Day 8 September 3 Saint Chely-d’Aubrac to Saint-Come d’Olt

16.7 km 339m ascent 762 descent 4:10hr. 30⁰ C

We had a very nice sleep, although it was a bit warm. Everything that opened was large enough that a person could enter that way, so I didn’t feel comfortable about leaving anything open. Life is full of compromises.

We got up at 6:15 am and were at breakfast at 7am. Nice breakfast. Russell was attempting to make himself a cappuccino from the fancy machine, following all the instructions, and I was standing beside him with my cup. Another lady arrived for coffee, and wasn’t about to put up with any delay. She grilled Russell on whether he had done this or that, why not push the button again, even though a sign on the machine said not to push the button twice, and then went and fetched the lady in charge. Russell’s cup was rapidly dealt with, and she then made herself a coffee. I just stood there throughout all this, feeling rather like someone completely insignificant and best ignored. She seemed to be happy once she had her coffee, and then turned her attention to me. Joanne, a lawyer from Montreal, walking the Camino with her husband, an American chemical engineer. They started in Aumont-Aubrac, which is where we were on what we are calling our Day 4.

We had a nice conversation, but it was rather going on, so I sat down to eat, and shortly after she left with her coffee. We finished breakfast, handed in our key, got our credential stamped, and were just putting on our backpacks to go, when she reappeared for another coffee. We got into another, very interesting, but long conversation. She had lots of questions about our poles, gear, how far we walked, how we selected our lodging, etc etc. The issue was that we purposely got up early to walk before it got too hot. So I eventually cut in and said we had to go. I’ve been through this with myself many times before. I will allow my own objectives to be thwarted, just to not appear to be rude. I know a lot of people that would never let that happen. Why can’t I?

The map today showed one approximately 200 meter ascent within a span of 1.5 km early on in the walk. We exited through the town, and then climbed approximately 100 meters straight up a very steep hill.

 We passed a pilgrim on one of the 5 cultural heritage items on that stretch of the GR65, the Pont de Pelerins (Pilgrim’s bridge) over Boralde in Saint-Chely d’Aubrac just before the hill, and he started the ascent about the time we were at the highway at the top. The GR65 markings were very clearly telling us to go left, but the GPS seemed to be saying to go to the right. There were more hills involved, and the GR65 markings are so good, I wanted to follow them. Russell was having memories of the via Francigenia, and wanted to follow the GPS. During the debate, the other pilgrim arrived at the highway, and said to go left. Russell was still skeptical, so I went left and after about 20 meters a dirt path appeared on the right, which followed the highway, just many meters above it.

The path crossed that highway again after maybe 500 meters, so either way would have worked, but who wants to walk along a highway when you can walk on a safe and secluded path?

The path then plunged down a hill and we started to climb a whole new mountain. It was a lovely walk through the woods, with the rising sun shining through the trees. We asked the pilgrim to take our picture and then walked with him up another majorly steep, 100 meter rise. He was from Germany and was walking the Camino from his home in Nuremberg, although not all at once. He had started several years ago and was walking for 10-12 days a years from where he left off the year before. He was going at least 30km a day. He was kind enough to say we were very well conditioned when we got to the top of that steep hill. I was pretty pooped at that point and stopped at the very conveniently located picnic table to mop the sweat off my back. He carried on.

The views were magnificent again today. We entered the Lot valley, which is a very fertile plain in France. The trail was lined with hazelnut trees, blackberries, and blue plums. Also more pastures of cows with their calves.  We have noticed the entire family of cow, bull, and calf is put together in the maternity field. Perhaps so the bull can be a role model for the calf?

Today really was a continuous series of steep climbs followed by steep descents.  As you can see from the stats, the descents were much greater than the ascents. To be honest, I’d rather climb up a steep slope than down a steep slope anytime.

We only walked about 17 km today to our lodging, and we arrived at around 11:30am. We are staying at a Convent tonight, called the Couvent De Malet, which is about 400 meters before Saint-Come d’Olt.

We went to where we thought the rooms were, there was nobody there, but there was a bell, so we rang the bell, waited 20 minutes, and rang the bell again. Russell wanted to keep ringing the bell but that seemed rather desperate, so we went outside to a table that was there and had a lovely lunch of cheese, bread, a tomatoe, and olives. This lunch was made possible by the fridge we had in our condo last night.

