Day 2: at last no longer lost :-)

Day 2: at last no longer lost :-), originally uploaded by raoul_dewinne.

The morning of day two we woke up by the gentle sound of a slow turning water mill, but what made us actually jump out of bed was the quacking of the ducks - subconsciously but undoubtedly this must have influenced our choice of dinner that night, guess what... duck indeed.



This secluded place was really a uniquely special place and worth more than the trouble finding it. ‘Les Moulins de Vontes’, our first overnight stop, are ancient water mills of medieval origin with foundations dating from the 12th century. They are idyllically located on three islands in the middle of the Indre river – a side river of the Loire. An extraordinary Bed & Breakfast with only three rooms, all having pieces of furniture from the 17th and 18th century. But it were our very friendly and well-traveled hosts who made our first night's stay even more memorable. Add to it that , a couple of years ago, they also biked to Santiago de Compostela...



It was hard to leave such an enchanting place and to say goodbye to such gracious hosts, but the sky was promising blue and the sun invited us to continue our journey.



So I explained one more last time to my beloved 75-year-young father how the GPS works. After we gave my parents a big hug, each party ser off in opposite directions. They headed north and we traveled south as if it were to prove that it was a far safer bet to continue our venture with one single GPS (in stead of two) in order to increase our chances of reaching our destination without too many unintended deviations :-)



It turned to be a great biking day. We pedaled along small scenic country roads with little or no traffic and the softly rolling landscape was decorated with a mosaic of sunflower fields.



Today we covered four times the distance of yesterday in only twice the time - a nice but welcome progress: arriving in Santiago on schedule becomes probable again :-)



Consequently, we arrived more than an hour in advance at our destination which gave us the opportunity to visit the local Saint James church in greater detail. This Romanesque church with its beautifully decorated façade dates from the 11th century. It was an important landmark and destination for the medieval pilgrims on their way to Santiago. Today this historic church still showcases a wooden statue of Saint James as a pilgrim (see picture).



The ‘Way of St James’, better known by its Spanish name ‘El Camino de Santiago’, is the pilgrimage to the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in north-westernmost Spain. Legend has it that St. James the apostle fled persecution in the Holy Land and came to northern Spain. There he preached the gospel until his return to Jerusalem, where he was martyred in AD44. His remains were brought back and buried in Spain where in the 9th century they were discovered in a field indicated by a bright star – “Santiago de Compostela” means literally “St James of the star field”.



El Camino de Santiago has been one of the most important Christian pilgrimages since medieval times and it has existed for over a 1000 years. There is not a single path but a cobweb of routes threading throughout Europe to Santiago de Compostela. However a few of the routes are considered main ones, one of them is the Via Turonensis – starting in Tours, southwest of Paris, where many pilgrim routes from northwestern countries would come together. Although the spiritual significance of the Camino has been lost for many, there is little doubt that this is one of the most important, and exhilarating, long-distance paths in Europe.



PS: updating a weblog with a wireless PDA has proven so far to be a hurdles race... Not only is it a matter of connectivity issues, using different programs to get all the stuff uploaded, but it's a rather slow process before you have any feedback. It typically takes a couple of hours to verify the uploaded content, to find out then that your first picture with comments did not get through and neither your third. Next you reallize that the sent but not arriving information had not been stored in memory and one can start all over again... Then you get nervous and tired while your wife is already sleeping like a log, so you decide to do it over again on the next morning - while your wife still sleeps like a log :-) Obviously you're not as clear of mind yet and hours later you realize that you have made twice the same identical compliment of the French people being the most helpful on earth - well you see, THAT is a bridge too far and therefore I have to claim back one of the two compliments - one compliment in one day is more than enough :-)