July 8, 2019 'So don't look!'

So as a recap, the night before I had arrived in Le Sauvage, bunked in a room with three older ladies and somehow without realizeing it, by this point, only three days since leaving Le Puy en Velay I was now part of a group. When researching the Camino I had heard about the great relationships that would happen on the walk. I had heard that 'the Camino would provide' and that memories of some people that I would meet would stick with me for a lifetime. I have to admit that all of that is true, however not as I had expected nor did I realize that it was happening at the time. I tend to get along with most people but although I can lead large groups of people I am essentially an introvert or rather an 'outgoing introvert'and I've never EVER been the 'cool' person to hang out with. Never once on the Camino did I feel lonely or frightened walking by myself for hours on end. Never once did I worry about finding a place to stay or deciding on my route for the day. I did however worry about what to do when I was with a group of people. In Le Puy I felt embarrassed when I served myself at dinner when the custom seemed to be to serve others first before yourself. I became flustered and unsettled for the rest of the dinner. Here though in Le Sauvage, I had a lovely time with members of 'my group' who were: young Dylan who was studying music in Holland, young and gorgeous Fanny from Paris, energetic Andree Ann from Montreal, fun loving Caroline from Belgium, 'cool' professional hiker Jean Luc from France, kind and intellectual Balasz and Eszter from Budapest and serene and wise Laure, the Carmelite nun who was actually already a few kilometres ahead of us.

During dinner, that evening, as a group we had decided that we would walk to Aumont Aubrac the next day which I had learned was a good 28kms away. Caroline, whose feet were already full of blisters had decided to transfer much of the contents of her backpack to our next destination by Malle Poste, which is a transfer system set up specifically for trekkers and pilgrims to use as need be. After only three days of walking I was not confident that I could walk 28 kms with my backpack and thought that I should take advantage of Caroline's knowledge and advice to ship a large portion of our supplies to our next destination. What we had decided to do was put our precious supplies to be shipped into garbage bags tied with bungee cords to which we attached the Malle Poste labels with the destination to where we were headed. I have to tell you on a side note that the bungee cords that I threw into my backpack at the last moment were invaluable. Now, leaving most of your worldly possessions in a black garbage bag with a label in another language, hoping that they would arrive safely, and that YOU would arrive safely at the future destination is a testament of faith in and of itself but first thing in the early morning on July 8th that was exactly what we did so that we could walk the 28 km to Aumont Aubrac with minimal weight in my beautiful backpack. I brought the bare essentials including my hydration bladder.

Long story short, it worked perfectly

Malle Poste envelope with money (I think 5 euros) for the courier. Caroline had abandoned her walking shoes and so used a shoelace to fasten the envelope to the bag.

The shell - symbol of the Camino at Chapel St Roche

While walking Caroline, Dylan, Fanny and I arrived together at a small Chapel Saint Roche where we met our friends from Budapest Balasz and Eszter. It was the first time that I would sing the tradition song of the pilgrimage 'Ultreia'. Balasz gathered us together, pulled out the lyrics on his cell phone and we learned this song on the spot in front of the chapel.

I asked fun loving Caroline to take a photo of me... it became a tiny video. This is an example of some of the fun moments that I had.

St. Alban Church

The first part of the walk today took us through La Lauzere which happens to be the region in France where my husbands family has roots in, specifically the village of La Roche. It was wonderful to slowly walk through this historical land of Joan of Arc and Templar knights. My husband Mark, who ended up becoming my camino researcher while I walked, informed me that some parts of St. Alban Church date back to the 1100's. I am so grateful for these photos. In all honesty when I was traveling so slowly through these beautiful villages step by step it was easy to imagine that I would remember what I was seeing forever. Step step step, look up - stone church, step step step - still stone church, step step step - still stone church, step step step enter stone church... Seeing these photos jog so many memories. I was also grateful that all of this technology was in one item, my phone which was also my map, my camera and my source of communication back home. There are many opinions on the various Camino forums about whether to travel off grid or not and my opinion is simply to do what you want. If you get lost while off grid someone will help you. However I was very happy to have my phone as a tool during my trek. In France I used the Miam Miam Do Do app and in Spain I used the Camino Companion app as guides and for information regarding accommodations, elevations and distances. I loved both of them. I believe each year Camino apps are created and older ones are improved and updated with pertinent information so look around and see which one you like best. They are probably all pretty good.

Along the way, I think in either St. Alban Limagnole or Estret we caught up to our fellow pilgrim Andree Ann.

By this time young Fanny and Dylan had zipped ahead of us and Caroline, Andree Ann and I became a three-some happily walking through little villages, in and out of lovely little forests and farmland. As the day wore on we stopped along the edge of village after purchasing some fruit and cheese at a rather modern little gas station/convenience store for a bit of lunch.

