Holiday Massacre in Southern France

So I was making a timeline and it involved a group of Normans going to Rome on a pilgrimage. Sadly, an army out of nowhere attacked them and killed them all on St Valentines Day.

But, someone helpfully pointed out thanks to weather and all that, to be in Auvergne, Dauphine, or Provence on St Valentines day, the group would had to have left... before Christmas. I checked and in these days, Normandy got a bit more snow that it does now, slowing things down considerably.

If it was something urgent like meeting the Pope on religious matter, or a war, maybe it's plausible. But for something one takes the family and courtiers on... doesn't seem to make much sense to not be home during Christmas.

So, is there a way to make it plausible, or should I switch it to the Pentecost? I'm leaning on the latter.
 
In general, it doesn't make sense to have people at that time travelling during winter (hell, travel during winter only really because feasible in the past 150 years or so, with the proliferation of the railroad and paved roads between cities). In Normandy, for example, even without lots of snow, you're still looking at oodles of mud and rain (which will damage clothes and leather goods, and can cause food to spoil, as well as being bad for the horses and the men, etc)

That said, pilgrimage is deeply spiritual and not always logical or rational. The group could be going on pilgrimage to pray for the leader's wife or child, who is gravely ill. They could be going because one of them had a vision of Christ or a saint instructing them to go to Rome or Jerusalem. They could be going because one of them committed a sin so grave that he feels that only pilgrimage can save his soul, and he's bringing his buddies with him. Or any of a bunch of other options.
 
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