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| Our first selfie. |
We awoke very early to get ready for the mass at 7h00. We retraced our steps from yesterday through the quiet predawn city all the way to the cathedral. A beautiful view from the top of the steps. Yesterday, the steps were open straight up into the cathedral, but today the main doors were closed and we had to go around to the right. Inside there were only two other people. It was very quiet inside, beautifully quiet.
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| Pilgrim benediction |
The rest of the people began to arrive, and we tried to guess who would begin the pilgrimage with us today. A Catholic mass was followed by a benediction of the pilgrims. We stood in a big circle around the statue of Saint Jacques and called out where we were from. Most people were from various places in France.
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| The 'starting line' for Camino Le Puy |
A prayer was said. René and I each took a prayer to carry, a copy of the benediction and a little Saint Jacques medallion on a ring. We got our credential stamped and dated and we stood at the top of the stairs i.e. the 'starting line' and walked down.
Even though we had attended the early mass, we were far from being ready to go. We had lunch to buy, a trip to the bank, and last minute packing. We found baguette, croissant, yogurt, cheese, cookies for our picnic lunch, went to the bank, and then back to the room to pack up. The sky was dark and it looked like a thunderstorm was approaching, and sure enough, as we exited the hotel, the rain began. We stood under an awning, and then ducked into a bar for coffee and sat our the rain. With a last minute purchase of moisturising cream for my face, we began the walk out of town.
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| Pink plastic bag protecting our baguette from the rain. |
The walk out of Le Puy-en-Velay, as we knew, and as we had seen on the maps of elevation, was straight uphill. This would begin the pattern of the walks to get out of and into towns. Towns are generally located in valleys, so the trail steeply descends into town, and then the next morning steeply ascends out of town.
As we walked and shed layers, we realized that the training we had done was worthwhile. We also realized that we had left at 10h00.
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| René |
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| Susan |
The walk was a lovely walk through farmers fields, forested paths, tractor roads. It didn't rain once the rest of the day.
We had a snack of yogurt at the small village of St Christophe where we saw a large group of hikers who would be with us til the end of the week. We ate a late lunch just before Montbonnet, on a bench outside of a small chapel - baguette, sausage, cheese, tomatoes. Many people passed us as we were eating.
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| A mid-afternoon treat |
We walked up into Montbonnet and stopped at the bar for a hot chocolate, and cookies. We then caught up to a couple of sisters whom we had sat beside at the morning mass. They had big packs and we wondered how far they were going. They asked about Canada.
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| The welcome sign |
The rest of the walk was up and then quite a descent into St Privat d'Allier.
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| René is happy, Susan is tired. |
We arrived in the small town of St Privat d'Allier tired and ready for a rest.
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| The mess from two backpacks! |
Checked into
La Cabourne, a basic but very clean and well run gite. Boots into the boot closet (with a fan!), then we showered, and I did the day`s wash.
Dinner was included and at 19h00 the table was set for 6. We had supper with the sisters we met that afternoon, and another retired couple who were not hiking. She had spent her school holidays in St Privat with her grandparents, they were back for a visit, and surprised how much the town had changed. Conversation: Canada, language, areas of France, food, hiking. Supper was lentil soup with bread, sausage, potatoes and yogurt sauce with garlic, cheese course and chocolate cake for dessert. We were hungry and glad for a warm delicious meal.
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| Profile of the day's walk |
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