Pilgrim's Progress – Long Distance Walks in Europe and the UK

There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.

Julius Caesar – William Shakespeare

I headed out from Fagairolles shortly after 6.30am and retraced my steps back up to the Col de Ginestet to rejoin the Chemin d’Arles.

The landscape had subtly changed – cow bells, lush pasture and ferns had replaced the garrigue of the previous few days. A couple of red kites circled in the sky above. It almost felt as if I was walking in mid Devon.

As I madr my way through the little village of Murat-sur-Vèbre I stopped in front of the memorial to the villagers who lost their lives during the Great War. I noted the names of five sets of brothers – a grim reminder of the tragic impact of war on small ryral communties

En route to Villelongue I met another pilgrim, a Canadian from Quebec. He’d started in Arles and planned to walk all the way to the Col Somport in the Pyrenees.

Villelongue stood at the head of a large lake which was about two thirds full of water. It could have been somewhere in Scotland except the place was mercifully free of mozzies, midges and clegs!

At Villelongue I sat down at a table outside the church to eat my lunch. Before long I was joined by two ladies who were spending a few days walking together. Both were from Toulouse and had worked together in a crèche. It turned out that they both sang in choir in Toulouse. They mentioned that Purcell was one of their favourite composers.

As I headed towards Salvetat-sur-l’Agout I met another walker – Felix, a 25 year old student from Hamburg who was doing an MA in media studies and taking a bit of time off to clear his head and work out what to do with his life.

We got chatting and I told him a little bit about my life. He asked me for some advice about how to succeed in life. A good question to which I wished I had the answer. Can you make your own luck or is fortune completely random or is there a maker who ‘shapes our ends rough hew them how we will’? The only advice I could give was to follow your passion, remain ever curious and never be afraid to take risks and move out of your comfort zone.

We parted ways at La Salvetat sur l’Agout and I headed off to a campsite at Bouldouïres on the edge of a lake. The campsite seemed pretty deserted – the snack bar had closed for the season, nobody was playing tennus or using the pool.

After polishing off a couple of tins of mackerel I was still feeling fairly peckish so I headed off down to the hotel by the lake to see if I could get a bite to eat. When I got there who should I find eating at a table outside but the two ladies I’d met at lunch at Villelongue. It turned out they were staying in the hotel. Sadly the hotel weren’t serving any meals but the two ladies (Mary Elaine and Brigitte) kindly invited me to share their supper with them. We spent an enjoyable few hours chatting away about life in France and the challenges facing the younger generation.

As the sun set over the lake I reflected on the pleasure of randomly meeting strangers on the road and hearing their stories. Variety is the spice of life as the old saying goes. On a pilgrimage, you never quite know what’s around the corner. what the next day will bring.