Gleaning in France

It began almost immediately, this driving hunger of the pilgrim. How do you get enough calories in to fuel your walk? This problem is almost immediately solved by the incredible abundance experienced here.

It started with the grapes....at the beginning we passed acres of vineyards...mostly red grapes. We watched the mechanical harvesters and saw truckloads of grapes being transported. But alas the mechanical harvesters are not thorough and left grapes at the end of the rows and towards the bottom. We gorged ourselves on these red beauties.

Think these are muscadet. Super sweet, saw them for sale as eating grapes, though this definitely vineyard for wine grapes

Gleaning red grapes

Later we found walnuts crunching underneath our feet. They are covered with a protective green shell, but these had rotted off. Two rocks did the trick ... fresh walnuts. 

Next the figs. At the beginning of our journey they were everywhere. Some had caramelized or fermented on the vine. The taste reminded me of so many rich desserts and one can imagine that this, together with the walnuts, must have inspired many dessserts. Of course many of the figs were perfectly ripe and juicy as well, another kind of hydrating treat.

One of hundreds of untended apple trees

Many apple, pear, and quince trees were located along the trail and we did not hesitate to glean the fruit on the ground. Some we ate, some we fed to horses and cows (the cows didn’t seem to know what was going on, but the horses at them gratefully). 

And finally, the chestnuts. Everywhere towards the end were chestnuts crunching underfoot. I was certain these were horse chestnuts..pretty much all we have on the east coast, and even those are scarce. We decided that these actually may be chestnuts so gathered a few handfuls and brought them to our next host who confirmed, yes, these are the real deal, and cooked them up for us in their fireplace. Yum. And I could have brought back many pounds of these, but alas, I did not want to carry them.

Walnuts cracked between two rocks

It would be hard to starve this time of year in this part of France, although I did spend much of the trip hoping for the next meal in spite of all the supplementary food.

Feeding an apple to the horses