Charles Péguy, most notably in his Présentation de la Beauce, made the pilgrimage to Notre-Dame de Chartres in 1912 to pray for the recovery from typhoid of his son Pierre, composing interminable verses on the road: We go straight forward, hands down in pockets, Without any kit, without clobber or talk, With a pace always even, no haste or refuge, From these fields right here to the next nearest there, You see us marching, the poor bloody infantry, We never take more than one step at a time.