Periodically along the route we would see the Chemin de St Jacque symbol encouraging us forward and confirming that we were going the right way. The red and white striped symbol might be on a building, on the road, on a rock or on a tree. Before walking on the Camino I worried that I would not be able to find these symbols and indeed some of them are very very small, but oddly I became atuned to seeing them. While walking so slowly I was constantly scanning my environment looking for them. That being said there were a few times that I did miss the symbol (and this happens to everyone). These are frustrating moments. There is nothing as disappointing as having to walk back for half an hour to find the correct path. But more on that later. Today the paths for the most part were lovely, I shared good company with 'fun-loving Caroline' and 'chatty opinionated, effervescent and a little bossy Andree Ann'. After we ate our lunch and were starting through a lovely little forested area I thought I should slow down a bit because....was it true? 'oh lord I think I am getting a blister on my right baby toe'. I didn't want to slow down Andree Ann who walked like an Olympic athlete compared to me and Caroline was also a seasoned hiker, so I told them both to go on ahead and that I was going to slow down for a bit. Andree Ann stopped, took a good look at me and said 'Pourquoi?' I mentioned as casually as I could that I thought I might have 'une ampoule'. Well! Suddenly Andree Ann sprang into action. My french is pretty good but she reacted and spoke so quickly that I only understood a few words as she whipped out a sarang as a blanket, threw it onto the forest floor and I'm sure I heard her say something like ' we must do the operation' She spoke in full speed Quebecois and before I knew it my backpack was off, I was sitting on the sarang, my boot and sock were being pulled off, she had a needle, thread, compeed, and disinfectant swabs out of her backpack, examined my toe, swabbed the needle with the disinfectant wipe and I thought, 'holy shit, she's going to put a needle through my blister'. Now, something you need to know. This was absolutely the correct thing to do. I had read all about it throughout the year. I almost watched a few youtube videos on how to do it but the moment I would see the blister and needle on the screen I would turn the thing off and prayed that I would never have to deal with it. Also, I'm a fainter. I even passed out while watching Castaway when Tom Hanks was about to use his skate to knock out a tooth. 'Tom I'm going for help!" and woke up 20 minutes later. I'm not proud. And here I was, foot in the air in a stranger's palm with a needle fast approaching a tiny blister. I shreaked at Andree Ann "STOP, Andree Ann ARRETE!" She looked at me somewhat annoyed "What?" I hesitated then protested in desperate french "Andree-Ann I hate needles". She looked at me with a little distain and yelled "So don't look!" taking strong hold of my foot she proceeded with 'the operation'. I obeyed and looked the other way truly praying to Mother Mary that I would not pass out while this was happening. Seconds later it was done, it really didn't hurt and she did a marvelous job. I mean it felt better immediately, healed perfectly and never became infected. She did a truly marvelous job. She was a hero! I think I fell in love with her then and there. This woman who annoyed me in Le Puy and teased me a little about my snoring, and was constantly sharing her opinions about this and that was lovely, sensitive and kind. This was definitely one of those Camino blessings that one hears about. I think I still annoyed her now and then over the next week but she kept an eye out for me for the entirety of her time on The Camino. We keep in touch even now on social media and I chuckle as I see her climbing mountains and trekking through Quebec. Her energy knows no bounds and I am grateful for the gift she gave me that day. Andree-Ann is definitely 'cool'.

(Just a little fast forward, the next day I developed a blister on the baby toe of my left foot. That night I did not tell Andree Ann about it until I was well into performing 'the operation' on my own. We were all bunking in the same room again and I knew she would find out eventually so decided I had better deal with it... or else. Being a coward it tool me an hour to get the job done but done it was and truly it wasn't a big deal. When Andree-Ann saw what I was doing she asked if I needed any help. I said that I was fine. She chuckled and then said something akin to 'Good for you Christale'. The thing I wish I would have known is that actually the skin above the blister has no feeling. What 'the operation' involves in cleaning a needle and blistered area with disinfectant swabs, threading the needle with a little piece of thread, then essentially put a stitch through the blister. Then the blister and thread is covered by a special bandage called COMPEED. I think you can only purchase this product in Europe which is unfortunate because it is an amazing. Compeed comes in a variety of sizes and is designed specifically for blisters. It looks a little like one of the bandaids with antibacterial ointment in the centre that you can purchase in North America but the product acts a little differently. The centre of the COMPEED bandaid has a product that absorbs the liquid/puss from the blister which is slowly released by the thread incisions. The rest of the bandage seals the blistered area from infection. You do not remove the compeed bandage until it essentially is ready to fall off on its own which takes about 6 days. When it is removed essentially the toe is completely healed. The dead blistered skin leaves with the old compeed bandage and your toe is as good as new. But one thing that I did learn by Day 4 was which toes were rubbing against each other. For the next month I would wrap these toes, or any other toe that was rubbed against another toe with a special bandage I purchased at a sports clinic in Winnipeg called Hypafix. This is a product that I highly recommend. It is a very light adhesive bandage on a roll that you can cut to size. Since I was walking for two months I brought the entire roll with me. As it turned out I really didn't need that much but I was able to share some with many suffering pilgrims along the way and after these two blisters I started bandaging multiple toes each day for at least the next five weeks. I never did have another blister.

