Three trains and nine hours moves us from the coastal beauty of the Cote d’Azur (Antibes), to the very hilly interior region of Le Puy. A small example of the “hilly” can be seen in the photo, below, of Bill bringing the suitcase to the hotel. 

Over the next several days, we will photograph this area; today we’ll focus on the church and our hotel room.

Or room is at La Demeure du Lac de Fugeres, a small B & B located in a 15th century building in the old city. It is exceedingly charming, but a bit difficult to find! Here’s a photo of the sleeping area: 

As we have spread all our backpacking gear over the other parts of the room, this is the only photo we’ll share.

Like most European villages, the local church here is beautiful. It is built on a hill in the center of the old town. Here is Diane standing in front: 

The amazing thing is what happens at night! The entire church facade becomes a projector screen for some amazing animation. We will try to upload some sort videos:

Hopefully, these work as the show was phenomenal.

Today, we’re have a bunch of housekeeping chores and finalizing our backpacks for tomorrow’s walk. Not the least of our chores is to insure that our plans to have our suitcase shipped to the finish line (St. Jean Pied de Port) really are set. Just details.

Thank you, all for being part of our journey. Tomorrow the French Camino (chemin) begins!

Today has been our day of chores and explores here in Le Puy. The old town area and church date back to the 5th century and perhaps earlier. There are several tall volcanic plugs that, over the centuries, have become sites for religious sites. Like the statue of Mary and Jesus: 

Or the chapel of Archangel Michael: 

And of course, the main church, Notre Dame de Le Puy:

One thing we want to pay attention to is the local cuisine. Last night, Bill had Saucisse and Polenta, while Diane had local trout (the Loire river is here), both of which are very popular here:

Tonight we sort of, kind of, kept the local thing going, with Bill having a burger (local beef) and Diane opting for a Chevre salad (she was thinking of you, Willow):

Tomorrow, we start walking. 80% chance of rain, all day. We seem to start every Camino with a rainy day.  We guess this Camino will be no different! Bon Marche!

Okay, on Sunday evening, before our Monday start, we found out that there were more of the large scale Le Puy projections. Recall the prior post where we showed the projections onto the massive Le Puy church? Well, they’ve done it one better! Onto an isolated rocky spire (250′ high) where an old church is built, they project an AMAZING video production. On it, the spire becomes a live volcano, spewing lava and forming the spire. Then dragons come (hey, why not? ), then men. Over time, the church is built on the spire by hauling materials up by pullies, etc. Wars, winters and celebrations then follow. It looks remarkably real!

We took several short videos, but none of them came out with any real quality (sorry). Nonetheless, we still post one to give you an idea.

No doubt, a short search in google or YouTube will provide better videos but, hey, we were there.

Day one, done! Well, actually Day 2 is also done but we had some major trouble with the internet yesterday.

Day one: We chose to start the day by attending the Pilgrim’s service at 7:00am. Though we are not Catholic, it would be truly a loss to not attend this beautiful service to send off the Pilgrims. It has been done for a thousand years before. We attended and we’re blessed. Definitely worthwhile.

The hike was 15 miles of winding up and down through some very beautiful French countryside. 

Oh, and it did rain. Maybe 90 minutes. Enough to require the rain gear, but nothing to cause problems.

In the Le Puy region, famous for lentils, every meal will have lentils. Here’s our lunch on the way: 

And with a full stomach, more hiking: 

And then we arrived! Laundry, food (including lentils) and sleep awaited.

Another day, another 12 miles, for a total of 27 miles to date. Today was stunningly beautiful! The countryside was spectacular, the weather was accommodating, and the food was, well a picnic!

Here are some shots of the countryside:

While difficult to see without expanding the image, the second bridge (the smaller one) was built by Gustaf Eiffel. Also, just moments before we took this picture several groups of rafters passed down the river.

On arrival into Sauges, we were greeted by this wooden carving of the Beast of Givaudan. The wolf was responsible (reportedly) for killing over 100 people during a three year period in the 1700’s. Bill actually remembers reading the story as a kid.  Well, here’s where it happened. 

Dinner and sleep await!  More tomorrow!

Le troisieme jour! Today was 17 miles, bringing our total to 44 miles for the trip. It is again interesting to speak in feet, gallons, pounds and farenheit to our friends and family and speak in meters, liters, kilograms and celcius to everyone here. We not only translate the French, but also measurement systems. Such is the life …

Today’s journey took us across the ridges of the Margeride mountains, between 4,000 and 4,500 feet. The countryside had a bit of the alpine meadows feel to it.

A better example of the countryside can be seen in our “lunch stop” photo, below. 

There is more to talk about, the numbers of hikers on the trail is starting to drop, the adventures of some of our fellow hikers, etc., but the internet is poor so we will keep this post short.

Bon Journee!

Bonjour! Aujourd’hui est le quatrieme jour. Today was 13 miles, bringing the total to 57 miles.

