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

The point is, you see,” said Ford, “that there is no point in driving yourself mad trying to stop yourself going mad. You might just as well give in and save your sanity for later Douglas Adams – Life, the Universe and Everything. With my train from Saint Flour to Montauban not due to depart…

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옷깃만 스쳐도 인연이다 – every person you cross paths with in life, even a total stranger, carries a thread of fate. Korean Proverb My challenge for the day couldn’t have been simpler – walk 36km to St Flour and arrive there in time to buy a railway ticket back home on Saturday. Hopefully my boots,…

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No sex, no drugs, no wine, no womenNo fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it’s darkEveryone around me is a total strangerEveryone avoids me like a psyched Lone RangerEveryone That’s why I’m turning Japanese, I think I’m turning JapaneseI really think so Turning Japanese – The Vapors In 2002/3 I lived in Japan. It…

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Holy men? Holy cabbages! Holy bean-pods! What do they do but live and suck in sustenance and grow fat? The White Company – Arthur Conan Doyle You’ve probably all heard of Joan of Arc. In 1337, when Edward III, King of England, renounced his claim to the throne of France in favour of his cousin…

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The justice of God, always holy and always adorable, has allowed a ferocious beast to enter our midst, to become the plague of our countryside, and to strike fear into our hearts. Bishop of Gévaudan – 1764 sermon Today I walked across the Margueride (a rocky granite plateau) from Langogne to Grandrieu. In contrast to…

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I behold The House,         the Brotherhood austere                               And what am I,                 that I am here? Robert Louis Stevenson – Travels in the Cevennes with a Donkey Midway through the afternoon I bumped into Hay. The weird thing was, I had sort of been thinking about her a few minutes before she appeared in front of…

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Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature. Saint Augustine What makes a miracle a miracle? I spent much of the day pondering this general question and a more specific question. Was what happened in Saumur on the 30th November 2016 to a young 21 year old carpenter…

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Pleasure and action make the hours seem short William Shakespeare – Othello Act 2 Sc 3 Unless you are mad enough to be walking the GR4 through the Cevennes  it is very unlikely that you will ever come to the small hilltop village of Thines. Quite simply, it is in the middle of nowhere. But,…

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There are no strangers here; only friends you haven’t yet met Attrib to William Butler Yeats I couldn’t set off much before 10am as the chap I was due to return the gite keys to had a doctor’s appointment early in the morning so the owner of the gite, who lived in Belgium, informed me…

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American guest: ‘Is there anywhere they do French food?’ Basil: ‘Yes, France, I believe. They seem to like it there. And the swim would certainly sharpen your appetite. You’d better hurry, the tide leaves in six minutes.’ Basil Fawlty – Fawlty Towers I don’t want to be too critical of the Hotel des Sites in…

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