St Guilhem de la Desert- St. Jacques de la Blaguiére 25 klms 27th July

A new year and new adventure along this mythical path. Recent illness and the daily stresses of life are not an ideal psychological starting point for the ordeal ahead. The previously adopted approach of `taking it a day at a time’ and listening to the body, will prove appropriate in the following days. Here in the region of Languedoc, the temperatures are over 30 degrees, keeping most hikers away. We decide on a strategy of leaving very early each day, hoping to arrive at staging villages by 2PM max. The climate will incredibly range, almost daily, between the dry Mediterranean and humid continental. Like many villages in France, St. Guilhem de la Désert is enriched with history. Before becoming a monk and then a saint, Guilhem was a famous warrior and favoured cousin of Charlemagne, having a Frankish lineage of Carolinian (mother) and Merovingian (father). According to history, he ably defended the region, and Spanish border, from the Saracens, eventually marrying one of their Princesses, before finding this `oasis’ (best, sweetest, natural water I have tasted), and ironically called it a `désert’. His story seems to follow a familiar, romantic, progression of the times: a noble (Count of Toulouse, Count of Montpellier), feared warrior, who marries his enemy's daughter, before becoming a monastic (probably appreciated the rest). We leave the village at 6:15AM, climbing steeply to get out of the valley of limestone Mountains (la vallée de l’Hérault). The air is cool, but tinged with the threat of heat. I am perspiring tremendously through the effort, and all sorts of foul smelling toxins start fleeing through every pore-hopefully a good sign, provoking me to drink more of that sweet water collected earlier in the village. The invigorating aromas of wild rosemary and thyme fill the air, and so I collect a large quantity of both to be used in cooking and herbal teas along the hike. I sense that this whole hike will help restore the balance between body, mind, and general well-being. We pass a Neolithic enclosure of rocks, which have somehow stood the test of time, still looking like someone just constructed it. Stepping inside the cool, man-made grotto of rocks, one feels transported in time. The ruins of Chateau Montepeyroux loom nearby, near the celebrated vineyard that now bears its name (AOC-appellation d'origine controlée- the cepages consist of Mourvèdre, Syrah, Carignan, and Grenache. We later learn that the harsh sun and dry Southern climate produces a thicker grape skin, which gives the wine its strong tannin). La Castellas, Canton of Gignac, was founded in 1070 by a descendant of Guilhem, Bernard, before being partially destroyed by the English in 1384, during the 100 Years War. The sheer thought of such history is tiring, on top of the burden of climbing, laden with packs, for 7 hours in high temperatures. We are relieved to reach St. Jacques de la Blaguiére, with a smile meter of 7/10 points.