BobM
Veteran Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- V Frances; V Podensis; V Francigena; V Portugues; V Francigena del Sud; Jakobsweg. Jaffa - Jerusalem
It was a memorable day when I went into a pilgrim's equipment shop in St Jean Pied de Port several years ago, having just finished the Le Puy route.
I got into discussion with the owner, an experienced long-distance walker, who reached into a pile of books after we had chatted for a while and brought out the Lightfoot Guide to the Via Francigena - which he planned to walk the following year.
That was my first introduction to the VF, and what an eye-opener it was! So people really do walk these incredible distances. Could I do it?
Anyway, the thought of walking the VF nagged at me for a year or two, but I always found some pathetic excuse not to start.
The excuses ran out last year, and I walked the Canterbury - Besancon section of the VF. There is an interminably long Topic about it in this forum.
It was not so bad! I survived the heatwave. I met several wonderful owners of gites and other places to stay.
So, I will be walking another section this year, starting in Besancon on June 19 and probably finishing in Vercelli a few weeks later.
I have vowed that the final section to Rome in 2014 will be the last of these long walks, but already there is the faint whisper of Jerusalem in my mind. It is obsessive craziness!
If only I had never gone into that shop in SJPDP.
Rgds
Bob M
I got into discussion with the owner, an experienced long-distance walker, who reached into a pile of books after we had chatted for a while and brought out the Lightfoot Guide to the Via Francigena - which he planned to walk the following year.
That was my first introduction to the VF, and what an eye-opener it was! So people really do walk these incredible distances. Could I do it?
Anyway, the thought of walking the VF nagged at me for a year or two, but I always found some pathetic excuse not to start.
The excuses ran out last year, and I walked the Canterbury - Besancon section of the VF. There is an interminably long Topic about it in this forum.
It was not so bad! I survived the heatwave. I met several wonderful owners of gites and other places to stay.
So, I will be walking another section this year, starting in Besancon on June 19 and probably finishing in Vercelli a few weeks later.
I have vowed that the final section to Rome in 2014 will be the last of these long walks, but already there is the faint whisper of Jerusalem in my mind. It is obsessive craziness!
If only I had never gone into that shop in SJPDP.
Rgds
Bob M