While we were having our lunch, a Sister came out, got me to come with her, and then presumably explained the routine to me.  I broke in probably near the end of her speech and told her I only spoke a little French. She asked what Country I was from, and I said Canada. I’m pretty sure she was impressed with that response, because I then got a lovely tour and she relayed the drill in a slower manner with much more hand waving, that I could understand.

We had gone to the section of the convent that was only for nuns. Where our rooms were, there was a library, we could get cold water from a water fountain, and make coffee or tea, there was also a much nicer picnic area we could use, outside the church and ‘hotel’ part of the convent, and we could check in the hotel at 2pm.

I thanked her, and went back to finish my lunch with Russell at the table where we had started it. After lunch, Russell left his backpack where the suitcases were being delivered by the taxi transfer, I didn’t, and we went in to Saint-Come d’Olt to sightsee.

We met the German pilgrim coming in to the town that had been travelling with the Lithuanians. They had gone further a day or so ago, so he was now on his own. He planned to go to Espalion today, which a lot of others were planning to do as well. We go where Macs arranges for us to go.

The circular street surrounding the village centre of Saint-Come d’Olt and its ramparts, that have become the facades of the houses, give the city an exceptional appearance.

The heart of the city has kept its mediaeval character with three fortified entrance gateways and its alleyways. A 12^th century manor with two 14^th century towers and two monuments listed as historic monuments: the Chateau de Castelneau, dating from the 13^th century and today housing the Mayor as well as the Chapelle des Penitents, formerly a hospice for pilgrims and now an exhibition room.

What really distinguishes Saint-Come d’Olt from other villages is its church with the twisted spire. It was built from 1522 to 1532 in a flamboyant Gothic style.

You have to wonder about a town that retains its medieval appearance. That usually indicates it suffered a major economic or political setback.

At a picnic site beside the towers, were tables of pilgrims, including the nurse, the ladies from Australia, and many others. They were also heading to Espalion. We go to Estaing tomorrow and have a rest day there, so will likely not see any of these people again. We said our good-byes, and they said ‘you never know, we may meet further down the road after all’.

We came to check in to our room close to 2pm. 

We didn’t get a key, hmmm, we did get a big lecture about how to avoid leaving them with a bed bug problem, a routine we follow anyway because we don’t want them any more than they do, were told of all the services, if we wanted to pray, and when dinner was.

It is a very austere room, but definitely adequate. The e-mail doesn’t work coming in or going out – but it’s not that an uncommon occurrence. We do, at least, have very slow internet access.

It was a nice supper, but very lacking in spice. Squash soup, curried chicken, vegetables, couscous, and a trifle. We all ate at long tables, to encourage mingling.

Interestingly, the Sister asked people what country they were from, most from France, Belgium, we from Canada, and six people (not collectively but in pairs or individually) said they were from Quebec. I didn’t know Quebec was a country!

She also explained, as was later translated to us, that you could get to Espalion tomorrow along the road, on level ground and a shorter distance, or via the GR65 - which involved a major climb, and not to turn your light on in your room with the window open when it was dark, because the bats would fly in.

I was pretty surprised about her discouraging pilgrims, in any way, to follow the GR65. It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey!

Day 7 September 2 Nasbinals to Saint Chely-d’Aubrac

 18.2 km 321m ascent 680m descent 4:45hr. 26⁰ C

Breakfast didn’t start until 7:30am, the store didn’t open until 8:30am, and it was going to be a relatively short day today, so we weren’t in a big rush to get going.

The three amigos from France were in the same hotel, and we had our parting best wishes to all at breakfast. They were going to be doing more sightseeing before heading home. They were impressed we were going all the way to St Jean Pied de Port. I told them the first week was the hardest, after that it was just routine. Bridgette was supposed to be at our hotel too, but we never saw her.

It seemed like almost all the guests, as well the staff, had dogs. They were everywhere. Very well behaved though.

I was drinking the local water at Nasbinals all day yesterday, which was very nice, but the different minerals etc in the water than I am used to upset my stomach, and it wasn’t very happy. I just had yogurt and fruit for breakfast. It was a lovely buffet with everything you could expect at breakfast, except cereal.

Our hotel was about 1.5 km from the village centre. The church was open when we went past, so we stopped in to look around. They were preparing for a funeral at 10am.

