28/4/2023 Hostess extraordinaireIn 2022 Penny achieved her long-held ambition to be a hospitaliere for pilgrims on one of the four routes through France towards the Spanish leg of the Camino de Santiago. Her tale was full of adventure from the tricky role-play scenarios during her training course to the deluge that struck the Refuge de Bouzais (a converted stable block) on her first night in residence and her attempts to seal the windows. We soon understood how Penny's resourcefulness was fully called upon daily as she welcomed, fed (on a shoestring), and sorted out a string of pilgrims and their problems. Her pilgrims, as she likes to call them, came from several countries and were bound by a common mission but their challenges were many and varied from blisters to broken bicycle paniers to forgetfullness. With a little bit of free time during the day Penny was able to explore some of the local area on her bicycle including the RHS gardens of Orsan Priory. She described the best moment of the day when each cohort of guests compared notes around the dinner table in the evening. We were full of admiration for Penny on her two week tour of duty. We can only imagine how delighted the pilgrims and nearby village neighbours must have been with meeting surely their most charming host to date.
11/4/2023 Taking care of the pilgrimsAhead of Penny's talk about hosting walkers on the French route to Santiago last year we have decorated a window in the town centre to intrigue passersby and entice visitors to the next meeting of Cercle. The window, which is made available to local groups by the commercial estate agent, is between the florist and the new post office near Friday's Cross. Penny has included in the display some of her souvenirs from her own bicycle pilgrimage. The scallop shell, associated with St James, has become the world wide symbol for the Camino. Do let us know if you like the display.
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November 2023
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