Day 44 – Le Puy-en-Velay to Monistrol-d’Allier (32,7km) – Sunday 13.08.2023
Today my alarm went off at 5:45am. While it was still dark, I dismantled my tent at the campsite and left shortly after 6 a.m. From there we went again to the city’s cathedral. The walk through the quiet streets early in the morning made a very special impression.
In the cathedral I attended a pilgrim mass. Over 100 pilgrims start their journey from Le Puy every day, so I met a lot of people there. I didn’t understand much, but at the end I was asked from which countries the pilgrims were traveling. Most of them came from France itself. Some from Luxembourg, Belgium and Switzerland. Apparently there was only one other person present from Germany. Unfortunately I couldn’t see who.
After the service, a shaft opened in the floor of the cathedral and all the pilgrims streamed out through a hidden staircase. That was quite an impressive feeling. A number of people in front of and behind me ran into the city and set off on their journey from there.
However, I only walked a few meters and bought breakfast in a bakery. After I ate it I set off again. It was a steep climb straight out of the city. Since I was one of the last to leave the city, I had to overtake most of the people again.
In some sections there was a real traffic jam and that didn’t have much to do with my lonely hiking of the last few weeks.
The pilgrims included younger and older people, people walking alone or in groups and also some families. In general it was diverse and at least not just pensioners. I even met a family who were transporting the children’s luggage on a donkey.
After a few kilometers I was able to take another look back at Le Puy.
Then we continued up through fields and meadows.
Like many others, I took a break in a meadow at a small chapel. Soon over 30 people were sitting on the ground and resting from the first climb. Afterwards we walked through the forest for a long time. First briefly uphill again and then downhill along narrow paths.
I reached the planned destination at around 3:30 p.m. I first looked at a church and then had a refreshing cold drink in a bar. But since I wasn’t really exhausted yet and there were still many hours left in the day, I decided to keep walking and look for a place to sleep later.
A short time later I passed another small chapel, next to which a crumbled watchtower stood on the rock and goats kept jumping around.
I quickly took a few pictures and then started a steep descent, which took quite a long time.
It wasn’t until evening that I arrived at a campsite. There I set up my tent next to other pilgrims. I ate my dinner and then soon went to bed.
Day 45 – Monistrol-d’Allier to Le Pin (28,8km) – Monday 14.08.2023
Today my day starts a little later at 7 a.m. While a few others at the campsite were still sleeping or drinking their coffee, I took down my tent and set off straight away. I quickly crossed a bridge in town and then ran back up. In the first few meters I immediately met pilgrims who had stayed overnight in accommodation in the village.
After a few kilometers I passed a bench. I made myself comfortable there and made my morning coffee and ate the last of my bread with salami. Puffing pilgrims kept walking past me.
Immediately afterwards there was a small chapel in the mountain. A man, I assume it was the priest, explained to some pilgrims something about the history of the chapel and its special features. Since I didn’t understand anything, I walked around the chapel and looked at various things. When he was finished, I ran to him and got a stamp for my pilgrim passport. I started talking to him. At some point his wife came over and we talked a little about my trip so far and my future plans. Afterwards they both said goodbye to me and I continued walking again.
It went straight up. On the steep section I overtook a few pilgrims again and then left most of them behind me for the rest of the day. However, I also met a Frenchman at a viewing point, which I would come across again and again for the rest of the day. He had about the same pace as me and took breaks of about the same length.
Shortly before a small town I passed a street vendor who was selling his “superfood”. I tried a piece. To me it tasted like Christmas stollen and therefore reminded me a bit of Christmas time. I thanked him for the test piece and then continued running with renewed energy.
Once we reached the top we continued through dry pastures. When I tried some blackberries I started talking to a couple from France because they had apparently also tried them and didn’t really like them.
This was followed by long sections through forests and dry meadows.
Today I met significantly fewer pilgrims than yesterday. Apparently people spread out a lot and so walking was a lot more pleasant. In a small town I bought my lunch and dinner in the supermarket. I ate lunch straight away. Then I left the town again and continued walking for a while.
Along the way there were always stopping points for pilgrims where there was water and seating.
At some point I didn’t meet anyone except the one Frenchman. Even though he didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak French, we still managed to communicate a little.
Towards the evening I filled up my water reserves again at one of the many fountains and then started looking for a suitable place to sleep. I set up my tent high up in a meadow between two small towns. Then I ate the dinner I had bought and enjoyed the setting sun before I fell asleep exhausted in my tent.
Day 46 – Le Pin to Saint-Alban-sur-Limagnole (23km) – Thuesday 15.08.2023
The night was quite windy, my tent shook a lot several times and it was also very cold again. So I had a pretty mixed night behind me. I still got up at 6:30 a.m. to take down my tent. Since it wasn’t exactly ideally hidden, I wanted to be out and about again until the many pilgrims came past my sleeping place.
At the beginning of the day, the path was characterized by small towns and their agricultural areas for a long time. I filled my bottles at a small fountain where small fish swam.
Afterwards I walked through beautiful grain fields. At this point the sky was still darkened by clouds and so the fields appeared even brighter. But the weather slowly got better and the temperatures rose. I soon had to take off my vest again because it got too warm.
The paths today were very easy to walk and since they were slightly downhill, I was able to cover the route quickly. It went through the forest for a while and when I left it, I got a nice view of the surrounding area with a now bright blue sky.
In the next town I wanted to replenish my food supplies in a supermarket. But somehow all the supermarkets were closed. As I found out after a quick search on the internet, today was a holiday in France and therefore all shops were closed. I actually wanted to buy my dinner, walk a few more kilometers and somehow set up camp for the night in a meadow. Since the next place with a campsite was still 18km away and I had already walked more than 22km, I didn’t want to go there and my camping in nature fell through without food. I decided to change my plan at short notice and walk to the local campsite. So I reached the campsite shortly after 1 p.m. and set up my tent there. I used the time to swim in the pool and wash my clothes in this beautiful weather.
Since the food at the campsites isn’t very varied, we had a burger and fries again in the evening. Since I was quite hungry by now, I was very happy about the food and devoured it within a few minutes. Then I ended the evening and used the remaining hours to read a bit.
Leave a Reply