Day 30 – Seyssel to Jongieux (35,1km) – Sunday 30.07.2023
It had rained off and on throughout the night. At 7:30 I got up and took down my wet tent and packed everything up. I started today’s tour around 8 a.m.
Immediately after the campsite I passed a café on the road. The two pilgrims with whom I had dinner yesterday were sitting there. I gave them a friendly wave and continued walking. It went right along the water. After almost 3km I passed a stone, which I chose as my seat for my breakfast break. I really enjoyed having my coffee and a few shock rolls by the still water and was happy that I didn’t have to sit on the noisy street.
As I continued running, after just a few minutes I was approached by a jogger. She told me that she had already walked the Camino from Valencia and had only recently found out that there was a path right in front of her house. She wished me a nice trip and we continued walking again.
After a while I left the river and continued a bit staggered through the forest. I kept coming straight to the river for a few minutes and then moving away again.
After a while we went to a dam, which I then followed for a few kilometers. In the end I arrived in Chanaz. The place was very nice and there were good looking restaurants right on the water. Only the large number of tourists made the place seem a little overcrowded to me, so I continued walking without stopping. A steep climb followed.
On the way I met an older couple who immediately recognized me as a pilgrim and spoke to me. They asked if they could help me. I asked whether there would be another water point in the next few kilometers to replenish my reserves. The woman initially thought that I was out of water and immediately offered me a drinking bottle that she had in her handbag. When I explained to her that I had half a liter left and just wanted to fill up my water for the night, she asked her husband in French for a place to water. Since he had apparently managed the signs for the Way of St. James in this area for years, he knew directly where I should find water. Reassured, I thanked the nice couple and moved on.
After I continued walking uphill, I slowly got better and better visibility. With the evening sun now beautiful, I was able to enjoy the illuminated vineyards. The path slowly led back downhill to Lucy. There I passed a stream where I filtered some water and washed some clothes. So I was no longer dependent on the predicted water point and didn’t have to stick to the path.
Meanwhile I started looking for a suitable place to sleep. But there was another steep climb up to Jongieux. Since the vineyards were now steeper again, it became more difficult for me to find a place there for the night. When I saw that there was a chapel on the mountain not far away, I decided to walk there.
When I got there I had a wonderful view and since there wasn’t much going on, I decided to set up my tent there. But first I ate my dinner at a table and waited for it to get a little darker. Just as I started to set up my tent, another local man came by on his bike to enjoy the view. But it didn’t bother him that I set up my camp for the night in the middle of the mountain and when we briefly communicated more or less in English, he thought it was a good idea to sleep here and said it wasn’t a problem. Then he wished me a good night and drove back down.
After I had finished setting up my tent, I watched the sunset and then went to bed at 10 because I had to get up early the next morning to take down my tent in time.
Day 31 – Jongieux to Saint-Genix-les-Villeges (31,4km) – Monday 31.07.2023
The night on the mountain was cold. Nevertheless, I slept well in my tent. I got up at 6 a.m. and quickly dismantled my tent. Then I put on a coffee and drank it with the rising sun and the most beautiful view of the valley.
The tour started with a steep descent. I always had a beautiful view of the surrounding area and the Rhone.
Once at the bottom I followed the river to Yenne. There I took a 2km detour to shop in a supermarket. I sit on a bench in the beautiful place and have breakfast there. After I left the place, it went straight uphill again and I quickly started sweating. While I had made a really quick cut up to this point, it continued to drop rapidly with each passing minute.
I met three pilgrims at a viewing platform. A Swiss man with whom I chatted briefly and two Swiss women who continued walking straight away. I was supposed to meet all three more often that day. But first I took a short break to recover from the long climb. Then it continued uphill.
Apparently I had overtaken all three on the following route and when I took my lunch break at a hunter’s hut, all three got there after me. They sat down next to me and we talked for a bit while I made my coffee and the others filled up their water bottles.
After what had become a long climb, I actually thought that I should have reached the top soon. But I was wrong and it kept going up. Although the climb was now becoming difficult for me, I of course went all the way to the top at the junction to the summit and didn’t miss it. From above I had a great view into the distance. When I ran back down, I met the two Swiss women one last time. They told me to say hello to one of their Andreas, who I would recognize by her strange sticks covered in tape. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to catch up with her that day.
A long descent followed. After almost 30km with 1000 meters of ascent and descent, I was slowly running out of strength. So I started looking for a suitable place to sleep. As I passed a church, I asked the town hall next door if I could pitch my tent on the lawn in front of it. When the woman said no and said that I should walk to the campsite in the next town, I continued running, exhausted.
A short time later I passed a rest stop for pilgrims. I drank a small, ice-cold beer in the old barn. That just felt wonderful after such a long and tiring day. Afterwards I took an iced tea with me and continued with new energy.
Shortly after the town I passed a meadow with trees, the back of which was not visible from the road. So I went there and set up my tent for the night. I ate a little something and then, exhausted, fell onto my sleeping bag and quickly fell asleep.
