GR653A Day 10: Fréjus - Le Muy

Woke up early and were ready to go before the sun was up - only to find we were locked into our hotel! We had to wait for our hostess to get up and eliminate a few barriers before we could get out. Wondering what would have happened if there had been a fire in the night, we retraced our steps past the Roman walls to the centre of Fréjus, where we stopped for coffee before continuing on our way. We passed through pine groves to Puget sur Argens, a small town offering everything a pilgrim should want: a water fountain, a church, a pilgrim hostel. For future pilgrims, I would recommend spending a couple of hours visiting the cathedral cloister and adjacent archaeological museum in Fréjus, and then continuing on to here to spend the night in this pretty little town!

After Puget sur Argens our path took us over the motorway A8 and then along a dirt track parallel to it for a while.

From here the scenery became more dramatic as Rocher Roquebrune came into view.

We were sitting in the shade taking a break when a pilgrim appeared, travelling in the opposite direction. A Frenchman, he had walked to Santiago and was now on his way from there to Rome. With holes in his shoes, and carrying a Quechua instant tent which wouldn't fit in his backpack. He found the accommodations in France too expensive - a comment I have heard from other pilgrims as well. After talking with us for a few minutes, he sat down a short distance away for a snack, consulted a map, then got up and carried on his way. 

Not until some time later did we also get up to leave, and find €25 on the ground where he had been sitting - the money must have fallen out of his pocket when he took out his map! By then he had gone too far in the opposite direction from our route, so we couldn't give it back. We continued on our way, feeling sorry for the poor pilgrim with holes in his shoes and, apparently, in his pockets.

In the afternoon we skirted the butte of Rocher de Roquebrune and, after 30 km on the road, came to Le Muy, where we are lodged in a big old farmhouse whose owner provides pilgrims with dinner, a bed and breakfast for €30.