Walking With Angels Sunday September 15

Wow, Harry at Harry's Haven in Bouveret he produced a great English breakfast. It was a great stay and we hit the bake shop in town and got sandwiches for the road. There was a light rain falling and i had the iPad open to the map and enclosed in the clear plastic kayak map case in front of me. We followed the canal and then the Rhone river, passing a number of power plants and Re-cycling plants.

We walked with our tunes on today and time passed quickly

We arrived in Saint Maurice after 5 1/2 hours and found the Abbaye. After trying a number of doors we found the reception area and met Father Joseph who fortunately speaks English. He was most welcoming and introduced us to another, elderly priest, who looks after the rooms etc. He showed us to our room and showed us where things are. Charlotte practised what she was going to say, and went back to the reception area and spoke to the woman there. I fell asleep under the duvet with the window open. After awhile I heard my name coming from somewhere. I looked out the indie and down below Charlotte was standing there calling my name. She couldn't get the outside door open and didn't know what to do. Tonight we have Vespers at 6pm and le souper at 6:25pm.

We went to Vespers at 6pm and it lasted until 6:20pm. There were about 20 priests and their chanting and singing echoed throughout the large stone sanctuary. At 6:25pm we showed up for le souper and were greeted at the door by the host priest. He showed us to a private room where there were two settings for dinner. In a few minutes madam arrived with a Turin of soup. There were bottles of white and red wine, juices and water. Later a dish appeared with an egg omelette and potatoes with salad.

Father Joseph joined us for desert and when I inquired about the possibility of a tour, he said yes, cme with me. In 2015 it will be 1500 years that there has been an operational church at this location. The longest in Europe. He took us down through tunnels built by the Romans in the first century. There are excavations going on revealing fifth century graves. It was a wonderfully tour and with the benefit of being done in English. There are 40 priests living here. They service quite a number of parishes in the surrounding areas. They also run a school here as well. They have outreach schools bring run in Kahzadstan and Congo from this parish as well. This excavation is absolutely a world heritage type site with the excavated graves sites lined with stone and the foundations exposed of a number of churches all under tremendous roof constructed of fibreglass suspended from the mountain of stone over the complete excavation. All this within a hundred metres or so of the main rail line between Rome and Paris with a 165 trains running daily. there was not a crack in the church construction, alluding to the good engineering and solid construction. All this was started because of the burial of Saint Maurice in the first century.

It is truly awe inspiring. Think of the hundreds of stone warriors exposed in China. And people wonder why we walk. You don't see or experience this on a cruise.

Tomorrow Martigny. 

One day at a time.

Walking with Angels Saturday September 14th

  The day started around 8am after we left Saint Amedee in Lausanne. Our sleep was broken up due to the jet lag and perhaps a few other things. We locked up our room and the building when we left this morning and put the key and chf in an envelope and then into the parish mailbox outside. Charlotte guided us to a patiserie she had spotted the night before. Cafe au lait and some fresh baking made our first meal in 24 hours. Off we went with the iPad downloaded map for Vevey about 25 Kim's down the lake. I put my poles on the pack and followed all the turns through the city for almost 2hours before 

We were out of town and climbing into the vineyards high above lake Geneva. We had added considerable water to our camel backs because of the warm weather and distance. This was good except it also added considerable weight to both our packs and since we were going up hill a lot we were slowed right down to 1 or 2 kms an hour. The views of the lake and Alps is stunning with glimpses of snow on the higher elevations. After a pretty arduous trek up and down the vineyards we finally got into Vevey around 2pm, a little shop worn and aiming for the first food and drink source. After a few drafts and a sandwich at a roadside stand we found the TO office who confirmed our reservation in Bouveret. We loaded up on a few more chf as most things are expensive. We caught the 4 o'clock ferry from Vevey that makes a number if stops before taking us across the lake to Bouveret.

Our host picked us up at the ferry dock in his car and brought us to his house where we got the superior room with a shared bath for 125 chf. We scoped out our route for the morning and had a nice pasta dinner in town. That was a pretty rough day for us climbing the hills but I have a feeling it is just the start. Tomorrow we follow a valley along the Rhone river to St.Maurice, perhaps 25 kms. We will be staying at an Abbae with dinner and petit de jejune included for $70 chf. Someone also told us along the way that the pass we are heading to is expecting a big dump of snow in a couple of days.

Walking with Angels

Well, what a day. Lets start near the end of it. I am sitting at a bus stop in Lausanne. Charlotte has gone down the street in search of food and drink. It is 6:30pm and we were supposed to be at this address around 5pm in order for us to have a bed. It is Saint Amedee and the priest is nowhere to be found. However, the trusty iPad has the reply we received from the secretary saying we are expected.

After two or three tries I got a French speaking young man to phone the contact number and talk to who ever answers. He talked a long time and then got the bus driver who happened to stop, translate into English. The gist of it is we should wait until 7pm. We followed the original route from Cossonay along a river to Lausanne, about six hours with our packs. I originally had planned to walk a shorter route to our sleeping place. We had virtually no sleep on the plane so we were walking on adrenalin and Cliff energy bars. We still have 15 minutes until 7pm. The night might not be over yet. Along the way when we neared Lausanne I heard someone shout, COMPESTELLE. They left with a God Bless You directed at us. The priest showed up and is now trying to find a key to let us in the bedroom. Both our legs are wiped out with little if any sleep. We now have our room. It is very pilgrim like. For our first day we are exhausted and going to bed with no lunch or supper, but there is a bakery down the road for morning on our way to Vevey to hopefully catch the ferry boat across lake Geneve to Bouveret.

To top off the day we are being serenaded by an orchestra practice next door. It ain't gourmet.

It was nice to see a Camino shell outside on the building. Cost 5 chf each for tonight.

Francis had picked us up at Geneva and taken us to the same square we left off at last year in Cossonay.

Day one: Hair Canada

Stayed in the Travel Lodge in Sydney last night. The room was surprisingly good and you cant beat the location right on main street Sydney, nor the $97.00 price. Had a great rib dinner and a walk along the sea wall.Beautiful warm evening with not a cloud and a glorious sunset. Charlottes cold seems a little better and the lozenges have helped the throat. Four o'clock came early this morning and after a somewhat hurried breakfast we got the shuttle to the airport. Francis our friend who is picking us up in Geneva emailed and gave us his cellular number to aid in our meeting. As I emailed back, it won't do much good as we planned on picking up a phone in Italy. We have talked about walking for the next two months and decided that above all we must have some FUN!

Three more days

We are more than ready. Packs are packed and weighed. Mine comes in dry at 8 kilos, I don't know about Charlottes. We have decided to take the boat from Lausanne on the 14th to Montreux and then walk to Villeneuve and on to Aigle. The boat gets into Montreux at 1:15pm and we will have about 16kms to walk inland into the mountains.

On the 13th we arrive in Geneva at 10am and Francis, our friend we met last year, is meeting us and driving us to Cossonay where we stopped last year. We have about a three or four hour walk to Lausanne where we are staying at a religious order. Hopefully we can get there by 5pm when I said we would be there.

22km

Walked with my pack to the ferry and back today. It is about 22 k and no difficulty with the knee other than a little stiff since I didn't stop for just under four hours.

Knee

My knee let me down a few days ago on a four hour or so hike with our packs for 22 kms. Went to the doctor yesterday and she checked previous X-rays and said my arthritis isn't bad enough for a knee replacement and she gave me a cortisone injection. Hopefully that might get me back on track. I would like to get back walking again after I let it rest up a little.