REPORT FROM LA COQUILLE, France – by Doug
Steinburg
For a first posting as an hospitalero, why
not a place named La Coquille? That was my response when offered this posting
by the Association des Amis et Pèlerins de Saint Jacques en
Limousin-Périgord. La Coquille is
a village of some 1200 souls on the Route de Vézelay, midway
between Limoges and Périgueux. Although
easily accessible by train, my wife Carol and I brought a car to enable us to
visit nearby sites during our off-hours.
All necessary services (grocery, bakery, wine shop, market, etc.) were
available in La Coquille, so arriving there and carrying out the work could be
done using only public transport.
The refuge itself was the result of the
bequest to the municipality of a small hall which the owner had used to stage
amateur theatricals. His only
condition to the gift was that a refuge be established in part of it. Opened two years ago, the refuge
contains a room with six beds, a separate room with a bunkbed for the
hospitaleros, wc, bathroom with two showers – which, as only one person at a
time ever used it, we saved on work by marking one “hors service” – and a large
room with table for eight and reasonably well-equipped kitchen, albeit without
much work space. The one lack was
a suitable laundry space.
Aside from the usual duties of welcoming,
registering, keeping accounts, cleaning, and waving “bonne route”, hospitaleros
at La Coquille and its sister refuge at Sorges (some 40 km down the road) are
expected to prepare the evening meal.
Fortunately, this is France, and even better, La Coquille is in the Périgord,
which they claim is the foie-gras and truffle capital of not just France, but
the WORLD! Although one never
knows from day to day how many pilgrims there will be, or how many of those
will choose to cook for themselves instead, we managed to remain within the
budget constraints of the amount collected for meals. Pasta and meat sauce was NOT on our menu as we had chosen to
make this stop a real culinary break for our pilgrims. Needless to say, part of one day’s main
course sometimes appeared the next day as a starter! By the end of our fifteen days, we had become fairly adept
meal planners.
La Coquille was not a difficult refuge to
keep clean given its size, so we were able to explore the locale, an area
steeped in the mystery and romance of the 100 Years War and the personages of
Richard Coeur de Lion, Edward the Black Prince, and Eleanor of Aquitaine. In fact, the town just 15 kilometers to
our north held the ruins of the castle where Richard was killed and where
(reputedly) his heart – or some other hidden part or his anatomy – is
buried. The many chateaux, abbeys
and caves filled our off hours, even despite more rain and cold than the area
had received in as long as anyone could remember.
In addition to all of the wonderful
pilgrims we met, our stay in La Coquille was made more pleasurable by the
friendship we made with Anne-Marie, the person caring for our sister refuge in
Sorges. Each morning after our
pilgrims departed, we were able to call or receive her call to discuss the
numbers to be expected and any idiosyncrasies which might help her make the arriving
pilgrims’ stay more special. In
addition, Anne-Marie would tell us all the good things the pilgrims had to say
about their stay with us – if there were some not-so-good things, she never
told! It transpired that Carol’s
apple crumble was quite the hit.
Overall, our experience as hospitaleros was
great and we may well do this again. But one last note: the Camino is a long
road, but a very small world.
Right after our time was completed at La Coquille, I set off for Saint
Jean Pied de Port and yet another go.
Between there and Burgos, where I stopped for this year, I encountered
FOUR of our pilgrim guests! One was on a lonely stretch of country road, two in
the Cathedral of Burgos, and one at the wine fountain in Monasterio de
Irache. The Way is full of
surprises.
