Today’s walk was supposed to be 15 kms and miracle of miracles it was!!! We had such a lovely day, no stops, well no official stops. We made our own.

Wait, let me back up. Last night’s dinner and stay was absolutely perfect!! Our host and friends had a lively conversation with Noël (in French) to which I kept up and followed pretty well. They gave us tips which we hope are helpful. Such as if you can’t find a place to stay call the Mairie (town hall) and they will find you a common place to stay, as long as the Mairie is open. 😂🥰

And breakfast was yummy too. Only the second time I have been offered a bowl of coffee. Delicious. Our host gave us a discount. Super nice!!

As we made our way out of Anost we headed down. Which was funny because we thought we were already in the valley. But down we went in order to go up.

NOW: The Dance of the Climb! As we started up into the forest the path was wide enough that we could zigzag the steep path. Zigzag you ask? Well you walk at an angle from side to side saving your knees and other joints. When we walked the camino Frances someone came up to us and said, “I’ve been watching you and it looks like you are dancing!”

So aside from zigzagging our way up and even down the steep ways we also noticed that as we headed up a climb we got overheated with all the gear. So before climbing we took off the neck buff and the gloves and opened the coat. Once we got to the top and had the wind blowing we had to put it all back on. So the dance includes realizing what you need for any particular part of the dance. I guess you might say it’s about costume changes.

So how does this apply to everyday life? When I came home from my first pilgrimage I wanted to carry what I had learned into everyday life. I wanted to be an everyday pilgrim. It’s the simple lessons that I learned on the camino that began to translate into everyday life.

Just some bullet points that I want to elaborate on over the next couple of months. so stay tuned.

Okay we saw tracks again today. So I downloaded a couple of free tracking apps. But they were not helpful. They really made us laugh.

For example this picture came up as 94% mountain lion.

This one 78% cow

We think wild boar!! 😳

I don’t have the bear looking track that said it was 75% alligator. If alligators show up on these mountains so far away from water climate change is a lot farther along than we knew. (P.S. we believe there is climate change)!

So whoever has a good tracking app for animal tracks please share.

Thanks for joining us on our journey!

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