Le Pin (Charavines) to La Côte-Saint-André, 25Km
It was rather a pity to leave Charavines behind, this morning. The lake looked cool and inviting, the restaurant where we had dinner was a joy of French cooking, the boulangerie which opened at 06.00 left me gasping and wondering why we can’t have anything like it in England and the hotel was perfect for the sleep deprived pilgrim. But we had to leave to get on our way and the manager returned us to the trail in his large Citroën car.
The temperature was cooler today and we even had a few drops of rain to keep us keen. We walked past cows which are always secured behind electric fences, ferocious dogs which are always secured behind gates and churches which are nearly always locked and usually, but not always without pilgrim stamps. We found one which ticked both boxes today.
Talking of ticks, remember that tick I found a couple of weeks ago? In my attempt to remove it with my tick removal tool, I left the head behind. A common mistake when the tick is hard to reach but I have a nurse in the team and Michaela kindly completed the operation this afternoon and then we went to the pharmacy for disinfectant and hopefully it wasn’t the one in three ticks in Switzerland which carry Lyme disease.
This handsome little town, La Côte-Saint-André, is famous for the Cherry Rocher liqueur but its main claim to fame is Hector Berlioz who was born here. There is a museum, you can visit the family farm or attend the popular annual Berlioz festival. They probably play the Symphonie fantastique every night and perhaps Harold in Italy. According to Wiki he wrote a whole load of other pieces but I’ve never heard any of them nor ever met anyone who has. However, the Symphonie fantastique is one of the great pieces of classical music and probably up there with Sgt Pepper as the psychedelic and drug induced epic of the musical world. Rarely does a Proms season pass without a performance. This is where it all started.
Pilgrimage 
Hi Tim – Despite the lack of comments I have been following and enjoying your daily write up of your journey. Reading your comments about Hector Berlioz it reminds me so many great works of art have been born because of unrequited love!
Indeed they have, Dave. Unrequited love must be the one emotion shared by all human beings
Once again Tim it all looks wonderful.
For Berlioz there is The Trojans, an immensely long opera, so long that the last two acts are sometimes performed as a standalone. If you listen to the whole thing, you may be losing the will to live when suddenly at the end of Act 4 this comes along – so worth waiting for! But it is a long wait!!
And you give a great description of Symphonie Fantastique as a Proms staple. They took it to a new dimension a few years ago…. These are the orchestra who always play everything from memory!
Thanks for the links, Tim. I’ll watch when I get home. The Aurora Orchestra are something else. I’ve seen them at the Proms several times but I was on Shikoku when they played the Berlioz at the Proms. Do let’s meet next time you’re in London
They are doing the Rite of Spring I think this year at proms which I expect will be astonishing.
That water fountain looks uncannily like a previous pilgrim turned to stone by Berlioz’s ghost, for not knowing his entire works…
Timely advice, beware the ghost of Berlioz
I asked ChatGPT to write a poem about tick removal and here is the response:
Ticks are strictly parasi-tic.
They suck your blood and make you sick.
They’re small and brown and hard to see,
And when they bite, it’s misery.
Let’s hope your experience isn’t so bad 😉
Thanks Nick that’s very soothing
Well, not only are we getting a Grand Tour this journey but also a Grand Education In All Manner of Things!
You are throwing off the Google algorithms who think they know what I’m going to search for next… 😏
But…um…what is ‘Proms’? I’m assuming it’s not an upper secondary school dance as in the US? 🤔
May your tick wound not fester… 🤢
As always I try to educate, inform and entertain. That’s the mantra of the BBC who sponsor the Proms, the world’s greatest classical music festival