Arles

Arles is a small, beautiful city full of Roman monuments, but I will remember it for the wind. The Mistral. I’m sure I’ve read about it in novels. In Hemingway stories about the Spanish civil war, before they cross the border from France? In Villa Air-Bel, a book, loaned to me by Roberta Hamilton, that is about a group of German and French “enemies of the Third Reich,” artists and intellectuals living as refugees in occupied France, the Americans and French who support them, and the house where they take refuge near Marseille, and that is now serialized on Netflix? The inspector Bruno murder mysteries, which I love, that are set in Perigord? I just looked up the Mistral in literature and while I didn’t find the novels I was looking for, I did find a history of France, as shaped by the Mistral. It’s by Catherina Tatiana Dunlop, if you are interested. This wind is pushy and intense and, it seems, relentless. It rearranges things on the street — potted plants, outdoor furniture, scaffolding. It’s loud and cold. Easy to imagine that it has shaped the history of France! My first task this morning was to buy gloves to replace the ones I lost yesterday (maybe because of the wind?). It looks like I will be walking with the wind for at least a week.

The walk I am here to to is the Chemin d’Arles, or some people call it the Via Tolosana. It is the most southern of the four main French routes that lead to the Camino routes in Spain. I first heard about it from Michel, a French man with whom I walked on my first Camino in the spring of 2000 — Laurie, who is maybe reading this — walked with him too! He had walked the Chemin d’Arles the previous year. At the time he was in his mid 60s, and I was very impressed! Of course I am now the same age he was and regularly see people 10, 15, 20 years older than this on many of the long walks. What was once impressive now feels normal, but I do feel lucky and grateful to be here. Maybe especially for the people who are looking after the poodle!

The first 4 days to Montpelier are flat, then some time in some serious hills on the way to Toulouse, which I have just learned is the third biggest city in France. Then into the foothills and over the Pyrenees at the Somport pass. That’s the official end of the Chemin d’Arles. From there you continue on the Camino Aragones for about a week to a town on the big, crowded, popular Camino Frances. It is called Puenta La Reina, where, yes, there is a very nice bridge. The walk is about 800 kilometres to there. At that point, I will see how much time I have and how I am feeling and then maybe I will walk the busy Camino in reverse for one day to Pamplona. That is the likely stopping point, though if I have enough time and all my joints are still working, I will walk another small Camino in reverse, the Camino Baztan, up to Bayonne, just over the border in France. I really like the idea of walking back to France! It would also make the trip very close to 1000 km. A nice round number!

Tomorrow is flat, 20 km, and not that exciting, according to the people on the Internet. There is a variant that follows a river and gets you off the pavement but, apparently, you hardly ever see the river and it’s buggy and monotonous. So I will follow the main route to St Gilles — end point of the Way of St Gilles (GR 700) that E and I did in 2014 - though we did not have enough days to make it to the very end. The temperature was also in the mid-30s by that point. Way too hot for us. Hence the fact that I start this route in March!

I arrived here yesterday afternoon, and I’ve not done justice to Arles. Lots of Roman remnants. Beautiful cloister beside the cathedral - free entrance and many good wishes for pilgrims. Big Van Gogh museum, though I only went as far as the court yard garden. The official start of this route is just outside the gates of a Roman cemetery, a few hundred metres beyond the centre of the city. Today the cemetery was closed because of the wind!Read more