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Day 72-78 of walking to Santiago de Compostela from the Netherlands, during which I sent my tent back home, slept in some of my favourite places in France (an old church turned into pilgrim accomodation and an old bathhouse), started on my second pilgrim passport as my first one was completely filled with stamps and I could finally see the Pyrenees in the distance for the first time...

10 pictures. You can view the rest of my posts about my journey in this collection: https://pixelfed.social/c/786952650105245859

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #France #Pèlerinage #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel

The outside of a light church in front of a dark sky. In front of the church is a cross on a pedestal between some yellow flowers. To the left and right are trees.

The inside of a former church with a table that is set in the front and a fridge to the left. Behind the table is an altar and some statues, as well as a guitar and a wooden cabinet.

To the left a road that leads along a field with hay barrels. The field is light green against a dark and cloudy sky.

The inside of a church, looking towards the back, where a confessional is located in the middle behind the pews. The walls of the church are colourfully decorated in pastel colours and red and above the confessional a painting is hanging with a long blue banner in front of it.

@VincentBreton tout proche des jolis refuges / fenêtres sur le paysage des copains de #DerrièreLeHublot 😻
#CheminDeCompostelle

Day 65-71 of walking to Santiago de Compostela from the Netherlands. This week I said goodbye to three pilgrim friends and it was quite an adjustment to continue by myself. However, I wasn't by myself for long. I had already met another French pilgrim with whom I stayed in the same accomodation before. One of the other pilgrims had acted as an interpreter at the time, as the new pilgrim didn't speak any English and my French was quite poor. But as we suddenly seemed to be the only pilgrims left on this part of the route we started walking together and staying in the same places. My French was challenged a lot, but it was pretty cool to notice that we were actually able to communicate about many things, even with my limited vocabulary. I was challenged to be less scared of speaking French and meanwhile my companion was challenged to be a little more patient!

10 pictures. You can view the rest of my posts about my journey in this collection: https://pixelfed.social/c/786952650105245859

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #France #Pèlerinage #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel

A piece of paper with a handwritten quote: "That what I do teaches me what I seek" and beneath it the words "my life motto"

A path flanked by some trees in autumn colours. To the left is a tree with beautiful orange leaves.

A house behind some trees and bushes. The sun is peering through the trees and casting shadows on the street in front.

A close-up of a flowering yellow plant commonly found in moorland. Behind it is dry grass and more of the same yellow flowers.

Day 58-64 of walking to Santiago de Compostela from the Netherlands. This whole week I walked with three other pilgrims: one from France, one from Germany and one from Australia. Even though we only formed a group for around ten days I feel like we learned so much more about each other than probably would have been the case in any other setting.

10 pictures. You can view the rest of my posts about my journey in this collection: https://pixelfed.social/c/786952650105245859

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #France #Pèlerinage #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel

A blue sign with the St James symbol that says it is 1678 kilometers to Santiago de Compostela.

A road ending at the edge of a river bank. Further away is a large yellow bridge across the water.

A picture of a church door taken from inside. One half of the door is open and above it is a stained-glass window in red, green, yellow and blue with flower and a triangle with a text inside that appears to be hebrew.

Looking up at a church tower against a blue sky. A lot of moss is growing on the lower part of the tower.

Day 51-57 of walking to Santiago de Compostela from the Netherlands. This was the week in which learned to let go of the pace I had set myself (at least a little) and do what felt right in the moment. Just because you know you can walk 30 kilometers, doesn't mean you have to. I had met a lovely group of people and after spending two days with them I had planned to continue on my own as they walked shorter distances. But I actually didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I had great conversation over dinner that evening with a pilgrim who travelled by bike, but at night I was stressing out about where to go the next day.

In the morning I set out not really knowing my plan for the day and the weather was much colder and rainier than I had anticipated, so I wasn't dressed appropriately. After a while I got incredibly cold but luckily I stumbled apon a road-side café which happened to be open. While I was warming up I decided that I would only walk a short distance that day, to the place the group from the previous days had said they were going to go.

