Published: 18.06.2026
Just now, the dark bells of the cathedral in Fribourg/Freiburg ring eight o'clock. Finally, I want to try to briefly capture the impressions of the last good 10 days. First, my journey took me further through France towards Switzerland. Initially, I continued through the beautiful Rhone valley.
The houses, walls, and churches are now built in a sophisticated technique: round cobblestones that are arranged in a staggered pattern resembling ears of grain. The places are mostly deserted - I can hardly find anyone to ask for water - the churches (tall, pointed towers) are unfortunately often closed. When I (rarely) meet other pilgrims, and they even speak German, I realize that I have been on my own for a very long time and have a 'need to talk'... in other words: I let myself be asked about where I come from and where I am going... (such as by two Austrian seniors I meet behind Flaramans, who are very curious about my story...) Just before La Cote-Saint-Andre (where I need to shop the next morning), I sleep by a small chapel behind a hedge and under a giant lime tree in the meadow by the cemetery (the noise of the roads can be heard from afar), at night the stars shine over me so brightly and beautifully and later the half moon; early everything is wet from the dew. The only disturbance is a nearby dog that barks and barks and barks, felt like 'hours'; against that, the bleating of the lambs after their mother sheep in the pasture next to my sleeping place is a lovely melody. When the birds chirp and the horizon begins to glow, it is still very early, but it is so beautiful to be in the midst of the awakening day! And in the morning, the mountains are still clearly visible, dark blue and in distinctive shapes - before they later 'sink' back into haze and later into clouds and rain throughout the day...
In the early light, hiking is so beautiful! In the backlight of the low morning sun, the tall grasses shine silver and the red poppy flowers radiate as if lit from within next to the ears of grain. Even half-decayed walls or farmsteads are 'graciously' illuminated and simply look beautiful. What effort was once made with this 'ear-wall technique'! I walk long alongside such a tall wall, which is now falling apart (through a hole, I see nothing behind it but high nettles) and perhaps once belonged to a monastery or a castle?
During the day, it becomes dark with thunderstorms and then it rains (I can wait out the strongest rain for over an hour in the town hall of a small place) - fortunately, I can briefly stay with an older couple in Le Grand Lemps. Along the way, there are always people - often former pilgrims themselves - who take pilgrims into their homes without running an inn. The two here (well over seventy) never hiked themselves, as the hostess firmly assures me in response to my question, but, she says, they have certainly hosted more than 5000 pilgrims in the past 25 years, this surely applies to them as if they had themselves piloted to Santiago! I sleep in a children's room filled with toys: the two have 17 grandchildren who visit them regularly! Besides me, there are also two German female pilgrims present; there is a nice dinner, and above all, it is dry! - it rains almost the entire night...
The next day everything is wet: tall grass and hence the shoes again..., the steep, stony paths are hard to walk on when everything is wet and slippery. The chestnut trees with their light green 'bloom threads' shine everywhere among the dark coniferous trees; the linden trees bloom and smell utterly sweet... Unfortunately, the mountain view soon disappears behind dark storm clouds - most of the day I hesitate in every village, at every shelter opportunity, before I finally continue, hoping that it will not rain and storm immediately or simply not here, where I am right now... There are such beautiful paths through the sparsely populated landscape; sometimes views of turquoise green lakes, the cereal fields, depending on the variety, still green or already golden yellow, all the flowers! Since the sky is still darkly clouded, I spread my sleeping bag next to a 'Lavoir', a former washing place, under the porch next to a small road (near Romagnieu). Three children with their father ride by on bicycles, curious: if I want to sleep here? Yes. A little later, the children come back: in the car with their mother, who asks me to come along and be her guest, the children have talked so excitedly about me... So I only sleep a short distance away in the guest room of a young, warm-hearted family - and even if the children (two boys, 6 and 8 years old, and their 4-year-old sister) speak no English and I speak no French, we understand each other very well!
In the morning, I first see what a fantastic mountain view my hosts have (the day before, the mountains were swallowed by rain clouds). I get delicious scrambled eggs, the eggs from their own chickens, and then the two boys accompany me a little further with their bikes - they have school off here every Wednesday.
Oh no!!! here the rest of the report has obviously disappeared - for whatever reason?! - I will rewrite it later, but for now, I will 'publish' the incomplete entry anyway, so that not even more can be lost... ...
