Christian is from Brittany, France. He spent his career on the sea, and in retirement, is walking the Chemin.
Sometimes you just end up in a magical place. We are staying at Accueil Abbaye de Sainte-Foy, in the village of Conques. Sainte-Foy or Saint Faith was a young woman martyred in the fourth century in Agen for refusing to worship pagan gods. How her remains (relics) ended up here is the interesting part – they were stolen by a monk from Conques in 866 CE. The relocation of the relics caused the pilgrimage route to change. The chapel was originally built in the 8th century and rebuilt much grander in the 11th and 12th century, using the cathedral in Santiago as inspiration.
Matthew is Dutch. He is walking the Chemin on his own. He was in Canada in March visiting his sister in Langley, BC. Always one for adventure, he landed in Montreal and took the train across Canada. Being on his own, he spent a couple hours exploring Conques, but then continued on.
Anne and Alexis are from France and work in Conques at the Tourist Information office in Conques. I stopped in to get a stamp on my Chemin credential, a passport of sorts that all pelerins carry. The stamps, usually two a day, document and verify our achievement and route. Anne immigrated to Canada and lived and worked in Hamilton, ON for 16 years. She returned home and now lives and works in her dream location, Conques.
Sophie is from France and started her Chemin the same day as us, April 1, in Le Puy.
Serge is from France and is walking his first Chemin. We spent two night with him.
Pelerins are welcomed at the Abbey where we sleep in coed dorms of 16 and eat a common dinner together. Tonight we had a broth with vegetables, Dahl with coconut curry, Brie, bread, wine, and apple crumble. It is like a reunion when you look around and know almost half of the 40 people in the room. After dinner we attended a blessing for the pelerins in the church. The five brothers did a lot of singing, then led us in a procession around the altar.
After the blessing, we were promised a light show on the front of the church. We gathered and waited. Eventually one of the brothers came out with a headlamp and proceeded to explain the carved relief above the door. The message was clear – walk the Chemin and go to heaven.
This was Mark D’s first dorm experience on the Chemin. We were all ready with our earplugs.