Even though I had only spent a short time with them it was so nice to see the three other pilgrims again and I was surprised how easily I fitted in with the group. One of the others was French so he had a much easier time arranging accomodation and offered to book for me as well, and I decided their little group for the moment. After over fifty days being mostly by myself, it was really nice to have someone else do the decision-making for me and just focus on walking from A to B.

10 pictures. You can view the rest of my posts about my journey in this collection: https://pixelfed.social/c/786952650105245859

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #France #Selfie #Pèlerinage #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel

A selfie of a white person wearing a pink cap and smiling. I am wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt and a large blue backpack. In the background is grass and further away a line of trees.

Red rosehips among leaves, some of which have started to turn yellow.

Over twenty cow standing side by side in a pasture. They are all turned towards the camera. The sky is bright blue.

A courtyard in front of a small castle, which is partly obscured by bushes to the right. The gate is closed.

Day 44-50 of walking to Santiago de Compostela from the Netherlands. After walking together with two Flemish pilgrims for some days I had to say goodbye to them. It felt strange to continue on my own again; somehow on the road just one day spent with someone can feel like a week.

And eventhough I was already living day by day (quite unusual for me), I was challenged further with a rather sudden change to my plans. On a day where I had planned to walk 32 kilometers I fell and hurt my knee after only a couple of kilometers. I had to cancel my accomodation and ring up a closer hostel in French. I strongly dislike phonecalls in any language, but the added stress of having to speak a language that I'm not fluent in didn't help. Still, when I finally arrived at my new destination I felt incredibly calm. It feels good knowing that you can rely on yourself.

10 pictures. You can view the rest of my posts about my journey in this collection: https://pixelfed.social/c/786952650105245859

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #France #Bourges #Pèlerinage #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel

Two pilgrim walking away from the camera on a road through the woods. They are carrying large backpacks. The left backpack has a scallop shell attached to it and a baguette is stickingout of the front pocket of the right backpack.

A scallop shell hanging on the trunk of a tree. Aboven it is a French sign that reads "when leaving for the way of Saint James I was looking for nothing and I found it"

A white hand holding up a small pear that I found

Stained glass windows in a dark church. The windows consist of three main panels, each showing a church building with beneath it a church figure nealing in front of a holy person.

Day 36-42 of walking to Santiago de Compostela from the Netherlands. By now it was early September, and while it could still be pretty warm during the day, the mornings started to get chilly and there was more rain. For the first time in France, I met another Dutch pilgrim. We walked some parts of the trail together, but after a few days we parted ways as I walked longer distances. Not long after, I met two women from Belgium with whom I walked as well and had some great converstations.

It was nice to meet more people, and feel less alone. Especially when I heard the first gun shots and got a little scared for the actual start of the hunting season. It's much harder to be scared when you're walking with other people.

I also stayed with the nuns in Troyes, camped for the last time and after walking 943 kilometers I arrived in the famous town of Vézelay where I visited the Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine.

10 pictures. You can view the rest of my posts about my journey in this collection: https://pixelfed.social/c/786952650105245859

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #France #Vézelay #Pèlerinage #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel

A field during a foggy morning. To the left is some grass with a few trees. To the right is a barren field with a barn barely visible in the distance because of the fog.

A sober, somewhat old-fashioned looking bedroom. A large, bright blue backpack is leaning against the bed. To the left is a colourful quilt on the wall and above the headboard of the bed a cross is hanging.

A sunny day with a bright blue sky. To the left is a French townhall with a bench in front of it and ahead, further in the distance, is a small church.

A country lane partly in the sun, partly covered in shade by the trees on the left. To the right are several large fields that are separeted by rows of trees and which have already been harvested.

Day 29-35 of walking to Santiago de Compostela from the Netherlands. After exactly three weeks of walking, I arrived in Reims at the end of August. From some kilometers away I could already see the spires of the cathedral and for the first time I realised that I had already come quite far. Sure, I still had a long way to go to Santiago, but I had also already walked over 600 kilometers to a place that in itself is a worthy destination.

