On the Paths of Adventure
On the road to Compostela
They are unanimous, those who did it say: you will see it will change your life of troubadour,
Nomadic life, wide open spaces, straight ahead towards St Jacques de Compostela,
To cross unknown places, to fall one by one the stages, to arrive at the brown one in a surreal hamlet,
Face the morning haze, endure the dodger at the zenith, walk like a metronome every day.
To get down to a good hostel, a bit haggard, and to drink a scoop with a stranger,
Encounter monks or moinillones in search of sacred encounters with the "forces of good",
Knowing that in addition to loneliness the walker with two enemies, his heavy backpack and his feet,
The paths jacquais require pampered feet every day, otherwise point of cape finistérien Galician.
Compostelle the path of adventure, under the stars exactly where lead several routes,
The path of Puy, Via Podiensis, the most taken between Velay, Aubrac, Aveyron and Pyrenees,
The "Grand Chemin", via Turonensis from Paris to Tours, via Saintes, passable by bicycle, easy,
The path of Vèzelay, via Lemovicensis to Bourges, Rocamadour and Béarn of Henri the refractory.
All these paths lead to the small Spanish sanctuary where St Jacques rests in the fighting life,
The via Tolosana crosses the Camargue via Toulouse, crosses the Aspe valley and at the Somport pass one rises,
From Puente la Reina, the "Camino Francès" crosses Spain where the walker is motivated,
From the fertile plains of Navarre to the Meseta desert with Celtic accents of Galicia.
"Ultreia" on the way, and the walkers go along the marked trails in red and white,
Leaving the Marian city of Puy en Velay pilgrims cross the Gevaudan,
Then the "vagabonds of god" will pass "viola braco", the high place of the Aubrac,
Where towards the 11th century, carpets in the hollow of the forests, the brigands robbed the backgammon in bulk.
On the Paths of Adventure
On the road to Compostela
They are unanimous, those who did it say: you will see it will change your life of troubadour,
Nomadic life, wide open spaces, straight ahead towards St Jacques de Compostela,
To cross unknown places, to fall one by one the stages, to arrive at the brown one in a surreal hamlet,
Face the morning haze, endure the dodger at the zenith, walk like a metronome every day.
To get down to a good hostel, a bit haggard, and to drink a scoop with a stranger,
Encounter monks or moinillones in search of sacred encounters with the "forces of good",
Knowing that in addition to loneliness the walker with two enemies, his heavy backpack and his feet,
The paths jacquais require pampered feet every day, otherwise point of finistérien cape Galician.
Compostelle the path of adventure, under the stars exactly where lead several routes,
The path of Puy, Via Podiensis, the most taken between Velay, Aubrac, Aveyron and Pyrenees,
The "Grand Chemin", via Turonensis from Paris to Tours, via Saintes, passable by bicycle, easy,
The path of Vèzelay, via Lemovicensis to Bourges, Rocamadour and Béarn of Henri the refractory.
All these paths lead to the small Spanish sanctuary where St Jacques rests in the fighting life,
The via Tolosana crosses the Camargue via Toulouse, crosses the Aspe valley and at the Somport pass one rises,
From Puente la Reina, the "Camino Francès" crosses Spain where the walker is motivated,
From the fertile plains of Navarre to the Meseta desert with Celtic accents of Galicia.
"Ultreia" on the way, and the walkers go along the marked trails in red and white,
Leaving the Marian city of Puy en Velay pilgrims cross the Gevaudan,
Then the "vagabonds of god" will pass "viola braco", the high place of the Aubrac,
Where towards the 11th century, carpets in the hollow of the forests, the brigands robbed the backgammon in bulk.
For the pilgrims coming from the north of Europe the gathering was done in Paris, at the tower St Jacques,
Destination Tours where they flocked by thousand to honor ST Martin's relics,
On the road to Poitou the spiritual place of Melle represented an important stopover at Easter,
Before reaching the capital of Saintonge, Saintes where they venerated Eutrope, the Saint.
