Day 5

Finally a WiFi service strong enough to publish a blog posting.

We are loving France and had a fantastic first day on the Camino.  It began with a 7am Pilgrims Mass in the lovely cathedral that overlooks the beautiful town of Le Puy.  This mass is performed each day and although spoken entirely in French, it is easy to understand the message of wishing pilgrims a safe journey.  After a blessing and a smile from the friendly Bishop, each pilgrim  was presented with a small scallop shell medallion. There were at least 40 pilgrims at the mass who were setting out on the walk that day, many more than we were expecting to encounter.

After the mass we walked out of Le Puy with Hanna, all of us rugged up against a cold early morning and immediately began a steep climb.  Thick fog reduced visibiliy so we were unable to look back down on the lovely town as we left it, however after a few kilometres and just before reaching the village of La Roche, the fog cleared and the sun shone for the rest of the day.  We walked 16km through mostly farmland, much of it dairy country. Spring has certainly sprung in the French countryside, the fields are lush with green pasture, often sprinkled with hundreds of yellow daffodiles, and the continous sound of birdsong accompanied us for most of the day.

Our first night was spent in the tiny village of Montbonnet at an elevation of 1130 metres which gave us a climb of 500 metres for the day.  

Our second day saw us continually climbing and descending for 14km into the village of Monistrol d'Allier on the d'Allier River. We had rain on and off all day and just made it into town before a storm hit.  We had a great view of the river from our hotel room and watched as a group of kayakers take on the rapids just a little way downstream.

The following two days of walking were again challenging as we continued climbing to the village of Saugues and then Le Sauvage at 1300 metres. Yesterday we walked 20km, half of that in heavy rain  in full wet weather gear. Today we walked 20km in fine weather but very cold and sometimes windy conditions to the village of Les Estrets. I doubt if the temperature passed 7 degrees today.

Although at times it has been cold and wet with muddy conditions and the track challenging, it is a fantastic walk and we are enjoying it immensly.  The scenery is stunning, the food so far has been superb, and the accommodation is very good.  We've eaten home made cheese and yogurt straight from the farm, homemade salamies and preserves, as well as delicious braised meats and potsto bakes.

We have met many pilgrims, most are from France, also an English girl Meg who is walking the Camino with her dog Oscar, and two Australian women, Sandi and Karla who we have become quite friendly with.

Tomorrow we walk 23km to Finieyrols which is the start of the Aubrac Plateau.  Tomorrow will also see us clock up our first 100km!