Day 33: Saint Jeure to Saint Julien

Woke up in my tent with wet feet. That's always a bad sign! Stormed quite a bit last night and when I checked what's going on I had a hole in one corner of my tent and a little puddle underneath!

Ah well, naught to be done! I had to immediatly adress the damage as soon as I woke up because if one lets a hole without repairing it, it might turn bigger - and I don't have the means for a larger operation here on Trail! Unfortunately I didn't being enough special Cuben Fiber repair tape for the repair of the whole damage so I need to look for more in Le Puy.

I made a little selfie to demonstrate how it looks when I'm in my tent. I use my Sheepskin Vest as Pillow and I love it so much that I often take it out even when I'm staying in Hostels 😬. It's so warm and fluffy!

I wrap it in my clothesbag and use my sleeping bag as a blanket. And when it really gets cold I wrap myself in my robe as well.

I shook my tent as dry possible and let my wet sleeping bag air out too. It's never good to pack these things in a damp state as it will start to stink and -in the worst scenario- it's even possible for mold to form.

Fortunately the day turned out quite dry. Which is good because I'd have become insane if I had another cold and rainy one!

I saw a house that reminded me strangely of the architecture in the US as I saw on the PCT and when I made my panorama-shot a Dog came out running towards me and bellowing loudly. Which is awesome because now it looks like I captured a furry caterpillow 😬

Today I caught myself thinking about quitting more often than I'm comfortable with. Never had this thoughts while on trail - with the exeption of once in Bent, Oregon after our Trail Bubble "bursted" so to speak. But that was an extraordinary situation and WAY longer into the Trip than this time around.

It might be I miss my Girlfriend so much. Or maybe I'm just lonely in general. Haven't seen a single other Pilgrim for more than a week now! There's nobody to chat either because of the language barrier or also because I'm usually too tired as well to chat up with the host if I have one. So I'm very much all alone with my thoughts all the time. On the Camino '13 there were always People around and I mostly walked with Adrian. And on the PCT there were always the Ziggis and Splifford. But here is nobody...

Crossed the highest point of the Via Gebennensis almost without realizing it on point "Raffy" on 1276m above sealevel. Didn't feel any special tough, not like the Hagenegg after Einsiedeln.

My Highligt of the day was probably when I finally caught the view over the famous mountainrange with the old volcanoes. Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!!! Finally something new after all the same fields and forests!!

I later got really excited when I came across another Pilgrim in form of an elderly dutch woman who spoke fluent german too. She was gone in like 15 minutes tough as I wanted a break and she seemed in a hurry. Supposedly she only wants to reach Le Puy before heading back home so I guess she just wanted to get there as soon as possible.

I myself don't rush altough I'm almost a day behind schedule. Why would I? Nobody's waiting for me there! I bet, Lili has moved on by now and I haven't met anybody else I'd be excited about seeing either.

I decided to stay in Saint Julien for the reason listed above. I could've reached Le Puy if I wanted but meh... On my way in I saw this funny Doggo standing like a statue on top of the wall just looking around. I found that funny.

Now I'm sitting here all alone and depressed having cooked some pasta. The lady who gave me the key to this Youthhotel or Albergue or whatever ("Gite") was super arrogant and unnerved about my inability to speak french altough SHE obviously doesn't even know ANY other language. So that was some great welcome after being so tired.

Later after I showered I was excited again when two German speaking Ladies came in. I said hello and was eager to chat and hear from other Pilgrims but they were super not into it and left immediatly for their room. This made me super uncomfortable for some reason. I mean, I didn't do anything wrong! That's super normal between Pilgrims!

I try and find something to be excited about in Le Puy. In need something to look forward to now. Tomorrow marks exactly 1/3 of my Trail, in days and Kilometers so I really need something to motivate myself.

Update:

So, turned out the Ladies are awesome 😬. They were just SO done and weren't in the mood for anything, yet alone talking because they did 30 Kiometers(!) every day since Geneva! And today too! They are absolute powerhouses!

Now that they had a minute to come

down and shower they were great and we talked and talked and we shared Rosé and Beer and I'm so happy!

Y'know I totally get this feeling. When one is SO done mentally and physically every outside contact seem like a chore! I remember that from the PCT when I barely spoke with people outside my bubble sometimes. Just because it's always kind of hard work to be polite and getting to know someone. And when you are SO spent that's just not a thing you want to put energy into.

So yeah, I found my inspiration! Other people! THAT was he thing missing! Simple as that...

"The Camino are the other Pilgrims"

I should remember my own wisdoms some more.