When we left we passed by the Hotel Argent restaurant and there was the German couple, Michael and Enga, and the French couple Danielle and Luther. We don’t often see the German couple at breakfast. I think they don’t like to get up too early. We all waved.

We were at the store just when it opened, bought some more water and headed off.

The section of the Chemins de Saint Jacques de Compostelle from Nasbinals to Saint Chely d’Aubrac is classed as natural heritage by UNESCO, for its authenticity and landscape.  

The trail was ascending virtually the entire way for the first 10 km. Although the total ascent today doesn’t sound incredibly challenging, it was actually very difficult. Partly because it was always upward, but more because there were several stretches which were extremely steep. For a change today, we were always in a procession of pilgrims, and at the top of all the really steep ascents, there was always several groups of companions that would stop and sit and have a rest. Russell and I didn’t stop until we got to Aubrac, which had a lovely bar and was maybe 1 km past the peak. We each had a beautiful, cold Perrier. They had this wonderful berry flan which everyone was admiring. The pieces were huge and cost 6.50 euro, so there didn’t seem to be any takers. I was actually quite hungry, because I didn’t have any cereal at breakfast.

We met two ladies from Australia at the bar who seemed to be very intelligent and connected to various universities, including the University of Alberta. The nurse arrived too while we were there and we asked how her blister was doing. She was now up to 10 blisters she was nursing, and was wearing sandals. We offered some suggestions but she had everything for blisters and knew what to do. It wouldn’t seem so, now would it, under the circumstances.

Although it was nice to sleep in a bit, it was getting very hot. I have a bit of a sunburn which I was trying to keep covered up, but gave in to the heat instead and uncovered everything! We are going to buy some heavy duty sunscreen this afternoon.

We were pretty much walking through cow pastures, in with the cows this time, or through the woods, all day. The views were magnificent and the direction of the view at the various lookouts varied as we progressed.  I started to wonder if the farmers in France all have their maternity pastures along the Camino to impress the pilgrims with how well they treat their cows! 

We’re not concerned about running into a procession of cows anymore or being fenced in the field with them. They are very uninterested in the pilgrims. I found this surprising because whenever I visit the Solvason homestead farm in Saskatchewan, when you go into the field with the cows they all come over to you right away. I guess the cows in France can tell the difference between a pilgrim and someone who has a treat for them.

Part way down the mighty descent I felt like I was going to be sick – hungry was the problem. Granola bar from home to the rescue. I felt a bit better after that and we stopped for lunch shortly after at the picnic place provided by either the friends of the Camino, or the citizens of Belvezet.

Belvezet was the high point, from a tourist point of view today. A puy of perfect basalt columns with a fortress on top. 

The puy dates back to 18.7 million years ago – a volcanic eruption. Not too sure when the fortress was built. There were lovely information plaques all along the route today, in French, which we really couldn’t understand.

We got to our hotel today at 1:15pm, just at the beginning of siesta time. Luckily it has a bar/ restaurant, so we were able to get into our room. It is another very nice accommodation. We are in a separate condo, and the room has a kitchenette, with fridge, and we have our own private deck/patio – complete with astro turf!

The German couple arrived around 4pm and are staying in the same condo complex as we are. We had dinner with them tonight. The dinner was excellent. I had salad, Russell had a cheese tarte as an appetizer, we both had white fish for the main course, he had a sort of scalloped potato with his and I had vegetables. We each had rhubarb apple crisp for dessert-very yummy.

Day 6 September 1 Aumont-Aubrac to Nasbinals

26.3km 530m ascent 382m descent 6hr. 25⁰ C

The breakfast wasn’t too terrific, and the man in charge seemed to be watching everyone like a hawk. The three pilgrims from France were with us at breakfast, as well as Bridgette.

We were the first to leave. It was wonderfully cool.

As expected, there was a big climb out of the city, through the woods.

The landscape was different today. The rolling hills were smaller, it was more golden hay than grass, and the soil was a very fine powder, reminiscent of the dig at Bethsaida in Israel.

There was lots of purple heather, and pink fireweed.

The cows along the way definitely appear to be happy, contented cows. Well feed and enjoying the good life outdoors in the pasture.

There was a lot more flat terrain too, reminiscent of the mesada along the Camino in Spain, interspersed with several major climbs. We’re still in the massive central.

