The time has come.......reluctantly leaving France.

The other day, while walking to the train station in Tours I had a lightbulb moment!  I was on the way to Chatellerault, where I had just booked a hotel for the night, when it struck me how silly I was being by going by train from one town to the next.  I would far rather be walking, and all this train travel was doing was frustrating me.  I made the decision that instead of fluffing around the next day going 20 kms down the road I would head straight for Spain.

Now I should pause here and explain a couple of things.  A couple of months ago I accepted an invitation to attend the first Global Conference of the Friends of the Camino Associations.  This is to be held early in June, and so my plan had always been that I would walk as far as I could in France before catching a train to Spain and walking the last part of the Camino del Norte, the only part of that Camino I haven't walked.  I am disappointed that I have only walked about 30 kms out of Paris, and decided I would rather come back another time and walk it properly.  Hence the decision to head for Spain.  Before I get there though, some final things about France.

I had a couple of lovely sunny days in Tours, but on Mayday the heavens opened as they had done a week earlier.  Mayday is an important public holiday and it must have really spoilt the day for people - especially the flower sellers out on the streets with sprigs of lily of the valley for sale.

I chatted to a couple from South Australia at the station.  She was having trouble understanding what the cafe owner was asking her about desert, and because I wasn't the one under pressure I could get the gist of things and so helped her out.  Yes I know, I can hear you all laughing from here - it is a funny thought indeed - me translating french for someone!

As I wandered around the town I saw many signs, the first thus far, saying "je suis charlie".  As well as speaking the purest French in the country (so someone told me), this is obviously quite a political place too.

With the merry go round in the background, I couldn't resist snapping this dapper bloke who was thoroughly modern spending some time on his mobile phone!.

Le pont Wilson, Tours crosses the Loire.  The bridge was built in the mid 1700's, has 15 arches and is 435m long.  Tours was a US army base during the first world war and the bridge was re amed in 1918 after Woodrow Wilson.

A memorial marking the Armenian genocide.

Basilique Saint Martin, Tours.

Tour Charlemagne, originally one small part of what must have been a massive monastery and church of St Martin.

There are numerous half timbered houses in Tours.

Mayday in France is very interesting.  As I wandered around town at most prominent intersections and outside places like the railway station, vendors sold small bunches of lily of the valley.  People were walking around clutching little cellophane wrapped bunches of this beautiful flower.  It is customary on Mayday to give people you care about a sprig of the flower.

I mention last time about the wide boulevards in Tours.  Pedestrians saunter down the tree lined center of these roads, with traffic on the other side of the greenery.

I caught the train to Chatellerault where I had quite a bit of time to wander around, in the rain both on my arrival and departure days!  In between meandering I spent a bit of time in a very nice cafe, and the next day, after a leisurely lunch I bumped into a quartet of Aussie travelers.  They were touring France having spent time in Gallipoli for the Dawn Service.  Chatting with them for an hour or so was a nice way to end my last day in France.

I arrived in Hendaye, the French border town, around 10pm, walking across to the Spanish border town of Irun, where I spent the night before catching the train early in the morning to Leon.  My wallet is pleased.  My last night in France was only €18 cheaper than the last three nights here in Spain, and I still haven't stayed in pilgrim accomodation!  I've had my first cafe con leche, and again I can have about 2¹/2 for the price of one across the border!  Even the train journey was cheaper - in France the four and half hour journey cost €76 whereas the five hour journey in Spain cost €34.

A fountain in the main street of Chatellerault.

When I first went to France giant bins were on the outside of the towns and villages.  People would stop and place the recyclables and rubbish in them.  They were always very smelly to walk past whereas these are far tidier, less obtrusive and definitely less smelly!

A park in Chattelerault......

........ and one of the wet shopping streets in the town.

The way marks buried in the pavement in Chattelerault.

After spending two nights here in Leon it is my plan to head off in the morning along the Camino San Salvador to Oviedo, and then join up with the part of the Camino del Norte that I haven't walked yet.  It has been raining for the past few days, but the forecast for the next week is for sunshine.  This will be great crossing the Asturian mountains.