Day 5: St. Alban to Aumont-Aubrac

Day: 5, Miles Today: 9.55, Miles To Date: 51.86

Today was another great day. Walked alone most of the day to Aumont-Aubrac.

Daily Rhythm

I’m getting into a rhythm for the start of each day. At the suggestion of Fr John at Cistercian , my first mile each day consists of:

1. Breathing deep, and concentrating on each breath. 
2. Becoming completely aware of my surroundings. Concentrate on the sights, sounds, & smells all around. 
3. With each breath, simply say the name of Jesus. 

At the end of the first mile, I stop to adjust my layers depending on the weather and the difficulty of the trail. Then I put in the ear buds and start the 2nd mile with Morning Prayer (Liturgy of the Hours at DivineOffice.com). 

I’ve added a new devotion, the Office of Readings, that I start at mile 3. 

And without hardly noticing, the 1st three miles are done. 

Fellow Pilgrims

One of the great joys of the Camino is all the fellow pilgrims you get to meet. It’s a magical community of people who have just met each other, yet they have so much in common as hikers on The Way. Everyone is so helpful and friendly. Here are just a very few:

• The 5 Chicas. 
• The 4 Chicks and a Goat. 
• The Taiwanese ladies. 
• Michelle (Michael). 1st person I met, on the train out of Paris. He’s also going all the way to Santiago. 
• Jacque and his mother from Quebec. Stayed in the same Gite twice. Great to have an English speaker around. 
• Alessio, doing 5 days on the Camino with his 5 & 7 year old children. They are taking a donkey to carry the packs. He helped out by calling a Gite for me to confirm a reservation. 
• Cici. Lovely young lady (30’s). Sat down at the same spot for a rest today. Also made a phone call for me to confirm my reservations. 
• Will & Carol. We shared a table at dinner tonight. He is from New York, but has lived in France for 20 years. They used to own a Gite. They just closed it down and are now retired and traveling. 
• And that’s just a few of my new friends in the first 5 days.

Feels Like Home 

Stopped to rest my feet today. I looked up, and what did I see ? A BBQ smoker shipped all the way from Texas. Sadly, the restaurant was closed. 

Dinner Tonight

Tonight’s meal was a classic from the Aubrac region, Aligot. It’s mashed potatoes with lots of local cheese and garlic mixed in. Imagine mashed potatoes you have to cut with a knife.  Along with roast beef. It was a delicious and very hard meal. 

Blog Followers and Comments  

I want to thank all of you who are following my journey on this blog. And a special thanks to all who leave comments. I read the comments from past posts over and over for inspiration and to feel connected to home. 

Buen Camino!