Today we hiked 11.2 miles (about 18kms) in 4.5 hours from Sauliac to Bouzies, France. My watch claims that I took 26,758 steps, climbed 63 flights of stairs, and burned 1,705 calories.
We had planned to walk a lot further today, but we discovered that there was an ancient grotto along our path which housed several cave paintings by Neanderthal man, some 25,000 years ago. We decided to make this visit to the cave the highlight of our day. And it was well worth it.
Unfortunately they did not allow us to take pictures of the cave art, so I had to steal some from the internet.
This cave was only discovered in 1922, so even though the images are thousands of years old, they are relatively fresh. I highly recommend a stop at the grotto, if you are in the area. The tour is very informative and the cave is amazing.
We had lunch today with an American artist from Brooklyn, NY. Her name was Karen and she was walking the camino and stopping along the way to create watercolors and sketches of her experience.
So I guess these two encounters prove that since the dawn of time, human beings have been expressing themselves with their art. The Neanderthals were compelled to record their world on the walls of caves, while modern man uses watercolors.
And just as the ancient humans migrated all over the planet millions of years ago, we walk in their footsteps as we hike across the continent.
More about that, tomorrow.
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