Footsteps ~ Short tales of the trail
Crossing paths, Paris-to-Paris
Part of making a round-trip is finding your way back to where you started. Sometimes, along the way you may cross your own path…
The most northerly of the pilgrim paths in France bears the Latin name via Turonensis – the Tours route. It begins beneath the “St. James Tower” (tour St-Jacques) in Paris and heads south to Orlèans, on the Loire River. Here it follows the GR-3 long-distance trail, running along the river through its famous valley of vineyards, forests, and grand chateaux. At Tours the route leaves the Loire and wanders south on the GR-655 through Poitiers and Bordeaux, and on to its terminus at Ostabat in the Basque country, where it merges with other footpaths heading toward Santiago de Compostela.
I walked the Paris to Bordeaux section in the autumn of 2007. At the time, the tour St-Jacques was draped in construction cloth for restoration. I set off on the last day of September at point zero in front of Notre Dame Cathedral. There were a few dreary days walking free of suburban gravity, and a few more crossing miles of fogbound sugar beet country, before reaching France’s great untamed river. There began a gentle weeklong ramble along the water’s edge, big days filled with quiet.
On the last afternoon of this riverside section, I was making my way along the north bank. The trail runs under the viaduct of the high-speed train (the TGV, or tren de grande vitesse) that runs between Paris and Bordeaux. I enjoy any encounter with these wonderful machines, so I slowed down, hoping to see one whoosh by. Happily, I was rewarded within a few minutes, before moving on, soon arriving at a bridge for my final crossing of the Loire, into Tours.
A couple of cool, good-weather weeks later I reached Bordeaux. I stayed for a few days and then booked a seat on the TGV for my return to Paris, and home.
Although high-speed train travel is near the opposite end of the transportation spectrum from simple pedestrianism, I do admit that it’s marvelous to sit in well-reclined comfort and watch the world whiz by.
On the way north, I caught a streaking glimpse of a small hotel next to the tracks where I had spent the night while making my southing. I was threading myself in and out of the trail, retracing my steps of just a few days before.
The train makes a brief stop at Tours. As we pulled away from the station and began to roll across the river, I looked out over the water to the approaching bank, hoping to see the footpath from the window, and my viewpoint of the viaduct from half a month ago. I was able to catch a hurried photo from the perspective of the train, and wondered if anyone had noticed a lone walker looking back at them a few weeks before. For me, these images close a little loop, a knot in the ribbon of memories of that walk.
From the Loire the train glides north across the Beauce, the great granary of France, and soon coasts into the Gare Montparnasse. It was a bright, blue-sky afternoon in which to watch the autumn world flash by.
My wife likes to remind me of this story. It took me 33 days to walk from Paris to Bordeaux. It took three hours for the TGV to whisk me back. She seems to think there’s an important lesson in there and perhaps one day I’ll grasp it. I suppose she’s right. Walking is the only form of travel without blur…
Really... there's a village church in there.
January 17th, 2012 at 10:38
I walked this route from Orléans to Roncesvalles in 2006. We took a train to Orléans, after walking two ‘St Jacques in Paris’ routes from the Confraternity of St. James of UK Paris Pilgrim guide book.
In 5 weeks we only met one other pilgrim, a Frenchman on his way back from St-Jean-Pied-de-Port after walking the GR-65 route from Le Puy. We didn’t find any pilgrim shelters until we reached the south, so it was quite an expensive route to walk. It’s flat – almost flatline – until you get to the south where you reach the foothills of the Pyrenées. An interesting, historical route, but not the most scenic or challenging.
January 17th, 2012 at 13:38
Good to hear from you, Sil.
I think taking the train to Oréans is a good choice. Although I did meet some of the nicest local people along that first stretch, I also stayed in a couple of the worst hotels. If I ever walk it again, I’d skip the dreary Paris suburbs and start in Orléans. Or perhaps in Etampes, which gives you a couple of days in the farmlands, which you’ll miss otherwise. Miles and miles of sugar beets and sunflowers.
I agree that the route is flat. That might be a good choice for some people. It’s definitely the least strenuous of the four St-Jacques chemins.
In 2007, I did stay at a very nice, simple, clean and free(!) community gîte, I think in Melle. The lady at the OT gave me a key and refused to take any money. You’re right, there were a lot of nights in hotels, but I also had some great evenings in some chambres d’hôtes.
March 25th, 2015 at 18:16
I really like your story. I read it before I left on the Camino last May, and was looking for the viaduct on my way into Tours. I recognized it instantly! But, honestly now…that’s not the same view back out the train window, is it?
Reminds me of the thrill I feel when recognizing places (and sometimes persons) in the blogs of other pilgrims – especially those whose caminos crossed mine. Recently I discovered the blog of such a pilgrim. She took a picture of a sign – si tu penses mal, marche encore! – in a garden on the way out of Sorigny. I had seen the sign, and loved the thoughtfulness of it, and shared a wave with the shadowy person in the window of the house behind me as I continued the walk. That night I wrote about the experience, but regretted not having a picture. I felt one of those Camino connections, which was renewed now, a year later, when I discovered my fellow pilgrim had taken a pic. It was probably only a day or two after I passed by.
March 25th, 2015 at 21:09
I know what you mean about those little touchstones of the caminos that resonate with you. Somehow, one way or another, there always seems to be a way to connect the little dots, close the loop, whatever. Always brings me a smile when it happens.
Yes that really is a shot from the train back up the trail toward where I took the photo of the train. As I was walking downstream toward Tours, there was a good straight stretch and I saw that trains were passing about every 5 minutes. So when I got closer, I stopped to snap one going by. The river’s edge is just a little to the left of where the train is. When I headed back north from Bordeaux, I got a seat on the starboard side, and I was ready to take the reverse shot as soon as the train crossed the river from Tours. I’d been planning the second shot since I took the first one, and happily, it worked. True story. Glad you enjoyed it!