Monday's Millinery Musings - France on Foot Part 3: Getting lost

BY GUEST BLOGGER JENNIFER

There are several ways of responding to getting lost on the trail: 1) Panic, not advised, or 2) Surrender wholeheartedly to being lost. The last option is by far the more interesting. Suddenly one becomes a different person inhabiting a wild new world.

Several years ago we were lost in a forest in Burgundy. We had cut back and forth in the hills for several hours on a very hot day. We ran out of water. At some point we realized that we had been led off trail by a series of mis-marked and missing blazes (trail markers). We found ourselves good and lost. At this point we abandoned the trail markings and went straight back to the compass and the blessed Serie Bleu map, which also has topographic detail. Dave, quite the accomplished boy scout, eventually  put us on the right track. But that didn't help with water.

Finally headed in the right direction, we slogged through the underbrush, sweat running down our bodies, and the dull headaches of dehydration our constant companion. The thirst was ferocious. After some time we found ourselves facing a very small, white sign with black lettering that said  "Le Source", a spring!  The narrow trail eventually widened  into a shady opening in the forest and there to our astonishment was Saint Anne! 

St Anne, mother of Mary

A grotto of large and small stones had been roughly fashioned and in a niche stood a small statue of Saint Anne. She stood calmly in her stone robes.  Other niches held sprays of plastic flowers: yellow sunflowers, pink roses, and a vase of spent blue irises. Clear, cold, spring water poured out from a small pipe under St. Anne's feet and flowed into a reflecting pool that collected water as it ran out of an opening between the stones into another pool. It was a nearly unbelievable sight!

When the lost are found, when thirst is quenched, the single most crystalline feeling is of joy. Pure and simple joy of the heart and mind. All cares fall away. We dropped our backpacks and sat a long while with Saint Anne and took comfort from her. We drank deeply from the spring and bathed our sunburned faces in the cool freshness of this tiny refuge that seemed to materialize just for us. We found our way easily after that to our village hotel and a good meal. This experience gave us much to think about and be thankful for.

I wish you simple joys as you walk along your way. You may feel lost sometimes, but you will find yourself. Not to worry.

Monday's Millinery Musing - France on Foot - part 1

By guest blogger Jennifer

In 1999 a friend at work dropped a book on Dave's desk and said. "You and Jennifer should do this." The book was France on Foot by Bruce LeFavour. It completely changed our view of what a vacation could be. It changed us.

We bravely ventured forth in 2000, armed with our map 903, France Grande Randonee or France Long Distance Walking Paths. This map traces nearly 37,000 miles of trails in France alone, and as Le Favour points out this is more than one and a half times the distance around the world at the equator.

The French trail system was established in the 1930's by the FFRP(translation: French Long Distance Walking Federation). This group of activists along with other individuals and preservation organizations were concerned because the paths, which had always been  open to everyone, had fallen into decline and were being swallowed up by the automobile and modern agriculture. In 1999 there were about 6,000 volunteers who did the hard work of maintaining these trails. The trails are not only maintained, they are meticulously mapped in the IGN Serie Bleue maps.

We have never rented a car in France. We fly into Paris, take the metro from the airport to one of the train stations, and a train to the area where we want to walk. To avoid the highways and traffic we take a taxi to the trailhead. This always entertains the taxi driver who invariably gives us outstanding recommendations for local restaurants, wines, and on occasion, excellent recipes. He basically drops us in the middle of nowhere, waves cheerily and shouts, "Bon Courage!" We love that. It's always the same.

At this point we are out of touch for several weeks. We carry everything we need in backpacks. We have maps and a compass.

Once we are within the trail system we can walk locally or regionally. The pleasures of walking through the French countryside are infinite whether it is through the lovely villages, vineyards or forests. We rarely see other hikers. Dave walks faster than I do so we are often far apart, meeting up several times a day. On the silent path one can hear the cuckoos in the forests, pick wood violets and wild geraniums, and hear the sound of ones own breath and footsteps. It is deeply relaxing.

We are often asked why we don't ride bikes instead of walk, we could cover more ground, get to places more quickly etc. For us it's too fast. Life whizzes by on a bike. When we walk we can really see where we are and an intimacy with the countryside develops. It is a friendship that is slow and welcoming with not only the land but with the weather and bird life.

At the end of the day there is always a good meal and a real bed. You may be wondering, "Where do you sleep?"  Stay tuned!