La Première Semaine/The first week

Today was a relatively short, 15 km trek, up and down small mountains from one valley to the next. The sun shone today the first time since Saturday! The path went through farmer's fields and forests today. We passed by several animals some curious. I gave one beautiful horse a pat on the nose and wouldn't you know it he bit me! Through the three layers of clothes I had on, he still managed to cause quite a bruise on my arm. Lesson learned, say hello from afar and take pictures, but don't touch! We also saw a newly born calf, probably not much more than one day old, he had trouble standing on his legs.

We are at a very nice hostel, "La Ferme du Barry". He made strawberry pie and lamb for supper. Along with a cabbage and vegetable soup that tasted every bit as wonderful as my grand'maman used to make, he made a concotion called "alligot". It is a mixture of mashed potatoes, garlic and cheese, freshly made. It was very good, lots of calories I am sure!

Vincent nous prépare un aligôt

Merci à mon ami Michel T. qui a recommandé ce gîte!


Tuesday April 22


We walked 25 km today and the terrain was difficult, cold, windy and rainy! We walked most of the day with the same french couple Edmond and Marie-Jo, wonderful generous people. We arrived in St. Alban at about 5 pm; we had started at 8 am. We have met beautiful people on the route, always ready to talk as we walk. And of course they are all fascinated by our accent! Don't they know they are the ones with an accent!?

Arlette avec son poncho

Il m'a mordu ce beau cheval!

Monday April 21


Today has started out sunny and cool and we began the day with a 4 km climb quite steep. It took us 2 hours to get to the plateau. We passed by a wonderful little chapel that had been built into the rock so that only the facade is actually man-made. I wished it had been open, but I did manage a picture through the window. If I can find a way to put pictures up on this blog, then maybe you will be able to see it!

Sainte Marguerite dans le roc

The rest of our walk today was pleasant and uneventful. We arrived at our gîte around 4 pm. The woman on the phone had said to go in make ourselves comfortable and she would be there around 6 pm to cook supper for us. There was a wood stove burning strongly, hot water for our showers and everything we needed to make ourselves at home.

Along with our new walking friends Marie-Jo and Edmond, we shared the house with another traveler, Jeorge (yes, with a J). Jeorge made us laugh all evening! He is a comedian by profession along with lots of other professions to keep him financially viable.

Marie-Jo et Edmond

Jorge d'Arras

Sonia, our host arrived at 6 pm as she had said and made us a wonderful meal, most of it with products from her farm or her neighbour's farm. In the morning there was homemade yogurt! The whole experience was like we had rented a gîte with entertainement (provided by Jeorge)and meals by Sonia.

Sunday April 20

We left Montbonnet this morning with all the clothes on our backs that we had in our backpacks. It is brutally cold with a wind that freezes you to the core! The first part of the terrain was through farmers' fields and the wind caught our backpacks and pushed us on the path. Thank you to my friend Michel T. who recommended I bring a long silk scarf. I used it to make a turban around my head and ears to keep warm!

C'est très froid!

Today I walked with Luc and his family in mind. They were my motivation and kept my spirits up and my feet moving despite the weather and difficult terrain. Luc has early-onset Parkinsons. His courage and determination keeps him going to help raise his two boys, Zacharie and Théo with his wife Julie. He travels with them, goes camping even in winter and does everything a yound Dad does with growing boys. Keeping Luc and his family in mind made the day easy.

We navigated downhills on narrow paths that were full of rocks and water streaming downhill. We are actually quite proud of ourselves; neither of us fell or slipped! Because it was cold and windy we chose to have our lunch in a restaurant. It somehow didn't quite feel right. The food was good but out of sorts with the idea of a pilgrimage.

We are at a small hotel tonight, no room at the gîte, but not alone since many others on the same journey as us are here. We had a good meal with good company and great conversation. There are several french citizens on the trek for a week or two going only to Conques or Figeac. All hope to eventually in another year finish the pilgrimage.

Saturday April 19

We started the day with Mass at the cathedral and a blessing from the priest. There were more than 40 pilgrims ready to begin. We had our credencials stamped and all excited left by the main door that allows you to see through the town streets and up into the hills we were about to climb. One of the traditions of the pilgrimage is that people leave wishes for St. Jacques in a basket at the cathedral and as a pilgrim you can carry a wish to Santiago to deposit at the cathedral there. Legend has it that if your wish makes it, it will be granted. I picked one and it is from a young man who would like to meet someone with whom he can build a life and a family. I hope I am strong enough to take it all the way to Santiago for him.

The weather was good today, sun and cool enough to be comfortable walking. Saturday is market day so we bought what we need for our lunch and off we went up the first hill. Our first gîte in Montbonnet was typical I think. Arlette and I lucked out I think since we were assinged a room with only 3 beds and our own shower.

À la sortie de l'église à Puy-en-Velay

C'est le début!

Some of you know that our friends Marie-Claire and Gissane gave us each a small statuette of St. Christophe, patron saint of travellers. Today we met a real Christophe, a nice yound man from Finistère in the Bretagne region of France. He ended up sharing our room with us! Merci à Marie-Claire et Gissane!