Step 4: Thunder and Rain

Day 14, Monday the 8th of May, 14 km walked

We awoke late and didn't start walking till 8am. In the morning, we were greeted by gray clouds which looked as if they would let go of their water down upon us. 

  The morning of the 8th

We were less than a 300 meters from the village of Cuzion and the bells of the local church had awoken us. We walked on for half an hour before leaving the road and following a track down a steep incline, through the bush to the river of La Creuse. It was very beautiful, walking through the bush along a stream as it made its way down to the river. We then proceeded to walk along that river for sometime before crossing over it and back up the valley on the other side, before heading inland to the village of Éguzon-Chantôme. That Monday was the National Day for France, celebrating the end of WWII. When we arrived in town, we were concerned that everything would be shut due to it being a national holiday, but found that the boulangerie (bakery) open and so brought some bread there. I needed to charge my phone, as it was sitting around 5% battery life, so took Enoch's charging brick which he brought on the 6th in La Châtre. I went to the church across the way and sat in there plugged in to charge while ate my lunch. While I was there, two pilgrims came in to rest in the church. I spoke to one of them, as the other went to the boulangerie. He was from Brazil and was walking to Compostela. We bidded each other a good walk and the two of them continued on. I then packed my things up and went over to the Café across the street from the Church where Enoch and Osgar were sitting drinking hot chocolate. I sat down and ordered a hot chocolate. As I was drinking the hot chocolate, a gathering had begun to gather outside by the war monument of the town, infront of the church. The mayor of the town was there and he was giving a speech in French. We packed our things up and continued on. 

 

The service men heading to the war monument in the village of Éguzon-Chantôme

We stopped off at the Super U supermarket before leaving. While walking down the street to the supermarket, a man in his late 50s passed by me, and he out stretched his hand to me, and in his fingers he held a One Euro coin and said something in French. I was confused at what he was saying, and he said it again with a smile, and I said, "Oui, merci?" For I did not really understand why he was giving me a euro. He laughed as I took it and he bidded me farwell in French. 

It wasn't long before Enoch and Osgar were out of sight ahead of me. It hadn't rained yet, and wouldn't till the next day. The village of Crozant was two hours away from the village of Éguzon-Chantôme. Passing through meadows, farmland, crops of wheat and barley, and forests of chestnuts and oaks, the path eventually began to make its way back down to the river of La Creuse. Allow me to set the scene for you on how the Village of Crozant is set. Crozant is nestled amidst the lush hills and ancient forests of the Massif Central. It is located at the heart of Limousin, a region renowned for its breathtaking natural beauty. The village sits atop a land spur that rises into a rocky outcrop between the gentle Creuse River and the meandering riverlet of La Sédelle. Below the village, on a rocky promontory, stand the haunting ruins of the Château de Crozant, a testament to the turbulent history of the lands around it. Its ancient stones tell the story of the battles and sieges that once took place in this land, leaving behind a poignant reminder of the past. The Creuse River flows gently through the picturesque landscape, adding to the serene ambiance of this enchanting village.

Once I arrived, I found Enoch and Osgar sitting on a bench looking out over the ruins of the 12th century castle. I took my pack off and left it there while I left to explore the church of Église Sainte-Valérie, a Romanesque-style church in Crozant, dating back to the 11th century, and features stunning stained glass windows, intricate frescoes, and an ornate altar. After that, I took my pack and Enoch's charging brick and headed to a bar down by the ruins of the castle, where I drank a cup of green tea slowly and charged my phone. The bar had big windows which looked down at the river of La Creuse. As I drank and charged my phone, a wasp of great size came through the open window and was flying around the ceiling of the bar. It cought my interest due to its size, and so when it landed, I squished it with the back of my phone before studying it closely. It was the size of a two 2$ nzd coin. 

 

Asian Hornet

Enoch appeared to let me know that he had located Rose, she had been in Crozant since 1pm, and was staying at the camp ground. He then ordered a beer and sat for a while, before the both of us headed back up the hill and into the village to where Rose had set her tent. It was €7.88 to stay there for the night. 

