on that left leg here. 17 Oct 10. Copyright © 2010-2012 Mike Metras, www.PilgrimageCreations.com | |