Day 32 – Saint-Genix-les-Villeges to Les Abrets (17,1km) – Thuesday 01.08.2023
After a very restful night, my alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. I quickly packed everything up and set off early. We went straight up through the forest again. When things went downhill again and I finally left the forest, I took my breakfast break. As always, I made myself a coffee and ate a piece of baguette with salami that I had left over from the day before.
This was followed by a descent through a small town. As I crossed a river it started to rain and I took shelter at a house. The Swiss guy from yesterday came by again and we talked briefly. He told me that he too was very exhausted after yesterday, even though he had started one place later than me and thus saved himself the steep descent. He was also very happy about the ice-cold beer at the pilgrims’ rest stop, which we both had to laugh about briefly.
The path afterwards was very flat and I made progress effortlessly. I arrived at my destination shortly before one o’clock. There I set up my tent at a campsite and washed my clothes. While these were drying on the clothesline, I went into the pool. Just as I was about to leave the pool and do my laundry, it started raining heavily. Afterwards my clothes were so wet again that I just left them hanging. I had dinner in the restaurant at the campsite and then went to sleep after a not very strenuous day.
Day 33 – Les Abrets to Le Pin (28,1km) – Wednesday 02.08.2023
Today I didn’t sleep as well. Somehow it was too warm for me all night and since some of my clothes didn’t seem to be really dry yet, I also had an unpleasant humidity in my tent. Since I had planned a short stage of just under 17km for today, I just stayed there until 7:30 a.m. and then slowly packed everything up. In the next town I went shopping again in a supermarket.
After that it went straight uphill. At an intersection with a view, I sat down on the side of the road and unpacked the food I had bought.
Afterwards we continued on dirt roads. When the weather was nice, I had a constant, beautiful view of the surrounding area. Due to the smaller lap today, I traveled very slowly and took a lot of breaks.
In Valencogne I visited the church, which was largely designed for pilgrims passing through. Instead of a stamp, there was simply a sticker that I could stick into my pilgrim passport.
Then I continued through the forest to Le Pin, which was my planned destination. Just outside the town I walked down to the lake to look at potential accommodation there. Unfortunately the woman told me in French that they were already fully booked. So I walked all the way back up and continued to Le Pin. Since there was unfortunately no accommodation for me there either, I filled up my water reserves in a kiosk and resigned myself to spending the night in my tent again today.
So I left the place again and continued walking through the forest. A little later I left this again and continued along field paths. With the wind now strong, after almost 28km I found an empty cow pasture that apparently hadn’t been used for a long time. I waited there until it got dark and then set up my tent in a place protected from the wind. But around 10 a.m. the wind died down again and I was able to fall asleep peacefully in my tent.
Day 34 – Le Pin to Faramans (34,1km) – Thursday 03.08.2023
Today I got up early again to take down my tent in nature. After a good night’s sleep, I started my hike around 6:30. The weather was perfect and the low sun shone beautifully on the fields.
A climb in the morning caused me to gain altitude quickly. After I left the forest, I saw a beautiful panorama. An ideal place for my morning break. I spread out my sleeping mat as soon as I started and made my coffee. I was once again happy to have found such a nice place for my coffee, which I would always prefer to any café in the city. So in the wonderful calm of the morning I sipped my coffee and ate something.
Afterwards we continued through fields and smaller towns. On the way I met a pilgrim with whom I walked for a few kilometers. The now 76-year-old man came from Luxembourg and walked from Geneva to Santiago. He started this journey with his wife and, as I learned, he had already been on long hikes all over the world. After all, he knew Karlsruhe and told me right away that he had met with a philosopher there every week for years to discuss various topics. He himself is a writer, but has also been a director in a theater and has also worked as a teacher and professor. I found it quite interesting to talk to him. But when we caught up with his wife after half an hour and they both took a break, I continued running.
Since there was no room for me in a hotel in the town of La Côte-Saint-André either, I continued walking and looked for a campsite in the next town where I could sleep. Since all the batteries, spare batteries and my power bank were now empty, I needed a place where I could charge my things again for today. So I ran to this campsite and got a spot there. I’m using the time to recharge my batteries and write on my blog.
Review
Here’s a little review/overview of the route we’ve run so far. In the following graphic I used my planned route from my first block post and colored the route I have run so far in red. It’s not exactly the route I ran, but it should give a nice overview of the route I’ve run so far and also illustrate what route I still have ahead of me. The red dot is roughly where I am right now.
As of today I have covered over 900 km and am getting closer and closer to the first 1000 km limit. So I’ve already completed over a third of my planned route, but I still have a lot to go.
Here are a few more facts:
- Days on the road: 34
- Days run: 33
- Break days: 1
- Kilometers run: 903
- Km per day: 26.5km
- Altitude: 17,210m
- Blisters: 2 (very small in the first week)
- Blister plasters needed: 0 (although I carry two packs)
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