The morning before, when we were in the village of Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre, Enoch and Osgar had claimed that they had seen another pilgrim who was walking through the township. While the four of us had gone out after pitching out tents for the night at the camp ground in Crozant, to get hot chips, this pilgrimage walked passed us on her way to the camp ground. Enoch and Osgar had walked with her for an hour the day before, and Osgar had lost his bag for his poncho. While we waited on the chips to arrive, she had appeared, and pulled from her pack the bag for Osgars poncho. She had found it upon her way and knew it must have belonged to Osgar as it was the same color as his poncho. 

That evening we slept soundly.

The path inwhich we walked that day

Day 15, Tuesday the 9th of May, 7 km walked

When we awoke around 7, it began to rain lightly. It was an unknown on how Rose would perform. We packed up our things and had a light breakfast before setting off. I had wanted to go to the village boulangerie (bakery) but found it to be closed on arrival. I than headed onto the path of the Way to find the others slowly making their way around the rocky outcrop which stood high above the riverlet La Sédelle. The path inwhich we followed was also an art enthusiast walk. It followed along a route onwhich renowned artists sat their easels to paint the rough landscape about the village of Crozant. The local authorities had set up metal sheets with the painting of an artist and a little write up. If you looked at the art, behind in the back drop of the scenery about it, one would see the now of which the artist had painted so long ago. It was quite special. It wasn't long before the path took us gently down to walk by the running riverlet, all the while as the rain continued to fall from the ashen sky. The trees which many of which were oak, beech, chestnut, pine, and birch trees, gave us little shelter from the weather. We made quite slow progress as Rose still had quite a sore ankle. We passed an old mill where an artist had painted a painting of it back in the late 1800s.

One such painting

We took about 7 hours to walk only 6.7 km. The weather was appalling. It found its way through our waterproof layers and into our joints, into our sleeping bags within our packs, and into our tents. By one in the afternoon, I had made it to the village of La Chapelle-Baloue. I had been infront of the others, as they were walking quite slow. The church was the only place of shelter, and so I took refuge within and changed my attire. I had a dry bag of dry cloths and so changed out of my wet ones, I had been wearing shorts up till this point, and put on trousers and waterproof pants. I placed thermals on and than a linen shirt, over that I placed a t-shirt, then a jacket, and another jacket and then a light, water resistant, trenchcoat. Osgar than appeared and I asked him to watch my things as I went out to look for something hot. As I left the church square, a fellow pilgrim arrived. It was raining and she was a woman who could be in her early 70s? She spoke French and didn't speak English. We greeted each other before she asked if I was going to Compostela, to which I said that I was, and asked if she was going that way aswell, which she was. I than said in English that I was going to look for a hot drink which she under stood. 

I found it in a small family run grocer. They were happy to make me a hot cup of coco and told me to take the only seat in the small grocery shop. On me, I only had a two euro coin, and they did not take card. On average, a hot chocolate cost between €1.70 - €3.00 euro in France. As I sat waiting for the man who ran the grocer to reappear, the pilgrim which I had just met moments earlier arrived. When she opened the door, the son of the grocer greeted her. He had just come through from the kitchen where things were being worked on. She asked if they made tea or coffee, which they did, and she ordered a cup of tea. He left back to the kitchen. I got up from where I sat and gave my seat over to her, which she rejected and so I sat back down. As I waited, I saw a candle burning in the window, and so to have an excuse to not need the seat any more, I got up and went over to the street window to warm my hands over the small flickering flame. It was quite a small room, maybe four meters by 6 long, with shelves lining the walls and one up the center of the room. They were stocked with canned goods, bottled water and soda, packets of teas and coffee. They sold twinnings tea which amused me. The son returned carrying a try with a cup of tea on it with a stick of granulated sugar. It wasn't long before the father came through with another tray with a cup of hot chocolate which he gave to me. I drank it slowly, hoping that they would accept €2 for it. The grocer proceeded to place a biscuit in my hand to accompany the drink and I thanked him in French. After finishing the drink up, I asked how much, and he said 'Prix libre' or 'give what you can'. I said I only had two euro and he said that it was good. I thanked them both before bidding them farewell. 