One of the twelve apostles, Jacques the Major with a passionate character went to evangelize Spain at the death of Jesus,
He will fail in his mission but on his return to Jerusalem he gets many conversions,
Herod Aggripa I, King of Judea, thwarted by his success condemned him in the year 44 to beheading,
His body placed in a boat by his disciples, ran aground seven days later in Galicia, unexpected!
Starting point of the route crossing the Massif Central, Vèzelay emerges from the "eternal hill",
Towards Bourges, the pilgrim will claim the motto of Jacques Coeur, "A valiant heart, nothing impossible,"
On the paths of the Limousin he will honor St Martial and St Leonard during passionate ostentations,
He will pass by Rocamadour the eagle's nest to venerate the black virgin and St Amadour, the Zachea of the Gospel.
He will carry in his wallet the little flat pie with goat's milk, the "cabécou" of round shape,
To cross further the Dordogne to the country house of Ste Foy la Grande at the gates of the Gironde,
Then continue through the land of the Landes, almost desert in the 12th century. and swampy,
Before discovering on the horizon, the Bearnese Pyrenees, to Orthez the country of Fébus the blessed.
Another route from the banks of the Rhone led the pilgrim of "Little Rome of the Gauls",
In the country of cocagne Via Tolosana, since the vastness of the Camargue d'Éole,
Up to the gates of Toulouse in the shade of the plane trees of the Canal du Midi Paul Riquet the Baron,
In this region that carried the Cathar epic where armies of "perfect" defied the Inquisition.
The "peregrino" crosses the chain of Pyrene in Roncesvalles by his faith the rising mountains,
The Iron Durandal, recalls the battle where the Moors on 15/8/778 took the life of Roland,
At Puente la Reina all the paths converged and the "Camino Françès" crosses Spain,
Endless arid plains lead from Burgos to Leon through the Parano, the desert without mountains.
The entry into Galicia is made by climbing the Cebreiro, and its "palloza" eagle's nest,
These pre-Romanesque cottages of circular form, built in stones and topped with a conical roof in rye,
Further down the Lavacolla after weeks of marches, you have to wash before passing the Mt of Joy,
Facing St Jacques de Compostela and the twin spiers of the cathedral, the pilgrims wept for joy.
By the "Puerta del Camino" we walk towards the "Plaza des Olradoiro", hosted by St Jacques,
On its promontory in the center of the 2 Romanesque towers of the 11th century, it welcomes tourists to the niaque,
After placing his forehead on the "Saint aux Bosses", it is "the abrazo" to the apostle in a robe of bure,
The kiss to the statue of St James holding the drone and the gourd of gold on the gilded altar.
To be complete, the pilgrimage must be made to the "Cabo Fistera" extreme land of the West,
This other "Finis Terrae", dominated by its lighthouse offers a grandiose landscape between swell and wind,
On the Ulla de Padron river with a thousand shells, the boat of the body of St Jacques the arrival recalls,
This is the end of the trip, we burn some of the clothes under the gaze of the star of Compostela.
The shell of Padron was sewn on their return in the 9th century. on their flat-brimmed hat,
The bumblebee blessed before the departure served of 3 ° foot but to defend itself against the wolf first,
The bag contains the food of the walker dressed in his long pilgrim, wearing a broad-brimmed felt hat,
Armed with his "credential" where he has the stamps of the stages affixed, the backgammon comes back from his "compostela".
And when the "Arroumiou", the pilgrim in Gascon, returns, he will have crossed his internal border far from his family,
He will have passed the obstacle of the Pyrenees but he will have lived also the surpassing of oneself, without revolution,
Walking alone in breathtaking landscapes, loving the angels, his march was his revelation,
Young or old, French or foreign, Christian or atheist he will have experienced the globalization of the march with his shell.
Guy the pilgrim ARIÉ ... .JOIE