The walk into SJPdP was partly cloudy the whole way - up until the Pilgrim's Gate was practically in sight. The sky opened up with a torrential downpour that managed to soak me to the skin within a half km.
In May I made a post about the 'running of the lambs' in a town called Gramarth. A big herd of them marching through down the street to get their haircuts. Just as I was remembering that scene it recreated itself, only this time the had just recently been shorn. This picture was taken about 200 meters from the one in May!
Not sure why but I'm kind of nervous about doing the actual Spanish Camino.
SJPdP reminds me of the first day at a new school in a cliquey kind of way. I probably feel that way because last time I was here I was part of the cool kid clique; the three or four of us who had walked from Le Puy.
Since my route merged with the Le Puy route I have had a chance to socialize with some fellow walkers, all from Germany. If for no other reason I'm glad to have walked the Tours route because I can say with utter surety and conviction that it sucks compared to the Le Puy route! I'm glad for other reasons as well though. The Tours route has such a wealth of important history. I've been in at least three towns that claim to host John the Baptist's head. The Germanicus / Tiberius arch in Saints is the kind of thing you won't find on the Le Puy route.
I had always thought that Leonardo Davinci lived in Florence, or somewhere in Italy but as it turns out, he lived and died in a town just outside of Tours. It was really great being an American up around Tours. Patton liberated that part of the country from the Nazis. So, while the Le Puy route has gorgeous scenery and is pretty much unchanged from how it was a thousand years ago, the Tours route is a completely different experience.
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