By the way I was going to insert a youtube link on how to deal with a blister with needle and thread but I still can't do it. There are lots out there if you need to see it on video...yuck.

Above is the little package I had in my daypack that I could easily access at a moments notice. It comprised of blister treatment supplies, and medication for diarea should I have eaten something bad. Fortunately that never happened along my Camino.

Andree Ann heading up the hill. Difficult to tell the incline but if you look closely you can see her leaning into the hill and in front of her you will get an idea of the rock that you clamber over at times. Also you can get a bit of an idea of the incline in comparison to the car on the right. It certainly wasn't as bad a the climb over the mountains to Saugues but it took effort.

The rest of the day proceeded well. Andree Ann had zipped ahead of Caroline and I who had a lovely walk together for the next 4 hours, which became 5 hours and then 6 hours. Right! We were needing to walk 28kms to get to Le Ferme du Barry close by Aumont Aubrac.

We passed Les Estret and La Truyere, we passed some ornate and some simple crucifixes all along le Chemin de St Jacques which made me concious of the power and presence of catholocism in the middle ages for good and for bad. It intrigued me how they still stood quietly yet proudly on guard along le chemin. Were they there to guide the pilgrims and knights of the past? Did they simply mark territory? Did Joan of Arc walk by some of these? Did my son notice this one when he walked by five years earlier? Caroline and I walked and talked and sometimes simply walked in silence.

Caroline walking through Les Estret

Lovely cross at the entrance of Aumont Aubrac

Finally we found the sign saying that we were only 2.5 km away from Aumont Aubrac!

I have to tell you that this felt like the longest 2.5 km I had every walked. I was so grateful that Caroline had suggested that we have much of our supplies tranfered by Malle Poste because after walking for 10 hours, and I mean walking for 10 hours I was truly ready to get off my feet.

Now when we finally arrived...there are no words to describe how wonderful it was to stay in this beautiful gite!

https://ferme-du-barry.com/

Save for the meal at Mark's cousin's a couple of weeks later in Montcuq the meal at Le Ferme Du Barry was I think one of the best that I had in France with the house specialty potato and cheese dish, meat, dessert,and wine. I can still taste it. With all of my adventures, today had been a good day, and this was only Day 4! I spent the night again with Andree Ann and Caroline. Before heading off the sleep I told them that since we were now 'soeur de la chemin' they had to give me a little poke if I snored because I wanted them to have a good sleep, we laughed and then the lights were turned off.

The incredible Ferme du Barry

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/journey-for-body-and-soul_b_666756

NOTES HOME

Mark Kolt: Neat hearing the conversation. The landscape shots are beautiful. And that place you stayed at in Le Sauvage definitely has military roots.

Richard Klapecki (my Dad): Hi. Enjoy all pictures and comments. Katryn called Brandon yesterday from Kenora! Apparently arriving WPG today. Cecilia called. The plan is to have supper tonight at Resto Gare with Julian, Cecilia, Katryn, Brandon and me. As you know it's Julian's birthday this week so it will be kind of a birthday supper.

Alternately having fun and frustration with google maps following your trail. Have fun take care lol.

Me: That will be so wonderful! Keep me in the loop. I made it to Aumont Aubrac....28km am exhausted heading off to bed. But really proud that I made it! Am sitting in a window sill... only place with internet right now.

First bliser, Andree-Ann took things in hand and we did the needle string thing through the blister....eesh.... then with a medicated bandaid. Did this in the forest. Feels better.

Staying at Le Ferme Du Barry in Aumont Aubrac. Next to Nasbinal.

Route today was: Le Sauvage, Le Chapel St. Roche where we sang the song Urteia, Le Roughet, St. Alban sur Limagnole, La Limagnole, Les Estret, Aumount-Aubrac

Richard Klapecki: It's absolutely amazing. I typed in Le Ferme du Barry in google maps and there it was. Outside it says Resto Salon de The. To help the non french it even translates to BARRY FARM. Who would have guessed. It seems its much more understandable for les anglais if it is capitlaized. Did you change your mind re: backpack? Earlier you said you were going to send it ahead. Yet a picture of you standing beside the St. Roche cairn you seem to have it. Le Ferme Du Barry has a very big site both exterior and interior views. Very highclass I think.