We stopped after 16 km at a Gite just before Finleyrols. We got a lemonade, which once again ended up being sprite (this is the last lemonade we’ll ever order in France). We then walked out the long lane into the Gite, and sat at a picnic table in the trees to have our lunch. We were pretty much invisible there.

Bridgette, and many other pilgrims we recognized walked past while we had lunch. Many of them stopped at Fineyrols for their lunch, and we passed them there. Somehow we caught up to Bridgette, and she was a short distance behind us for the rest of the way to Nasbinals.

Macs had indicated that the owner of the hotel indicated in our accommodation, owned three hotels in Nasbinals, fairly strung out, so we called when we got close to see which one we were in. It turned out we were booked in Le Bastide, on the outskirts coming in to Nasbinals. Bridgette had caught up at that point and I tried to explain the situation to her, to no avail. We said our goodbyes, in case we didn’t see each again, as she was finished walking in Nasbinals.

I was a bit mad we weren’t in the hotel in the city centre. We stopped at the hotel going in, which was open and really nice, but no one was there.

We decided to go into town and get some supplies for tomorrow, and a cold drink. We passed Bridgette and Danielle  and Luther at the Hotel Argent, the one in the city. It turned out Bridgette was staying at Le Bastide too!

This ended up being the nicest hotel we have stayed in yet. Very large, modern rooms. In general the hotel rooms in France are very small.

The niece of the owner was on duty at the hotel when we got back. She asked if we wanted a ride to dinner, and we accepted. It was 1.5 km in and out and we had already walked 30 km that day.

She drove us to the restaurant in her mom’s BMW. Nice.

There was no choice for dinner. The waiter said we were getting an egg thing to start, then beef stew and aligot, and cheese for dessert. I said I’d rather have a salad verte , and he said no. The egg thing was good for pilgrims. It was rather good, the yolk was a round ball so had to have been hard boiled, and this yolk was swimming in a sauce composed of cream or milk and partially cooked egg white. Russell thought it was like escargot sauce, so likely had some garlic and spice in it. The beef stew was quite delicious, but very salty (not necessarily a bad thing), and the aligot of course is a regional specialty (potatoes, cream and cheese) that was prepared for pilgrims going to Santiago. I didn’t really like it, but Russell did. I refused the cheese plate and he sort of offered a fruit cup instead, but that didn’t materialize. I take medication for high cholesterol, and the whole dinner was just loaded with it.

The niece told us to ask the owner, her uncle who had mustache,  to let her know when we were ready and she would come get us, but the owner himself drove us back. He was very friendly, and we told him his hotel was the nicest we had stayed in yet.

We never did see Bridgette again. She had passed on the ride to dinner and wasn’t down at breakfast in the morning.

I have been drinking a lot of the local water at Nasbinals. We had run out of bottled water, it was far to go into the city to get some, and the local water was very nice.

It was a great night’s sleep until I woke up with upset stomach at 5:30am.

I have been approaching my back log on the blog pages by doing the daily blog first (while fresh in my mind), and catching up second. This is the earliest blog page I hadn’t gotten done on the right day, so you will get this and all the remaining pages at once. As soon as we have decent internet access.

Also, I write the blog, Russell posts it, and then adds pictures. So depending on the timing, you may have missed the pictures.  You might like to go back to the beginning and look at them.

Day 5 August 31 Les Faux to Aumont-Aubrac

23.3km 462m ascent 545m descent 6hr. 26⁰ C

The room in Hotel L’Oustal de Parent we stayed at was okay, but not the greatest. The hotel itself, outside, in the lobby and restaurant, on the other hand, was very nice.

The breakfast was very nice, served at 7:30 am, making for a bit of a late departure. We had breakfast with Bridgette, Danielle, and Luther. No sign of the German couple.

We had printed out maps of getting to and from all the 35 hotels we are staying at on the Camino. Since this place was a km off the GR65, we reviewed our exit strategy from this hotel with the proprietor before leaving. We planned to walk along the highway for about a km rather than doing the other two sides of a triangle to go back the way we came. He pointed out to us two places off the highway that connected back to the GR65. A much better plan. We set off, with Bridgette not too far behind. The trouble with Bridgette is that she speaks unilingual French, and it really gets tiresome trying make conversation that anyone can understand. Russell and I walk primarily in silence, and we both seem to like that.

