Today was 13 miles,  bringing our total to 375 miles walked.  Diane’s shins were mostly quiet for all but the last 3 miles … then they roared. Here’s her ankle wrapped for the hike:

Shortly after this photo, we spied several curious young quackers checking us out! 

While very cute, their destiny is probably in the hands of a French chef somewhere.

Given the challenge of Diane’s shin, we decided to straighten out the route a bit. Again using Google maps, we found a small backroad that was more direct than the Chemin and shaved of about 2 miles for the day.

So, who walks in France? Where in Spain, the predominant reason for a hike like this is to do a pilgrimage, here it seems the primary reason is to do a vacation. We have met many, many French who like taking their vacations by walking a week or two in the Chemin.

There really is no equivalent to this in the States. It is a bit like backpacking, but every village that you pass through (and many farms in between) have B&B’s or Hostels.  And that’s where everyone intends to stay. The are usually campsites available, but it is not like the backwoods backpackers campsite that you would find in the States.

The Chemin de St. Jacques, or GR 65, is but one of dozens of hikes you can do across France (and Europe), and all of them are all well marked, and all of them are set up for the Hostel or B&B crowds.

As we said,  there’s really nothing like this in the States.

Hope all are well.