Once again, this region of France is stunning! We’ll start with photos then go to the story. 

And of course, your classic French log cabin with grass growing on the roof and horses grazing in the front …

And then there’s this section of trail that really felt s lot like we were hiking in Yosemite.

Also, not a day goes by when we don’t see this French couple. They RUN every segment, every day. Today, they had a friend join them (the guy on the right, in the blue).

Now, back to the title: planning, pace and pain. This is now our third major walk (more than 30 days on the trail) and there are some things that we are a bit tuned into. You start with a plan: “I want to do this or that”, and “I’d like to do it in this many days”. Okay, you now have the beginnings of a plan.

To accomplish that, you need a “pace”, this many miles per day, on average, etc. But, each day probably requires a bit more fine tuning, like: We need to be there before dark and we have do many hours to hike… therefore a pace of ‘this’ is required.

Then there’s pain. No matter your plan, or your desired pace, pain will set your actual pace, and therefore, your plan.  The first couple of days, you are excited and fresh and can take on the world! By day 3 or 4, the adrenaline is gone and the aches appear … this is the beginning of the toughest period. This is when you ask yourself,  “what am I doing? ” This period passes, but not overnight. For us, it can last 5 – 7 or more days. It’s that … just hang in there period, where you keep saying “it’ll get better”.

The reality good news for us is that we now know that it always gets better … just wait. We’re in that valley now, but the beauty, great food, excellent learning and a spot of patience all helps to see us through.

God bless.

Today was about 15 miles, bringing our total to 72.

When you do a journey like this, you cannot help but meet people … and people from all over. There are the four Australians, a very friendly group. Many groups of French; some with 5 day plans and some with several week plans.  There are hikers from Canada, Japan and even Nepal! Each has a story and if you take the time, you might be able to hear them!

The hike today was, well, beautiful … again. Today seemed a bit like the high plains of Nebraska or South Dakota, as: 

And, 

The altitude is about 3,500 to 4,000′, helping to give the landscape a bit of the Alpine meadows feel

Four years ago, when we did the Camino Frances, we did a post on “Finding Your Way on the Way”. So, how different is it in France? Well, not much!

Here’s the first signpost as you leave the cathedral in Le Puy: 

Sometimes, they are formal signs: 

Most often, they are “white over red” stripes that indicate the Chemin (way) and are found on trees: 

On road signs: 

And on rocks, fences, roofs, and about anything that doesn’t fly away.

When they want to indicate a turn, they show it on the Red and White sign, as: 

When they want you not to go a certain way, they use the Red and White lines to form an “X”, meaning ‘don’t go this way! ‘

Overall signs on the Chemin are pretty good!

Today was another 12 miles, bringing the 6 day total to 84 miles … about the distance from Danville to Sacramento.

We continue to meet very interesting people on the trail! There is a German couple that started the Camino by walking out their door in Germany. Each year, they walk a few more weeks, and several hundred kilometers,  to progress closer and closer to Santiago. There are several women who are walking solo. They seem to quickly build a support network amongst themselves and  are able to relax a bit more while doing the walk.

So, the walk! Today we crossed over the highest point of the plateau we’ve been on, and hit about 4700′ in elevation. 

As we crossed over, we got our first view of the Lot River valley, where we will be hiking for the next couple weeks. 

We also traveled through the village of Aubrac, which seemed to be the coffee shop destination of choice for every pilgrim within 50 kms!

And, to assure all that we are keeping a philosophical mindset while walking, here is some French philosophy to consider (the translation is left to the reader).

We hope all are well back home.

Another 10 miles completed bringing us to 94 miles walked on this trip.

Many of the guide books consider St. Côme as a lunch  stop and recommend hikers to continue another 4 miles down the road or so. For us, this is a beautiful place to stop for the night … so here we are! Below is a photo of the ancient church here with the famous ‘twisted’ steeple. 

Let’s back up a bit. Last night, we stayed in St. Chely, a very charming village half the way between the heights of the Aubrac plateau and the Lot River valley. Here is the view of St. Chely on leaving the town. 

For dinner, we had the “demi-pension”, or the ‘included’ meal. Again, very nice. The surprise was the entertainment … the 8 year old daughter who decided she was using the restaurant to debut her career!  She presented a skit she developed, sang a few songs and did a bit of dancing. It reminded us of a Kimmy- created play, and a Calyn and Nora performed singing and dancing number!  Sorry, Ben, Jenna and Hayden. We didn’t see a part for you in this production. Perhaps in the next village?

The views and the hiking were beautiful, as we continued to descend from the high plateau to the river valley. 

In fact, over the last two days, we have dropped over 3,000′ in elevation. The rapid climb of daytime high temperatures confirms that we are more toward the low lands.

On arrival to St. Côme d’Olt, we were treated to something we hadn’t yet seen in this journey, a swimming pool! Talk about the right way to relax after 5 hours of hiking!

Ahhh, this is the life! 12 more miles of hiking tomorrow and then … another swimming pool!