Our first day on the Chemin d'Arles - and we are immediately in pilgrim mode. I am writing this entry from a top bunk in our dormitory room at the Maison des Pelerins in the village of Saint Gilles.
The gite is run by volunteer pelerins (French for pilgrim, or peregrino in Spanish). This afternoon we were warmly welcomed by Therese et Marcel - a French couple from Nimes who are volunteering here for one week. They are experienced pilgrims, on the Chemin d'Arles and others caminos, and have already been a valuable source of information which will come in handy over the next few days. More on that another time - tomorrow perhaps. And they are sharing our dormitory as well - or, more correctly, we are sharing theirs!
We didn't see any other walkers today, though there are four others - all men - in the gite. They are in another dormitory room upstairs. One of them is 82 year old Didion from Nancy in France (where we boarded our train two days ago). He moved into a nursing home and was unhappy there. So he decided to walk. This is now his seventh time on The Way! C'est Le Chemin.
The cost of our accommodation tonight is 12 euros per person and includes breakfast tomorrow morning. We could buy some supplies and cook in the gite kitchen tonight but a local restaurant offers a menu de pelerin tonight (pilgrim's menu) for 10 euros - pourquoi pas? Why not? They are always great value. This is good news for The French and me. After an indulgent week - charming chambre d'hôtes and great restaurants - we are keen to tighten our belts a little (figuratively - and literally for me). We'll be on The Way for more than six weeks, so our idea is to 'go pilgrim' most nights with more luxurious accommodation (ie our own room) once or twice a week. And the odd splurge as well. Voila.
So, back to today. It was a very good first day. A short distance - the options were 22 or 40 kms. And cool temperature, just 11 degrees maximum in Arles and surrounds - yesterday was almost double that. The path was flat, though that's not always good news for me. On the few occasions I've had an injury with the potential to 'ground' me for a day or two, it's been shin splints from walking long flat distances with little variation. So I'm mindful to be aware of any early signs. Thankfully no problems today. As well as the easy terrain, there are no villages on The Way between Arles and Saint Gilles - no second coffee for Martine and me - so, although we walked at a leisurely pace, we made good time. We arrived at tonight's stop just after 1.30, five hours after our departure.
Grey skies all day but no rain until around 11am. It's been raining ever since, though it didn't cause any problems. In fact, it gave us an early opportunity to use our umbrellas. This is the first time either Domi or I has walked with an umbrella - in place of a poncho. For today's conditions, it was definitely a success. Our parapluies are small, lightweight and strong. It means, of course, walking pole or poles are held in one hand, or go back in the pack. But it's great to be dry on the top half - including face and hair. In difficult terrain, I expect I'll forego the umbrella for two poles - but we still have waterproof jackets and rain covers for our packs, so that should be fine. We never worry about the bottom half. Whether hiking pants or bare legs - they dry quickly.
A longer distance tomorrow - and likely some more rain - but again the terrain looks quite flat. I've read that these first 3-4 days to Montpelier, while not the most scenic, provide a good opportunity to prepare for the much more difficult stages. Unlike the Camino Frances (a difficult first day), Camino Mozarabe (a gruelling first day), Chemin du Puy and Camino Primitivo (a difficult first week), the Chemin d'Arles starts easy and then just gets harder. After one day, it's easy to say that we're looking forward to that. But tout est possible en Chemin. As the French says, 'nous verrons ca'. We'll see that.
J x.