When I arrived back the Church, I found that Enoch and Rose had both arrived. We sat in the entrance way and ate lunch. Rose was eating a tin of tuna, but after finding a bone in it, decided that it mustn't be tuna and didn't want to eat the rest of it. She gave it over to me which I had with bread and brie. We soon continued on in the rain, and after walking for another couple of hours, we decided to pitch out tents due to the weather being so bad. It was around 3 in the afternoon, and as soon as we pitched out tents, the rain receeded and the sun made an appearance. An utterly expected thing to happen! But we did not continue that day, and napped and talked and Rose read from the Pilgrims Progress. 

Somewhere not to far away, a wind turbine turned, for we could hear the swoosh sound as the blades turned, it made one's ears beat like a drum, obviously a change in air pressure or something of the sort. During the night, I found that my trustee old air mattress had deflated and I was touching the cold ground. I blew it up three times during the night. 

The path inwhich we walked that day

Day 16, Wednesday the 10th of May, 15 km walked

We awoke around 7, and behold, the sky was clear and the sun was shinning! What joy! What wonderfulness! We would be able to dry out our things! We packed up before making our way back to the road, and just as we began to walk, two fellow pilgrims came up to where we were. One was from California and was in his early 70s, his name was Wayne, while the other who was in his mid to early 60s was from the Netherlands, named Ut, pronounced ūăt. They were heading to the town which we hopped to reach by the evening. When Ut discovered that Rose was suffering from Tendinitis, he pulled his pack off and gave her pain relief, aswell as a gel to rub onto her ankle which acted as a pain relief. With the way he told her to take the painkillers and if she had eaten already, I guessed him to be a nurse or a member of the medical field. 

They bidded us good journeys before continuing. That day, I had mapped out the villages which we would go though before arriving in the town of La Souterraine. There would be two villages before the town, and the second village would have a boulangerie (bakery) in it. So I left my slow sister and two brothers, telling them I would meet them in the second village. I then cought up with Wayne and Ut, and we ended up talking for the whole way to the second village of Saint-Agnant-de-Versillat. When you have good company, the road is not as long and walking 11 km didn’t feel very long. The weather had clouded back over, but with breaks in the cloud which the sun poked its face out from time to time. As the three of us passed through the first village of Saint-Germain-Beaupré, woman pulled over in her car and wound her window down before asking if we were pilgrims. Ut had spent 30 minutes a day, 300 days studying French on Duolingo and spoke the language quite well, so he was our translator. The woman had walked it and she gave us all some hard sucker sweets which were peppermint flavor before bidding us goodbye and continuing on her way, while we on ours. 

Once arriving at the second village, I bidded Wayne and Ut good journeys before heading to the church. I could not buy anything in the boulangerie (bakery) becouse they only took cash. Osgar had passed us not long after the first village becouse he was desperate to buy some pain, or bread if you want to call it in English. 

When Rose and Enoch arrived, they found the two of us soaking up what little sun there was by the outside wall of the church. The stones of the building cought the heat, producing a small micro climate at the base of the church. They stopped and we ate lunch within the church before continuing on. Rose did not want to go through the town that day, but instead camp on this side of it and go through it tomorrow. Her ankle was sore once more, as the pain relief she could not take any more of that day, as her body wouldn't accept the use of it. So we continued on, and the path took us off the tarmac road and onto a dirt country path through the fields of wheat and barley that was growing there. On the edge of the village, there was a small little telephone box library. Rose continued on as Enoch, Osgar and I stopped to inspect its wears. The two of them found nothing that peaked their interests and thus carried on. Most of the books were in French, but two cought my eye. The first was called "Where the Crawdads Sing" by the author Delia Owens. However, after reading its summary, I was not very keen on reading it, but packed it away anyway. A second book cought my attention, this one was called "The Girl with the Pearl Earring" authored by Tracy Chevalier. It was a historical fiction novel and based around a Maid who goes to work in the painters home and later is painted as the girl with the pearl earring. Based in 1600s and written in the late 1990s, I hoped that it would be an OK read, so packed that away before continuing on. I cought up with the others as they refilled their water bottles at the local cemetery.

