-
Day 2: Charly to Pelly (26km) Pilgrim paradise.
In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. Abraham Lincoln For all its charms, the communal gite at Charly lacked one important element for a comfortable stay – large enough windows to let sufficient air into the rooms to prevent them becoming raging infernos in…
-
Day 1: Geneva to Charly (26km) Feeling a bit of a Charlie in Charly.
Making fun is serious business Charlie Chaplin Maybe it was the early (5am) start to get the plane from Toulouse to Geneva, maybe it was the unrelenting 30C heat and humidity, maybe it was the simple fact that living high on the hog in south west France had taken its toll on my fitness levels.…
-
The Way of St Giles – a pilgrimage from Lake Geneva to the Med.
Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,- While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue; John Keats – Ode to Autumn With the harvest over in south west France, the shadows lengthening and the days shortening, it…
-
Cluny to Cahors (650km) Some final thoughts
Variety is the spice of life Anon As I was waiting at Cahors for my train to Montauban this morning I saw a chap with a beard and a rucksack. Apart from the fact that he was wearing a cap emblazoned with the words ‘Stihl’ he could have stepped out of ‘Lord of the Rings’.…
-
Day 16: Saint Jean-de-Laur to Cahors (47.5km) Journey’s End
The wheel is come full circle Shakespeare – King Lear 35 years ago I limped into Cahors, my feet a blistered mess. I had come nowhere near meeting my objective of walking all the way to the Pyrennees. I crossed the historic bridge, made straight for the train station and hot footed it back to…
-
Day 15: Figeac to Saint-Jean-de-Laur (41km) Mr.Blue Sky
Sun is shinin’ in the skyThere ain’t a cloud in sightIt’s stopped rainin’, everybody’s in the playAnd don’t you knowIt’s a beautiful new day? Hey ELO – Mr.Blue Sky Eagle eyed readers of this blog may have noticed with alarm9 that for some days there has been no mention of the Chemin Urbain V from…
-
Day 14: Conques to Figeac (48km) The Grand Reunion.
There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow William Shakespeare – Hamlet Before starting today’s blog, I’m holding a small competition. Who, without using google, can name the flag below? If you can, then you are cleverer than I! My stay in Conques more than matched my expectations. Supper in the Abbey hostelry…
-
Day 13:Espalion to Conques (47.5km) Into Aveyron.
Get into the Carmichael car, Michael Carmichael. Stephen Fry – Moab is my washpot. Walking the best part of 30 miles in 10 hours, attending pre-prandial vespers at a praemonstrian abbey, sharing a 2 hour meal with 10 french people you’ve never met before and then attempting to write an amusing and informative blog of…
-
Day 12: Aubrac to Espalion (33km) Mud, wet and childhood tears.
Mud, mud, glorious mud,Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood.So follow me, follow, down to the hollowAnd there let us wallow in glorious mud. The Hippopotamus – Flanders and Swann To say the weather was bad when I woke up and poked my nose out of the door would be an understatement. It was…
-
Day 11: Aumont-Aubrac to Aubrac (36km) Return to the Tower of the English
The wise speak only of what they know. JRR Tolkien – The Two Towers I woke at 7am and had checked out of my hotel 15 minutes later. Armed with a couple of pains au chocolat and a chicken bap for lunch, I hoped an early start would let me reach my destination by mid…
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.
Join me on this adventure as I provide daily blog updates of my LEJOG walk.
Join the adventure!
Stay updated by subscribing to daily blog updates about my Land’s End to John O’Groats walk.
Pilgrim's Progress - Long Distance Walks in Europe and the UK 