They walked so they would think only of the landscape around them, and of life too, a little. At the end of the day, they spotted a shelter in the distance. A chaumine, or little thatched cottage: a small, rustic construction typical of Normandy’s peasant dwellings. It was there, right in the middle of the prairie, on the edge of the woods. A stone’s throw away, the Oison flowed. Pushing open the door, they came face-to-face with a hearth, standing right in the middle of the room. It would provide heat and light. This chaumine was now their home for a night or two, before they set off again to tread the paths to Compostela, their minds filled with this experience of a short stay and a frugal way of living, like a return to basics, where fire and water reclaim a central role in life.