While walking along the country path, we came across a slow worm. It was the third, and largest of the slow worms that we have so far come across. They are spectacular reptiles that do not have a venomous bite. They look somewhat like snakes as they do not have legs, but are in fact part of the lizard family. They have eyelids, which is a major tell tale that they are not a snake. They also are a funny shape compared that to a snake. 

 The slow worm we found, wrapped around my finger

We continued on for nearly an hour before pitching our tents in a wood off from the road. To our dismay, we found a lot of used toilet roll in those woods, letting us know that pilgrims or the locals use it as a toilet. A man who we had passed earlier who was walking his dog and asked if we were going to Santiago, passed us once more and called out that if we needed anything, he lived just across the way in the house by the stream. We thanked him and he continued on his way.

As soon as we had pitched out tents, the weather bucketed down. It had been decided that Enoch, Osgar, long with myself would walk onto McDonald's to buy hot chocolates before bringing one back for Rose. It lay on the other side of the township of La Souterraine, 3.8 km away from where we had pitched our camp. 

We left Rose alone and began walking, crossing the riverlet of La Sédelle which was now but a steam, past the man's house who had offered help if we needed it, and up the hill towards the township. It was raining and Enoch had forgotten his phone and so turned back. Osgar and I continued on after giving Enoch directions on where we would meet him by a roundabout. We then proceeded to take a wrong turn ourselves and after Osgar had leant so, turned back to let Enoch know and take the correct route. I continued on as I could see it would bring me to the roundabout in a round about way. Once arriving there, the other two also arrived when I did and we continued on to the McDonald's. Once arriving, as it had taken us close to 40 minutes to walk there, we found that they did not do hot chocolates! No! So Enoch ordered tea, while I ordered a burger and a drink. Now, let me make it clear to the reader! I do not endorse McDonald's or their products. It is absolutely not food and is poisonous. I don't normally eat McDonald's, in fact I stay clear away from it! But on this particular occasion, I thought that I would try the French version of McDonald's. Afterwards, I decided that I wouldn't repeat the action again. 

On our return it was raining, and we found Rose in her tent dealing with a puddle that had accumulated on her floor. Enoch and Osgar soon to discover that their own tents also had puddles. It would appear that Alliexspress tents can't handle reality. My tent is yet to cause me issues, however, I cannot say the same for my mattress. It has been an amazing mattress for the past three years, but would seem that it has given up its last few breaths and lost a lot of body mass throughout the night. That night, I had to blow it up at least three times, as I would wake on occasion to find my hip to be in contact with the cold, hard ground.

The path inwhich we walked that day

Day 17, Thursday the 11th of May, 12 km walked

We awoke to find that the sky was still an ashen blanket. We packed up and began making our way into the town of La Souterraine. After walking half an hour, we arrived at the church of Église Notre-Dame de La Souterraine. The sky way still cloudy with a threat of rain. Within the Church we found a stamp on a table to stamp our pilgrim passes. An old man sat at the table and greeted us in French before asking if we were going to Compostela. We said that we were. He seemed happy at the fact that we were pilgrims upon The Way. He seemed to be a jolly fellow.

The next stop was the chemist for Rose to get some pain killers for her ankles. We them went on to a boulangerie (bakery) where we were served by a lady who spoke English, and was Welsh! She was also quite jolly and was quite helpful. She asked if we were walking the Way to which we said yes. She then asked if we had tried the Almond pain au chocolat! I had back during the morning Sunday, 7th of May and thought to myself 'why was I buying Pain au chocola when I buy almond pain au chocolat'!

