Belloc on the Way?

[rappahannock_rev]

I made an interesting discovery this morning which I wish to share.

For most of my long life I've been an admirer of that early 20thC English 'Poet and Man of Letters' Hilaire Belloc....This winter (in my dotage) I decided to re-read some of his many books.... I knew that he'd visited the Pyrenees at some point -- any of you remember his 1929 poem "Tarantella"? -- but on page ix of the dedication of my first American edition of "The Cruise of the Nona" I unexpectedly found this:

"My journey .... being taken this year [1928 or 29] very circuitously... by way of Bayonne, where the bayonet Rosalie, was first made; St. John at the foot of the Pass, where they boil crayfish in white wine; Roncesvalles, where Roland died, and I nearly did; Burguete, where they charge too much and where the kitchen smoke goes out through the roof; Pamplona, the only permanent thing Pompey ever did...." and yadda yadda....

Sounds like he was walking the Way! Must look into that!

 

[Bradypus]

You prompted me to look for references to his travels in Spain. Quite a remarkable description of a walk from Pamplona to Roncesvalles and on to Valcarlos. A 42 mile day carrying only a gourd of wine and a sack. They bred them tougher in those days...

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hills And The Sea, by H. Belloc.

PS. Interesting that a man who was proudly French should use the Spanish name "Roncesvalles" rather than the French "Roncevaux"

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Belloc and his hardy friends did a lot of stomping along the Caminos in the Pyrenees. He followed the Camino Aragonese over the Somport Pass and wrote "Tarantella," a long (and not very great) poem about a wild night of song and dance in the very town of Canfranc, which is dear to my heart. There's a copy posted up in the albergue someplace. William Griffiths, librarian for the CSJ in London, is an expert in Belloc and all his Camino wanderings if you're interested in some literary/Pyreneean arcana! He'd love to chat with you about it.