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Day 21: La Bastide-de-Virac to Salavas (15 km) Feeling a bit of a Fraud.
Bard Bracy! bard Bracy! your horses are fleet, Ye must ride up the hall, your music so sweet, More loud than your horses’ echoing feet! And loud and loud to Lord Roland call, ‘Thy daughter is safe in Langdale hall!’ Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Christabel Ok I have a guilty admission which makes me feel…
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Day 20: Mondragon to La Bastide-de-Virac (35 km) Going Full Tonto.
The word tonto is used in Spanish for ‘stupid’ or ‘foolish’, but one of its suggested origins was it’s use by Apache Indians as a term for the Western Apaches – meaning ‘wild ones’. For the last five years, since I started my first long walk across France on the Via Francigena in August 2022 and…
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Day 19: Vaison-la-Romaine to Mondragon (35 km) Wine Country
God made only water, but man made wine. Victor Hugo It proved a long day – 10 hours of walking with the temperature in the low 30s during the afternoon. Thankfully the terrain wasn’t too arduous with most of the day spent walking through vineyards. I am traversing the heart of Côtes du Rhône country.…
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Day 18:Malaucene to Vaison-la-Romaine (28 km) Finding one’s Bearings.
The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together. William Shakespeare – All’s Well that End’s Well Act 4 Scene 3 The day had started off in a slightly bizarre fashion. I was up early in anticipation of an arduous 28km walk to Vaison-la-Romaine. As I headed out of Le…
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Day 17: Mont Serein to Malaucene (21 km) Night in a hobbit house.
I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.’I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! J.R.R.Tolkien – The Hobbit I made it…
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Day 16: Sault to Mont Serein (30 km) The Ascent of Mont Ventoux and the Making of Modern Man.
My only motive was the wish to see what so great an elevation had to offer. Franchesco Petrarch – The Ascent of Mont Ventoux The first time I heard about Mont Ventoux was in a history lesson at school when I was fifteen. The teacher was a distinguished mediaevalist called Dr Peter Partner and his…
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Day 15: Simiane-la-Rotonde to Sault (23km) A Right Royal Laugh
The Royal Family are not like you and me. They live in houses so big that you can walk round all day and never need to meet your spouse. The Queen and Prince Philip have never shared a bedroom in their lives. They don’t even have breakfast together. A.N.Wilson I was woken up by a…
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Day 14:Céreste to Simiane-la-Rotonde (23km) Heat and Dust.
Shortly before the monsoon, the heat becomes very intense. It is said that the more intense it becomes the more abundantly it will draw down the rains, so one wants it to be as hot as can be. And by that time one has accepted it — not got used to but accepted; and moreover,…
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Day 13: Manosque to Cereste (21km) In Search of Pastures Greener
Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being & walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, & the more one…
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Day 12: Saint Martin de Brômes to Manosque (21km) Douze Jours en Provence.
The French, it seems to me, strike a happy balance between intimacy and reserve. Peter Mayle – Encore Provence I’d be lying if I tried to claim that this was the most interesting day’s walk or that Manosque was a fitting finale to this section of my walk across France. I reached Manosque by midday.…
Welcome to my blog! I’m Jonathan, a 60 year old Brit who is passionate about long distance walking.
In May 2024 I’m setting off from Land’s End to walk 1,200 miles, the length of Britain, to John O’Groats.
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