Descent: 1000m
Not a hell of a lot to report on this section because it mostly took place in thick fog.
Apparently, I passed along the top of Gorge de Kakoueta which is meant to be stunning vertical limestone.
Further down was farmland and, for some reason, lots of donkeys (including the one pictured staying close by his mum). It’s not right we use the word “donkey” (or “ass”) as a derogation, they’re a beautiful animal. Mules, though, I’ve no time for.
I also trod some very ancient paths where it seemed appropriate to have someone following, clip-clopping with 2 halves of a coconut shell.
The journey should only have been 12kms …but I screwed up my navigation …but then I got the last bed in Sainte-Engrace …but they were full for dinner …but they sold the best cheese in the world, only slightly stale bread and a very passable local red wine.
Along this journey I’ve had a lot of opportunity to meditate on the story told by Philip Seymour Hoffman in ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’:
A boy is given a horse on his 14th birthday. Everyone in the village says, “Oh how wonderful.” But a Zen master who lives in the village says, “We'll see.” 'The boy falls off the horse and breaks his foot. Everyone in the village says, “Oh how awful.” The Zen master says, “We'll see.” The village is thrown into war and all the young men have to go to war. But, because of the broken foot, the boy stays behind. Everyone says, “Oh, how wonderful.” The Zen master says, “We'll see.”