Once again it was very cool starting out. We had to climb, as usual to get out of Les Faux. Early on we passed a procession of cows near Le Rouget, going off for milking, presumably. Betsi the cow was in the lead, all the others following nicely behind, except for the cow bringing up the rear, who was walking on the other side of the road, and keeping a close eye on the cows in the procession. 

There were no dogs herding this bunch of cows. This was unlike the next procession of cows we encountered, where both a man, woman, and their dogs were supervising the whole thing. Of course the second procession was on a more major road with cars racing about, so the stakes were higher (or should I say steaks).

At the meet and greet, Jossee, the pilgrim from Quebec, told us the first three days of the Le Puy Way were up and down, but after that it would be basically downhill to the sea. This was her first pilgrimage. The first thing you learn along the Way, whatever country is involved, is that if they say it is flat, that’s only because the ups and downs cancel out. This is our 4^th day of walking, and there is lots of climbing up and down.

It continues to be a wonderful mix of mountains, plateaus, areas of natural beauty, green valleys, rocky landscapes, characteristic villages, secluded hamlets, ancient stone crosses and pastures hemmed in by ancient stone walls.

We passed through Rouget, the village taking its name from the red stone in the area. After this town, the characteristic red tile roofs of the houses in of the area up to and including Saugues, give way to grey slate.

Saint-Alban-sur-Limagnole was a large city with many hospitals, presumably serving a large area. This is very efficient for the service provider, but not easily accessible for the family members. When my mom and dad each passed away, it was very convenient for my family that there was a small hospital right in Grimsby, close to their house, making it easy for us to go back and forth visiting them.

We went out of our way to go to the Tourist office, which was in an old castle, but the lady was very curt and unfriendly with us. There was a large group of mentally disabled individuals near-by outside the socio-therapy clinic, and they were very friendly and eager to help with directions,etc.

We stopped for coffee at a bar passing through, and visited the church after, where we met another German pilgrim with two youth from Lithuania. They sort of followed us out of the city, following the signs. After that, we went through a series of climbing mountains, descending off the mountain, followed by climbing another mountain, etcetera. Much of the time we were in a very pleasant forested area.  Past Chapannes, we saw a teepee and thought it looked like an Upper Canada Village, but decided it was a log cabin being built in the woods by a family, and they were living in the teepee while building it.

There was extremely steep descent down to Estrets, which provided a lovely picnic place, where we stopped for lunch. 

While there, Bridgette walked past. I’m pretty sure she was walking about the same speed as us. We had exited from the forest down that steep incline into a small village, and while there a truck with large timber logs drove up the hill. Where was he going? Maybe delivering logs for the log house?

We ran into Bridgette again entering Aumont-Aubrac, where we were both staying at Hotel Prunieres. We stopped for a Perrier at a bar, then went to the hotel. The water in the hotel was non-potable. The town is a bit of a laughing stock in the area because of this. Apparently the water in the town is dangerous to drink because it has a lot aluminum in it. They did provide us with a very large bottle of water.

The room was okay, but not terrific, but the hotel had a laundromat so we washed all of our pilgrim clothes. It was nice to get everything really clean. We wash it all by hand, day by day, but the machine does a much better job.

The dinner was okay. The salad was chocked full of cheese cubes and ham, which just add unnecessary calories, I order steak and Russ ordered beef stew, but we switch because the steak was rare and I like it well done. The stew was good.

We had a pretty good sleep there. It was a hard day.

Day 4 August 30– Sauges to Les Faux

 

29km 690m ascent 522m descent 7hr. 20 min. 24⁰ C

The same fellow that helped us with our phones was there in the morning with a fleece on that said Jesus /01/ is my savior, in French of course. He was going out and waved us to the part of the hotel restaurant that had the breakfast buffet. I wondered if he was going to morning mass.

It was the perfect breakfast buffet for pilgrims. What was surprising is that he, or someone else, was not there making sure you didn’t take anything you weren’t going to eat for breakfast. I routinely walk out from breakfast with a tea bag, a sugar, and a piece of fruit (if they have fruit at the breakfast – most do). I resist the temptation to make a sandwich too.

Every day when we set out, on all our pilgrimages to date, I bring black tea and sugar in my travel mug which lasts me for about the first two hours, before it starts to get hot and you want water to drink. We have a European immersion heater you just immerse in the mug to boil the water for the tea. I boil the water and put in the tea bag while getting dressed. When we leave, I remove the tea bag and add the sugar. At first I would leave the tea bag in the mug (I like strong tea), until the first time the tea bag disintegrated. That made a real mess in my coffee mug and the tea was ruined too.

