Day Two
Dave: We began around 8:30am and walked out through the dramatically high portals/grand front doors of the Cathedral of Le Puy.
We strode down the hill following the red trail on the cobblestones, which forms the start of the Chemin. The walk was intensely uphill and it was drizzling, but then it began to clear, yielding fine views of the city soon stretched behind us. The cathedral with its broad doors and Red Virgin were dramatically visible. As we left the city we began to get a taste of the beauty of the countryside.
We finally arrived at the Gite, after about 5 and 1/2-6 hrs and almost 17 km of walking, some of it through rain, sleet and snow. It had definitely gotten colder, not warmer. In the common room of the Gites, we met 3 friendly pilgrims traveling together: Veronica from the Netherlands, and Janine and Penny from Australia.
Annie: The path was very good: beautiful and wide, almost like an avenue.
We ran into some fellow pilgrims: Paul from Australia and a very nice unnamed lady from Le Mans. Disaster hit when when we finally arrived at Montbonnet. We couldn’t find our Gite. No one answered the phone and it was snowing!! Finally we found the Gite L’Escole. Very communal arrangements. We had to leave all our gear in a common room and bring only essential gear up to the sleeping area – very large room with 8 beds, a shower and one toilet. There were other rooms as well, so there was quite a crowd for dinner. Dinner was very jolly and quite tasty: a big bowl of soup, then roast pork on a bed of noodles and then fromage (several different kinds), then brownies and custard. Wine also!
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| Pilgrims before dinner at Montbonnet |
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| Annie with the women from Le Mans, at the Chapelle St Roch (13 century) at St Christophe sur Dolaison. |
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