The dye is cast and the numbers read 9 and 2 and the big red cross is noted on my calendar – last night I bought my train ticket to Saint Jean-Pied-de-Port online. It was actually quite a dramatic little moment in the build-up to the pilgrimage to which I am now completed committed. I have bought hundreds of plane and train tickets on the internet over the last twenty years; tickets that took me around the world to destinations that were sometimes exotic, sometimes hum-drum, where journeys of adventure or discovery –or duty and work awaited me, where I thrilled at the anticipation of meeting people, or dreaded the confrontation with those I would rather not have crossed the paths of my life. We don’t even think twice anymore about it: open the website, look for the cheapest (and not necessarily the most convenient!) fare and route, type in our details, our credit card number, note the date on our on-line calendar , and voila! -- we then forget about it until a day or two before the journey when we have to pack and get ready.
So it was interesting for me to find that my fingers actually hovered over the keys before committing to the letters that spelled out the date and time and place of departure and desired destination. I first did it all in my usual rushed, impulsive and haphazard way – continuing on to page two and then page three to fill in the payment details. Then, suddenly, as a stillness, a calmness descended around me, I slowed down and reflected. The mood changed. I felt the gravitas of the moment. I was about to click on the point of no return. Even though I had been training walking for the last two months, even though I have been reading and doing research like I have not done for any project for a very long time, even though I have spent days looking for and buying everything I need for the walk, and a whole day of packing, unpacking, packing and weighing my rucksack, even though my route is planned and my calendar blocked out for the next two months, clicking on the last [i]Suivant[/i]> on the last page of the process in buying a single, one-way, €31,30 train ticket from Bergerac (24) to Saint Jean Pied de Port (64), caused me a full moment of hesitation. It was almost as if the train ticket was the final proof of commitment, the point of no return --- and [i]that[/i] for a second class, two-stop-and-change train ticket, and one that is changeable and refundable to boot![/b]
[quote] BERGERAC - ST JEAN PIED DE PORT 1 passager 31.30 €
Aller : 11h29 - BERGERAC
12h45 - 12h45> 13h14 via BORDEAUX ST JEAN
65749 2e classe Sans réservation
13h14 - BORDEAUX ST JEAN
14h54 - 14h54> 15h06 via BAYONNE
08515 2e classe Non fumeur Place(s) assise(s)
15h06 - BAYONNE
16h19 - 16h19> Null via ST JEAN PIED DE PORT
67335 2e classe Sans réservation
Samedi 09 Février
1e Passager (26 à 59 ans) Tarif normal Billet échangeable et remboursable soumis à conditions.
Loisir Service d'échange et de remboursement gratuit jusqu'à la veille du départ, avec retenue de 10€ le jour du départ, non échangeable et non remboursable après départ.
Voiture 15 - Place 25 Salle basse - Fenêtre - Duo côte à côte
Tarif normal Billet échangeable et remboursable soumis à conditions.
[/quote]
But – it is done --- as I said, the dye is cast. I leave on Saturday 9 February 2008 from Bergerac and arrive in Saint Jean-Pied-de-Port at 4:20 in the afternoon. Because it is so late in the day, I have decided to spend a full day to give myself enough time to look around, drink in the atmosphere, pick up my Pilgrim Passport, and make doubly sure that I am well acquainted with Napoleon’s Route, the way across the Pyrenees which I will be walking, starting Monday 11 February.
No comments:
Post a Comment