The three pilgrims from France were at breakfast and we all wished each other a bonne Chemin. They must have booked with Le Pelerine too.

When we set out it was very cool. Almost, but not, cool enough that we could have had more clothes on.

It turns out that there is a Canadian connection here in the thirteenth-century church in Saugues. There is an altar in the church dedicated to Noel Chabanel, born in 1613, trained as a Jesuit, sent to Canada, and martyred by the Iroquis in 1649. He was one of the Jesuit priests that came to early Canada to convert the heathens. Maybe the natives were right? Saved from what for what?

Leaving Saugues there were many more bealutiful wood carvings, including a large carving of St. Jacques.

I haven’t mentioned yet that GR65 is extremely well marked. You really don’t need anything much more than your eyes, following either the red and white GR65 markings, or the bronze shells in the sidewalks in the cities. 

Not only is the route well marked, but the wrong route is well marked as such also. If you don’t immediately see the GR65 marking at a point of divergence, you usually see the red and white X telling you not to go that way.

The other important thing is that we very rarely are not walking on a safe dirt/ grass/ gravel pilgrim path which is off the highway. 

My bursitis in my heel doesn’t do well with walking on tarmac, and thankfully there has been very little of that, so far.

Leaving town today, once we were out of the city, which was along city streets but almost immediately were on a dirt road through a farmers fields.

It was lovely rolling country-side. We seem to often be in hydro tower right of ways, and we wondered if that is more than a co-incidence. It was so humid you could hear the high voltage crackle.

After saying this, today was the first short bit of walking along a major highway.

The cows were once again our companions. We walked through a forest, over rivers and walked though La Clauze with an ancient freestanding tower which is the only remains of a late 12^th century castle.

In a forested area approaching Le Sauvage, in the Montagne de la Margeride area, we met a French lady for the first time, picking bilberries (in French myrtille), who engaged us in conversation and offered some to us. Further along we passed her husband, off the trail, also seemingly picking bilberries.  I wondered later if perhaps she was providing a decoy for her husband. There aren’t many WC’s along the trail, and nature does call occasionally. These Bilberries are what our ice cream dessert were made of at the Bristol Hotel in Le Puy.

We got the impression that forestry operations in the area had redirected through the GR65 through those woods.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at a stone table across from the Sauvage gite. While having lunch the small girl from France with her big pack, that we met at the Camino meet and greet in Le Puy arrived with a large collection of other young pilgrims. We said hello, and asked how it was going. She said well, and that she was going to stay there that night.

We carried on, past a dog sanctuary, through the woods, to the Chapel of St. Roch. There was a bus load of what appeared to be cycling tourists there. Apparently the Chapel is usually closed, but it was open. It was a lovely Chapel, and I feel indebted to the cyclists for being able to see inside. I’m sure the tour bus had arranged for it to be open.

Our hotel in Les Faux was 15 minutes off the GR65 (approximately 1 km). It was a lovely building and we arrived around 2:50pm after walking almost 30km. A sign said they opened at 3:30pm.

We sat down at a picnic table outside to wait. A little later, Bridgette arrived. As it turned out, the proprietors were in the hotel the whole time. Slightly after 3:30pm, the unlocked the door.

There was a sign in the room saying they had endured a catastrophe of being infested with bed bug the year before. They had a list of do’s and don’ts to avoid this happening again.

We had our showers, did our laundry, worked on the blog (trying to get caught up). The room was okay.

At dinner, the proprietor had put everyone travelling with Pelerin at the same table. We ate with Bridgette, Danielle & Luther from France (the bilberry pilgrims), and  Michael and Enga from Germany. It was a lovely meal of squash and vegetable soup, sausages, pasta and vegetables, and dessert.

We had an interesting conversation, considering most people spoke different languages. Danielle complained of English people coming to France and just speaking English (she spoke the best English of everyone not English at the table). Bridgette only spoke French. The Germans spoke reasonable English, almost no French, and Luther was able to speak just about any language, including Dutch and German.

We all agreed Donald Trump was dangerous, and totally incompetent. ISIS, and Syrian refugees were major issues, and the Camino was wonderful.