We then continued onto a laundromat to dry everything! We placed all our sleeping bags into a dryer and dried them as we placed a load on to wash. I then proceeded next door to a cafe and brought a Café au lait. The lady behind the counter asked if I spoke English as she took my order, as I had struggled to speak french. She then switched to very good english. I asked her where she had learnt English, and she replied that she had taught herself. I sat drinking the coffee slowly as I charged from a power outlet. We were there for me than two hours before continuing on to Carrefour where we brought the needed food to sustain us for a day or two. When we left the town of La Souterraine, it was around 3pm in the afternoon. We walked for another hour before arriving in the village of Saint-Priest-la-Feuille, where we were able to stamp our pilgrim passes in the church there. The weather had improved at this point, but a heavy cloud stood behind us, rumbling with thunder and threatened to rain down upon us as we walked towards what appeared to be a good place to camp for the evening. We ended up camping in a farmer field off too one side of the track.

The path inwhich we walked that day

Day 18, Friday the 12th of May, 19 km walked

It began to rain around 7am. The sky way a depressed gray and some of us were slow to pack up. Rose was up first and packed up by the time I began to pack up, and was on the road by the time I was putting my tent down. Osgar soon joined her. I then left Enoch to pack his things down, as he was the last to get up. The rain was falling quite steadily as Enoch packed his things up. The day earlier I had brought a bottle of Grapefruit juice, and now a trudged in my bare feet up the stoney path in the rain with it under my arm. 

 

Enoch packing his tent up in the rain

We walked for an hour and the rain stopped 10 minutes before we stopped at a cemetery in the village of Chamborand. We ate breakfast there, and refilled our water bottles. I then placed my shoes on before continuing. We walked another hour and the weather improved and I had shot on ahead from the group. I came to a cross roads where the road straight ahead was closed due to a slip. It was sunny and so I took my pack off and sat down on the tarmac to have wait for the others while I ate lunch. The others didn't take long to appear and we all sat out of the wind which was blowing quite cold. It was warm though, sitting in the sun on the tarmac behind the road black stand. As we ate, Petra, the lady who we had left Rose with back in the Village of Le Châtelet, appeared walking down the road, along with a Dutch couple who we had first come across in Crozant. Petra was very happy to see all of us and to see Rose and how her ankle was bearing. They soon were off again and we continued with our lunch activities. It wasn't long before another Pilgrim appeared. He had a cart which he pulled from a strap to his waist. He was wondering on what direction to go, as the road ahead was closed. We tried to tell him that it went off to the left and then curved round to the town that was ahead. He didn't understand and soon was distracted by a phone call. As he was picking up his phone, the air shook with thunder as a dark cloud had gathered in the direction where we had come. 

 

Osgar pointing at a sign for the man with the cart to read on where The Way followed as Enoch and Rose Hurriedly packed their things up before the storm hit. We quickly packed our things up and placed our water proof gear on. The rain began to fall mixed with hail. It didn't last long and fizzled out before walking no more than 10 minutes up the road. It took us an hour to walk 4 km to the next village of Bénévent-l'Abbaye where we stopped in to look at the church. The fellow who had a cart was walking the Camino for his two dead grandmother's. He also suffered from a heart condition and thus why he had a cart and not a backpack. 

In that Village, Osgar brought a bottle of Raw milk from a small store that sold fresh Vegetables and cheese. It was the first time we had seen raw milk for sale in France, as everything had been UHC up till that point in time. We stopped in at the Carrefour supermarket in that village before continuing on for another hour and a half and made camp for the night. We had pitched out tents on the side of a track in the woods.

The path inwhich we walked that day

Day 19, Saturday the 13th of May, 25 km walked

We got up and were on the way by 8am. The weather had improved and today promised no rain. It had been quite depressing for the past week with all the water and everything being wet. I had to blow my mattress up multiple times throughout the night. I hoped to buy another one in Limoges. I had packed up before everyone and was on the road. A small village with a church lay not to far away and I popped in to have a look at the old stone building before continuing on. At 8:30am I stopped at a picnic table before the track left the road and into the bushes to have breakfast and to wait for the others. 

 

Breakfasting as I wait for the others

The others soon did arrive accompanied by Petra who had cought up with them. She was alone and had left the Dutch couple back at the Gīte as they were still breakfasting and drinking coffee. They walked faster then her, and so she had left them to get ahead. She left us to eat breakfast together. 

