Today a party of four Belgians stopped for lunch at around midday – having been told by someone along the road that this was somewhere where they could shelter. They had hardly left before four more people arrived to take their lunch too.
Yesterday at Navarrenx, where the local parish offers a ‘get-together’ and a drink for the pilgrims every evening, I found myself talking to a German lady about our project; she had noticed Emmaüs when she passed by earlier in the day but had not stopped. She offered the opinion that there were many opportunities for spiritual reflection along the way, but rather few for a rencontre spirituel. That made me think that, however important shelter, coffee and use of the WC may be, we should keep focussed on this aspect of the project.