Bridgette is going to Nasbinals, I think Danielle and Luther and the Germans are going to Conques. The Germans are taking taxis/ buses as they see fit.

We had a reasonably sleep, as now we are tired every day from walking! I got up during the night to go to the bathroom and saw my first spider I have seen in a European hotel. It was very large and Russell was employed to dispose of it.

Day 3 August 29– Monistrol d’Allier to Sauges

17km 687m ascent 228m descent 5hr. 29⁰ C

We got up in time for breakfast at 7:00am, and already people were smoking at the bar/restaurant below. But it was just too hot already to close the windows.

We had decided to forgo the 6km massive/dangerous descent getting here, which was a good thing because our ride back to Saint Privat-d’Allier was still sleeping! As I always say, I’d rather walk up a hill any day, rather than walking down.

At breakfast we noticed the German couple we had met at the pilgrim meet and greet. They too are travelling with Le Pelgrine in France (the company Macs subcontracts to in France).

The gorge was absolutely beautiful. There was a grand puy right outside our bedroom window that we kept seeing during the day. It was a very steep, 423 m climb out of the Gorge de l”Allier. Peter had told us there was a debate over whether the river Loire or Allier was more important. Overlooking the gorge near the top was the Chappelle de la Madeleine built into the rock. Very nice. 

There was also basalt columns in the mountain, evidence of the volcanic activity in the area. Shortly after, we went through a lovely woods between Escluzels and Montaure. We often find ourselves walking on a ridge, with magnificent views all around.

We have to say that we see lots of cows, horses, sheep, dogs and cats. The cows, most in abundance, are very fat, contented, and well groomed, at least in part because they are living their lives in the pasture.

Coming in to Saugues, there were the most delightful wooden sculptures along the way.  

Someone in the town is obviously very talented. The most famous is the monument of the huge Beast of Gevaudan, which derives from a legend a few centuries back. 

Local children were found dead, having been dreadfully mauled. It was decided that this was the work of wolves, and a bounty was placed on them. Finally, a huge wolf was killed and the killings stopped.  Apparently there are still wolves in the area.

We found our hotel with a sign saying someone would be there at 3pm. It was 12:30pm and we hadn’t had lunch, so rather than eating our picnic lunch we went to a restaurant and ordered a pizza. The lady brought two identical pizzas, which I instantly objected to, but she just shrugged. We only touched one of them, but ended up paying for two. I was very annoyed, and felt we had been taken advantage of. Do most people in France eat a whole pizza themselves for lunch? Worse, I didn’t even like the pizza. It had emmental cheese, which was awful.

We went back to the hotel patio to just sit and wait for it to open, but the fellow was there already. He was very nice and helped us with our phones. It seems you have to send in an identity card to register you service within two weeks, which we hadn’t done, and the phone is ‘locked’ until they receive them. We filled in the cards, with his help, and he said he’d mail them.

Later in the afternoon we went sightseeing and visited the Anglais Tower, which had a display of really nice art work (photographs), then visited the church, and wandered around.

Because it was Monday, the hotel did not do dinner, so we went to another restaurant down the street. We recognized a pilgrim from France, Bridgette, a grouping of three pilgrims from France, two women and one man, and the German couple. We all waved at each other.

The dinner was excellent: salad with ham, cheese, tomatoes, boston lettuce etc; pork chop, rice and mushrooms, cheese, and crème caramel.

The hotel was also very nice, and we both had an excellent sleep.

Day 2 August 28 – Le Puy to St. Privat d’Allier transfer to Monistrol d’Allier

23.8km 811m ascent 588m descent 7 hours 32⁰C

Russ and I slept very badly the night before the first day of walking, mainly because of the excitement, but also because of the in room air conditioner and smell.

I really wanted to go to the pilgrim mass at 7am and start the Camino from the Cathedral, but while still lying awake at 3am I thought of a number of good excuses not to: it would delay our departure time considerably, important because it was forecast to be very hot. Breakfast was at 6:30am, so if we went to the mass we couldn’t leave until 8am, if we didn’t we could leave at 6:45am and get another hour and 15 minutes walking while it was cool; it was a major climb from our hotel up to the Cathedral, something we had done numerous times over the last 2 days, but this time we would have had to walk up that monster hill with our back packs on our backs; the service would be in French, so we really wouldn’t understand what was going on anyway. When the alarm went off at 6am, we decided to just get going. Russ never did want to go to the mass anyway! My biggest regret is that we didn’t a picture of ourselves standing with our backs to the altar in the Cathedral in front of the long flight of stairs down to rue des Tables yesterday when we were there.