I decided to stay an extra night to have a little time to relax and walk around the city, but in truth I only found it stressful and couldn't wait to be out of the city again to continue walking. While before Reims I mostly encountered barren farm land, went I left the city I started to see more vineyards and I started to feel like I was really in France.

You can view the rest of my posts about my journey in this collection: https://pixelfed.social/c/786952650105245859

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #France #Reims #Pèlerinage #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel

A view of the cathedral of Reims, looking up towards the spires from the side. On the top half of the cathedral is visible and in the bottom left part of a tree obscures part of the view.

The top of a house with two windows with their blinds closed. At the top of the widows some swallow nests are attached to the brick wall and a few swallows are flying around, mostly visible because of their shadows in the bright light.

A narrow street in the shadows, that is slowly sloping down. In the distance a car is parked to the left and further away fields are visible. In the front to the left a rose bush is growing against the house and the branches are framing the top of the picture. To the right is a building covered in ivy and a late-afternoon sun is shining on the mossy roof.

A grass trail leading down through a vineyard. The vineyard is large and extents downwards and to the right. In the distance is a village along a river, with fields and trees on the other side.

Day 22-28 of walking to Santiago the Compostela from the Netherlands. During this week I entered France, where I would be walking for the next seven weeks. I slept in an accomodation for pilgrims for the first time and, although I was alone, I got to read about the pilgrims who had stopped by before me in the guest book. The last entry was from only three days ago and it was nice knowing there were other people not too far ahead.

I also had my first fall, which luckily only resulted in a few scratches, got to sleep in a community building in a village without any official accomodation, stayed with a lovely Dutch couple living in France, and saw the landscape around me change from forests and small farms to endless bare fields.

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #France #Pèlerinage #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel

A large blue backpack lying on a bench in a park. A scallop shell is hanging from it by a thread and socks and underware are attached to the bag with clothes pegs.

A view of a river with, on the other side to the left a village in front of a hill. On top of the hill part of a fort is visible. To the right, on this side of the river, are grass and some bushes.

In the center a grass path leading away in the distance. To the left is a field of corn plants and to the right is a dry field with bales of hay. Further down the path is an electricity pole.

A picture taken while crossing a river, looking down. My feet and hiking poles are just visible and it is clear that the bridge is only wide enough for one person. There is no handrail. Below the ridge is a very shallow river with some rocks in it.

Day 15-21 of walking to Santiago the Compostela from the Netherlands, during which I crossed most of Belgium . At this point I started to feel less like I was on a holiday and it started to feel more like a pilgrimage. Although I really wasn't that far from my home yet, walking everywhere really changes how you experience distances and I started to feel a bit lost. My first night in Belgium I stayed with parents of a friend of mine, but after that I really had no clear plan and had no idea when I would encounter any other pilgrims. As a result my mood wasn't the best, but I think it's one of those things you have to go through to know you'll be fine. And I was! Afterwards I definitely had a few moments where I struggled with certain things, but not quite like this week.

#Camino #CaminoDeSantiago #Hiking #Pilgrimage #Belgium #Liège #Pèlerinage #CheminDeCompostelle #CheminDeStJacques #Pelgrimstocht #Wandelen #Travel

A view of my seemingly bare legs when sitting on the ground. I'm wearing hiking shoes and bright green socks. My hand is holding a can of beans in tomato sauce with a spoon in it.

A deserted abbey in the forest. The windows are boarded up and the picture is quite dark.

A gloomy view of a river that runs through Liège. In the distance is a white bridge and along the river are buildings, some older and smaller and some grey high rise apartment buildings.

Part of a houseboat with some bushes in the front and trees behind it. On top of the boat are a few chairs and some plants.

Le Pèlerin...
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#pelerin #chemindecompostelle #quartiersaintjacques #parthenay #deuxsevres 6224

#CheminDeCompostelle

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