“There is no age to hit the road!” »»

When does your first pilgrimage date?

I left for Compostela for the first time exactly ten years ago; At 70, therefore. When I was a student in Toulouse, I was often going to meditate in the Saint-Sernin cathedral, which is a high place on the way.

Subsequently, while I was working on a script with actress Mireille Darc, I had the chance to meet her companion Pierre Barret, a great media man. He had left for Compostela a few years ago and had published an important book on the subject, Pray for us in Compostela (1). He talked to me a lot. It was he who transmitted the “virus” to me!

You acknowledge having been “” null in sport »» In your youth, and your training for this pilgrimage was not very conclusive. In addition, your doctor was skeptical. Why did you decided to leave?

Frankly, at the start, I was a little in the unknown. This desire to leave probably corresponded to something very strong in me, an aspiration towards less materialistic values.

I had never made a pilgrimage, and now I started at an age already very advanced by the 1600 kilometers to reach Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle! However, I had no doubt, and from the first mass of pilgrims in Puy-en-Velay, celebrated by my friend Emmanuel Gobilliard (today Bishop of Digne), I was carried by a mysterious force.

You have just published the book Compostela for old people. There is no age to hit the road. Why did you wish to testify?

It’s very simple! From my very first path in Compostela, I have never stopped walking on huge distances, until I was 80 years old today. When you have the chance, at this age, to have a body in relatively good condition, it is such a joy to pilgate for kilometers, and to forget everything, that I wanted to share it with the old and old.

And above all encourage them, if they can, to do small distances first, then more and more long. The body always responds! He is just waiting for that. Even if it is reluctant at the start.

You tell, in this book, “” The happiness of suddenly feeling so free, a bit as if (you start) a new life, full of multiple and varied discoveries »». Can you evoke this joy found on the way?

The path is freedom! We literally forget everything. Daily concerns go into the background. You find yourself at all levels: physical and spiritual. Nothing else only matters to the end of the stage.

Joy is also the meetings of people of all ages, from all strata of society, from all trades, all regions. We advance in total fraternity because everyone has only one goal, the same: to advance towards Compostela. What could be more beautiful than this union of bodies and minds?

For you, this walk was not a feat: “” If I do it, everyone can do it! »»write yourself. However, is it necessary for a certain physical condition to embark on this adventure?

From the age of 60, and even before, we know that the body changes deeply. As soon as it is asked, he often goes to absent subscribers. He grumbles at the slightest effort, he sends signals here and there. The muscles melt at full speed if we do not maintain them. So, we resign ourselves … or not!

In my book, I tell the real nightmare that were for me the first days on the way. I was in pain everywhere. I was exhausted. And then, from the fourth day, my muscles were slowly recovering to work better and better. I learned to manage my efforts, especially to listen to my body, go at my own pace, quietly, without worrying about others.

As a remarkable person met on the way: “Leave your body to order!” He knows. I have walked thousands of kilometers since, and I have never forgotten this word.

For seniors, you say that the path is a “” youthful bath »». Would you have found the elixir of rejuvenation there?

I believe it! Arriving at the end of my first 200 kilometers of walking, I already felt younger. My body had transformed, I had found abs, thighs, calves, which I thought lost. I was more alert, never discouraged by the effort.

When they return to city life, everything seemed easier to me. I was filled with incredible energy, which almost put me out of step with friends my age. And even today, with so few years ahead of me, I keep projecting myself into the future. Yes, the Path of Compostela is the fountain of youth! Everyone who did it will tell you.

You have, despite everything, experienced moments of discouragement. How did you go beyond them?

We all knew these moments when we want to drop everything and go home. In the first days of walking, discouragement comes very quickly! Especially when steep elevations follow one another. At times, we can’t take it anymore. We regret his little life before, we wonder what we are doing there.

But something brings you. And around you, often, young pilgrims are wonderful, they encourage “Le Papy”, support it; Little by little, the shape comes back. We forget our age. We advance. And discouragement ends up fading.

On this way of awakening, which places have particularly marked you?

The arrival in Conques was a decisive moment for me. I had already walked more than 200 kilometers, which I had previously believed impossible! I was totally exhausted. And yet, that night, a mysterious, powerful force, of divine essence (I have no doubt) entered me quietly. I had to go further. It was suddenly a certainty.

So, I continued to Cahors, a total of 400 kilometers. And there, I knew that despite my age, I will reach Compostela, 1200 kilometers further. I had become a real “Jacquet”. The spirit of the path lived in me and never left me until the arrival in Saint-Jacques, in the heart of Galicia.

You are over 80 years old. Have you done other pilgrimages since, and have other projects?

I have already walked over thousands of kilometers, and it is not to boast, because I am far from being the only one, even at my age! It was done alone. Since my very first path, at 70, I walked many times, towards Rocamadour, towards Vézelay.

Over the years, I have raised all of Spain, more than 1,200 kilometers, following another jacquaire route, the Via plata. I also set out to follow the Camino del Nortefrom Bayonne to Compostela, over 1000 kilometers.

I went to Japan, on the island of Shikoku, carrying out with a Buddhist friend a very famous pilgrimage path there, the equivalent of our component. Or 1200 kilometers, and 88 temples to visit: a march rich in spiritual lessons! And now, in my 81st year, I am preparing for this summer a new start from Puy-en-Velay-family, this time.

Who is for you Santiago the Major?

Saint Jacques is the one who guided me to Compostela, and also that which I thank daily for all the health benefits he granted me. Jacques Le Majeur is completely present in me. I absolutely believe in it. He accompanies me, supports me.

Not long ago, I had a very satisfactory heart examination. To the doctor who congratulated me on the state of my heart, given my age, I said that I thanked Jacques. Another would have been taken aback but he immediately understood what Jacques I was talking about because he had also walked towards Compostela!

I will end up the most important question: did these paths make sense to your life?

In the Spanish part of the Compostela Chemin, the crosses that mark the place where a pilgrim died give to think and meditate. Although I have had a life rich in various and happy events, whether in journalism or in my activity as a screenwriter for cinema, I have the impression that the path of Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle accustomed to the idea of ​​death, that is to say the return to God.

We draw a certain humility. Next departure towards the Lord appears as an additional step; The last on this long path, and the most difficult. I will approach it, I hope, with serenity and without any revolt, like a pilgrim on the march. After all, my boyfriend Jacques the major is waiting for me up there!

1. Pray for us in Compostela, by Pierre Barret and Jean-Noël Gurgand, Hachette, 1978; Rééd. 1999, 348 p., 19.80 euros.