Alban's Pilgrimage starts - 8th September

Alban begins his trip to see his BT colleague, boss, and great friend Ross Jenkins and his wife Ginni at their home in the French village Puycelsi. The trip to France was planned to sample the delights of Puycelsi, help with the annual concert and plan the 2012 pilgrimage c1000km - starting in this village. It was arranged before Alban became aware of this year's Camino pilgrimage organised by CAFOD, however the two arrangements fit very nicely together and this is why Alban leaves before Angela, Martin, Christine and Nick.


Ross and Ginni became Franco-files sometime between the late 1980's and the mid 1990's when they fell in love with this charming place and decided to buy and renovate a large house with views to die for there.


Needless to say Puycelsi is one of the most beautiful of all French villages, situated atop of a hill surrounded by the forest of Grésigne (c4000 hectares of trees and the most important forest of Midi-Pyrénées - mainly oak trees, with some chestnut trees and conifers).




The photographs and video above give a visual appreciation of Puycelsi and are courtesy of the tourist site which contains the history of the village click here to see more..


Alban plans to travel from Puycelsi to O'Cebeiro on the 15th September. Here is a flavor of the pilgrimage from O'Cebeiro in March/April last year, some stunning scenes but a tad cold - for those interested click the play below and then load to full screen - enjoy...




Look out for more from Puycelsi in the coming few days.



If you’d like to help Alban then why not sponsor him on this journey and in doing so help the poorest of the world out of poverty by visiting his fundraising page by clicking here (if that doesn't work then copy http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/CAMINO-Sept2011 into your internet browser).


More posts will follow this covering some of our reflections and pictures from each day of the pilgrimage - please keep us in your thoughts and prayers...