PARIS

You may well ask "why would a posting be titled 'Paris' when this is a blog about walking the Le Puy Camino?" The answer . . . because this is where we have ended our journey, in Paris.  Why? . . . read on.

Last Sunday in the small village of Condom, instead of doing our clothes washing by hand as good pilgrims should, we found somewhere where we could put them in an automatic washing machine. Unfortunately Steve did not fully empty the pockets of his trousers which have a good zippered pocket where he carries his passport for security. Needless to say, the passport spent over an hour fully submerged in water which destroyed it. 

After checking the Australian Government website, we realised that we had no alternative    other than to make our way to Paris to apply for a new passport.  Sadly our Camino was over.

We realised It could take time to have a new passport issued so we decided to go to Saint Jean Pied de Port and collect our sent on excess baggage then head to Paris. Getting out of a small village and down to Saint Jean then back up to Paris was a major exercise that we somehow managed to do in two days. 

The Australian Embassy staff were incredibly helpful and Steve collected his Emergency Passport today, a few days after applying.  Steve was told not to feel too bad about it as this sort of thing happens all the time.

An Emergency Passport has restrictions and there are some countries who refuse entry to holders of these passports, Dubai among them, so we have now changed our flights to fly home via Singapore and will be home sometime next week.

We have walked over 500 km, been exhausted each evening after walking some really tough trails, had a wonderful time and met some great people, experienced fantastic scenery, incredible villages, ancient churches, savoured meals that you would only expect to find in a Michelin star resturant, drank some of the best wines in the world, and all this in France.  So coming home a few weeks early is no big deal.

Our last few days on the Camino walking towards Condom were lovely, the trail was good, the weather cool and sunny, the countryside rolling farmland of wheat fields and vegetable crops. We experienced a wonderful market in the village of Lectoure and a rose festival in La Romieu, where we stayed in what is known as 'The Ancient Presbytere'.

Five of us set out on that cold, foggy morning from Le Puy on the 24th April.  Myself, Steve, Hanna, our friend from California, and Sandi and Karla, the two Aussie girls we met on the hill climb out of town, who became our great mates.  For various reasons, none of us completed the walk, but that is just the way of the Camino. Still, we had a wonderful time and we are proud of what we achieved, it's been a good Camino!