Pilgrimage and Psychology: Hiking on the Cathar Way

And I’m not religious anyway. It was only a personal crisis that made me yearn for a different way of traveling. A friend encouraged me to try pilgrimage, not as a religious exercise, but as an experience.

After some searching, I came across the Sentier Cathare, the “Cathar Way” in the French region of Occitania, and the pilgrim companion and hiking expert Sébastien Erpelding. Officially, the 250 kilometer long route is a long-distance hiking trail, but it is also used as a pilgrimage route. To me it seemed like an insider tip, more original, wild, full of history.

Sébastien and I started in Quillan, at the foot of the Pyrenees, about halfway through the entire tour. The air was filled with the scent of strawberry trees and pine trees. I enjoyed the lonely landscape in which sparsely covered mountain slopes were slowly replaced by dense forests. Bird songs accompanied us, the wind rustled, our footsteps crunched, but nothing else could be heard.

At some point we entered a fairy forest. Tall fir trees filtered the light, the ground smelled of moss and damp earth. Suddenly it was as if we were in another world, it was quiet, almost sacred. I ran my hands over bark, mossy stones and saw “faces” in the branches; a close, intensive encounter with nature.

A highlight were the Galamus gorges near Saint-Paul-de-Fenouillet. A river rushes between vertical rocks and waterfalls spray their spray. The hermit monastery of Saint-Antoine de Galamus is built into a rock niche. We paused there, sat in the shade of the cliffs, and meditated together.

The stages were well structured: four to six hours of walking per day, with breaks to explore castles and villages. We stayed in small accommodations where the hosts cooked, often sat down, wanted to know what we had experienced and told our own stories. At night I slept deeply and soundly, like I hadn’t in a long time.

I hadn’t prepared much for the tour, neither physically nor mentally. That’s exactly what made it so appealing – not more planning like in everyday life, but running into the unknown. Sébastien, the hiking guide, was an important support. He not only knew every path, every spring and every junction, but also the stories of the places. He set the rhythm. Sometimes he would just make a small comment that would later make me think. I found his presence calming and encouraging when I was exhausted.

The trip was exactly what I needed at that time. The breakup from my long-term relationship threw me off track. As I walked, the crisis gradually lost its sharpness: Nature showed me that nothing stays the same – everything changes. There was comfort in this thought, and with every step the confidence grew that my life would continue, different than before, but with new possibilities. What I also learned: It doesn’t always have to be a big adventure. Sometimes a little trip into nature is enough.

I haven’t made the pilgrimage again since then, but the desire remains. It was a memorable experience, even though it happened three years ago. There is a stone on my desk that I picked up back then. He shows me in small ways that every step is enough if you take it consciously.

This is what the pilgrim companion says: The Cathar Way is not a classic pilgrimage route like the Way of St. James. But many who take it experience it in this spirit: not as a sporting challenge, but as an invitation to slow down. For me it is a quiet meditation on landscape, history and spirituality.

The entire route stretches over 250 kilometers, from Foix in the Pyrenees to Port-la-Nouvelle on the Mediterranean. If you walk it in one go, it takes around twelve days. I travel with “my” pilgrims all year round, except in winter when there is snow. Most of them accompany me for a week, some only decide for three or five days because everyday life doesn’t leave them any more time. The daily stages are between 15 and 28 kilometers. We stay in small ones chambres d’hôtesa kind of bed and breakfast where we sit together in the evening and let the experience resonate.

Many guests come because they are looking for a break from everyday life. I remember a manager who finally wanted to switch off after periods of constant stress. On the first day, she rushed ahead as if afraid of missing something. Little by little a different rhythm emerged: she paused, smelled the herbs along the side of the path, sat down on a wall and was silent.

The retired history teacher was different: he was deeply religious and always paused for a long time at the castles. For him the journey was a history book. Or the young mother whose husband looked after the children at home, she just wanted to have time for herself again. At the beginning it was difficult for her to let go – she was still on the phone and constantly texting. But at some point she enjoyed the hikes, breathed deeply and said on the last evening that she was going home with more ease.

These are the moments that touch me. Every person brings something different with them, expectations, worries, a longing that he or she can’t quite name yet. The Cathar Way offers space for silence, for encounters, for the experience that something is released while walking. You just start walking, step by step, and your head becomes clearer, you stop thinking or brooding about anything. The landscape does the rest, it carries you. A lot happens without words.

As a pilgrim companion, I see myself as a companion. I am a certified hiking guide and have training in mindfulness and spiritual guidance. I help along the way when someone reaches their physical or mental limits – sometimes a conversation is enough.

I make sure that everyone finds their own pace and that breaks are possible if someone is exhausted. I always suggest short breathing or walking meditations to look inwards and notice what is happening at the moment. Many people feel that hiking also puts things in order mentally.