The Sunset in Arles on our last day there.
At the end of our last day in Arles, we had a Compline Service on the river bank. Though France is further North than Houston, the sun seems to set later. We were gifted with some spectacular views.
The next day we were off for our next destinations. Though we would end the day in Castres, one of the stops early Pilgrims used, we would stop at two rather incredible places along the way.
The first was an Abbey built in the 11th century. It is located in St-Guilhem-le-Desert. Again, a place I had never heard of yet it is regarded as one of the grand sites of France and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is situated in the narrow valley of the Gellone river from which the Abbey takes its name.
Getting to this place is difficult. It was a long coach ride. The road ways are not our freeways but narrow, twisting roads up a mountain range. The Abbey was originally placed where it is because they wanted it to be difficult to reach. Until until the late 1900’s there was no road to this place. As an original stopping place for Pilgrims and as a place to provide hospitality for those who traveled to Santiago by foot or on pack horses, those who built this place wanted it to be reachable only by those who truly wanted to make the journey. As difficult as it was for us, for the last half a mile or so were walking up a steep narrow ancient village street, I can’t imagine what it must have been like for those who made the journey when this Abbey was finished in the 12th century.
Cloisters at the Abbaye-de-Guillone
After a time of rest after making the journey up, we joined the nuns of this Abbey for Mid-day Prayers. I’ve been to services like this on prior Pilgrimages - both with monks and nuns. Previously, they have been “ancient” for it seems no young people are joining these orders. Not so here. The nuns who sang the service were young, vibrant and happy. Extremely courteous in inviting us to participate with them in their worship. My guess is that these young women were originally from some French-speaking African country. We were not able to find out. The two head nuns were obviously of French nationality and fell into the “stereotype” of what I would have expected.
Afterwards, we walked the Cloisters of this Abbey. Originally, it had been a Benedictine Monastery. Higher up on the mountain one can see the remains of what I took to be an ancient heritage that would have been attached to the church and monastery.
After enjoying a meal with one of our fellow Pilgrims who used to spend the summer in this very village for the past twenty-five years, we got back on the coach to head for our final destination of the day, Castres.
The Devil’s Bridge
Along the way we drove past an ancient bridge called Le Pont du Diable (the Devil’s Bridge.)
Legend has it that as the monks were building their monastery, they needed a bridge to cross the gorge created by the river between them and their destination. They would work and work on their bridge and the next day all their work would have been destroyed. One night Saint Guillhem hid out to see what was going on and found that the Devil was destroying the monks’ work.
The Saint scolded the Devil for doing this and the Devil said, “I care nothing for the mongrels who are trying to do God’s work here. The Saint said, “I’ll make a deal with you, let my monks do their work undisturbed and I’ll grant you anything you ask.” The Devil responded, “Will you? If so, I’ll build a bridge that no one can destroy. You, in return, must grant me the soul of the first of these mongrels who cross the bridge.” The Saint agreed.
Three days later the Devil’s Bridge was complete. He call the Saint to see it and said, “Nothing and no one can destroy this bridge. Now, you keep your part of the bargain.” With that the Saint took a bone out of his robe and called his dog to his side. He threw the bone across the bridge and the dog happily went after it, crossing to the other side. The Devil saw this and was furious. “You tricked me.” Then he himself tried with all his might to destroy the bridge that he himself made. The dog, of course, was safe. The Devil was defeated. The bridge still stands.
At least that’s the story.
In fact is the experts say is that this bridge was build around 1020. I have, however, seen another, and much smaller bridge, buil1 in the first century by the Romans. This story was, however, created by the early Pilgrims to give them courage and hope for this difficult journey. They had minds and a culture that participated easily in mysticism.