Le-Puy-en-Velay, is set within a volcanic landscape and famed for its rocky peaks that rise up from the valley floor. 

Being in the Massive Central area, over the section from Le Puy to Nasbinals we pass through the Velay Mountains and the Margeride plateau, areas of natural beauty, green valleys and rocky landscapes.

We also walk through characteristic villages and past secluded hamlets, ancient stone crosses and pastures hemmed in by ancient stone walls.

It was a massively steep climb getting out of Le Puy, and the Way was continuously uphill for about 20km the first day, a total ascent of 811m. Not exactly equivalent to climbing the Alps on the first day of the Via Francigenia last year, but close enough. 

We had gorgeous views of the many statues and monuments built on the puys of Le Puy leaving the city. Along the way we passed a female pilgrim who was sitting on a rock with her boots off. We asked if everything was okay, and she said yes.

After about 5.5 km, the gr65 skirted round La Roche along a track overlooking the deep valley of the Ravine de la Gazelle. It was very exciting walking along a narrow track on the edge a cliff plunging into the ravine below. 

We then went through a little wood and descended down to a stream called Ruisseau de la Roche. This was followed by a steep climb up to Saint-Christophe-sur–Dolaison. We stopped at a bar/restaurant for a cold drink. We asked for lemonade and were somewhat disappointed to get sprite. C’est France. While there, the female pilgrim we passed arrived and proceeded to take out a syringe and inject a red fluid into a blister. She said she was a nurse and this was her first pilgrimage. I said if I ever got a blister I just punctured it with a pin to remove the fluid and put a bandage on it, she was way more high tech than that. This fluid she was injecting was apparently going to dry up the blister. I was a bit skeptical.

Shortly later, another pilgrim arrived that was from Switzerland. He too had walked all the way from his home town. We told him about the fellow we had met at the Camino meet and greet in Le Puy that had also walked from Switzerland.

Before leaving the bar we also each bought a popsicle, which was very refreshing, and then set off again. As we walked through a forest on the descent down to St. Privat d’Allier, it started to rain. So we put stopped and put on our ponchos, but the rain stopped soon after, and the ponchos were very hot, so we took then off.

We stopped at the appointed bar beside the gas station  in Saint Privat d’Allier where we were supposed to call Peter in Monistrol d’Allier to pick us up and take us to our hotel for the night. The phones didn’t work. The lady at the bar was very French but we found some pilgrims that could talk both French and English and explain what we needed to do. She was very kind to call Peter for us and arrange the pickup. There was a pay phone at the bar, but I tried that it didn’t work either. While waiting for Peter, we met a lady pilgrim living in France that was from Mexico and two Swiss pilgrims showed up. It was the two we had met and told the one about the other. They were grateful to have connected. Everyone thought Donald Trump was a complete idiot, especially the lady from Mexico.

Peter arrived and was very jolly old English. He was very friendly, but seemed to be very frenzied. He explained to us that walking the 6km from Saint Privat d’Allier to Montrisol d’Allier was very dangerous, especially if it had rained. It was a 339m drop that was strewn with tree roots and rocks. He said it wasn’t even part of the original Camino, but an attempt to keep the Camino off the highway. I told him I didn’t have anything to prove and would be just as happy to cut that section out.

We told him about the difficulty we were having with our phones, and he said he could probably help with that.

The hotel was charming and very English Country Cottage, but very small rooms. 

There was barely enough room in there to turn around. The staff were all very friendly but harried.

Dinner was pasta and sausages, with chanterelle mushrooms, preceded by a very stylish salad in a cup, melon, tomatoes etc and followed by apple tarte. Very good. It seemed Peter was the chief Chef, waiter, and bottle washer.

Unfortunately, our room was right over the bar, and patrons were drinking, talking, and smoking half the night below our window. There was no air conditioner, so closing the window wasn’t a viable option.

Lynn slept not too bad in spite of these challenges but Russ didn’t, as it turns out because he was sleeping on wrong side of the bed! I told him we could have switched sides at any point during the night, but he just suffered in silence.

We never got a chance to ask Peter about our phones. He was just too busy.