After eating, we packed up and began to walk up the hill through the woods. Rose had said that the path was slipey and steep, but we found it to be rather smooth and steady. After walking up hill for an hour, passing a small Hamlet on the way up. Ontop of the hill sat the village of Saint-Goussaud. We stopped in the church to rest. Rose sang a song while I had plugged into a power outlet under the Alter of Mother Mary, (thank you for sharing some of your power with me Mary). As my sister sang a hymn, the Dutch couple which we had seen the day before and had been walking with Petra entered the church and listened to Rose. 

We were not there long, and we soon began back upon The Way. For a little bit, I walked with the Dutch couple and the woman was picking a bouquet of wild flowers to send a picture of to her mother for mother's day. This gave me an Idea and I too picked a bouquet for my mother back in NZ, as it would soon be mother's day over there in a matter of hours. I went on ahead of the Dutch couple, picking flowers to add to my collection. Rose campions, bluebells, dandelions, clover, and other such wild flowers of beauty, till I deemed that my collection was complete. 

 My mother's day bouquet for my mother

I waited under some oak trees in a dirt lane for the others. The Dutch couple passed me and they told me that the others had stopped for lunch. So I said I would continue on and wait for them in the village of Châtelus-le-Marcheix, another 3 km away. On my map I could see that there was a cafe in the village, but when I arrived, I found it to be closed, and so waited on their stone steps for the others to arrive. I took of my shoes and socks as they were quite damp, and set them out to dry. The others appear in half an hour and we continued on, walking for another 2 hours, covering 10 km in that time, before arriving in the village of Les Billanges where we ate dinner at a picnic table. I ate the last of my bread with tuna and cheese. Osgar was by this point out of bread aswell, and had been wanting a boulangerie (bakery) since the morning. On my map, I could see that the closest boulangerie (bakery) was 9 km from where we had eaten dinner. Rose's ankle was feeling better, but she was still taking painkillers throughout the day, but she was keen to walk another 4.7 km to where our path crossed the river of Le Taurion and we would camp on the other side of the riverbank, and would only be 4.3km from the boulangerie (bakery) in the morning.

As we ate dinner, the sun popped its head out from behind the clouds, which was very welcomed! Basked in the sunshine as we ate dinner, before we continued back upon The Way. 

As we got closer to the river, we could here someone playing music that had a strong base speaker and wondered what it could be. We could point in the direction of where it was coming from, but the hills and trees about, we could not see any houses. We eventually found that it was coming from a brewery that was holding a celebration. Enoch and Osgar were rather put out that they weren't there, and began dreaming about what food and drink might be there. We even could smell the food at one point! As we approached the bridge, a mighty dark cloud had risen to the north and thundered its way towards us. To begin with, it was hard to distinguish the thunder from the base music that was playing, but as the evening passed, it soon out played the celebrations DJ. As we were crossing the bridge over the river Le Taurion, it thundered and the wind picked to be quite the tempest. We ran for shelter in under the eve of a boat shed by the docks. The rain followed quickly. We sat on the metal bench with our backpacks lined up against the wall and we waited for the rain to stop before continuing. It didn't stop. The clock was ticking and the light of day began to diminish. Rose asked for a vote on if we wanted to try and sleep under the eve that night or to continue on and find a better place. Osgar and myself were game to stay the night where we were. Enoch was not. So Rose said if the rain didn't stop within thirty minutes, we would stay, and if it did stop, we would continue on. The rain did not stop. Enoch decided to continue on regardless of the rain, while the three of us began to make up our beds for the night under the eve of the boat shed. 

 

Sleeping by the boat shed.

I had made my bed under the metal bench seat, while the others had gone feet to feet further up. I only blew my mattress up twice throughout the night. To stop splash back onto me, I had set up my tents waterproof cover sheet to hang over the backpacks which were sitting on the bench, and down to the ground, providing me with a waterproof curtain to keep me dry throughout the night. I read from nin till 10 from the book called The Girl with with Pearl Earring.

The path inwhich we walked that day