Nestled in the lush rolling hills of the Auvergne – Rhone- Alpes region and the Haute Loire and gorges D’Allier River Valley. It is a town of monasteries, ⛪️ seminaries and Cathedral. Notre Dame is situated here. A huge statue of our Lady with Child overlooks the city and protects her citizens. Magnifique.
You can see the large statue to our Lady in the background.
I went to mass this morning at 7am at the Cathedral. It was beautiful and I felt blessed.A ton of emotions come over you as you reflect on where you have come from and where you are going. Tomorrow I begin this journey. I am alone and would love to share this journey with someone but alas I cannot so I say bon journeau to everyone I see even though my Francais est tres, tres mauvais (very bad).
It is a long steep walk up to the Cathedral but that is OK because pilgrims cannot have fun, they cannot swear, they can only suffer and eat Metamucil. But they now have flavored Metamucil so that is good. After mass? Self flagellation.
After mass there is also the stairway to hell for those pilgrims who want to have fun! Apres vous?
I walked out of town to see how the journey started. It is a climb of about 1 kilometre before it flattens out a wee bit. Having no water I stopped at the top then returned to Le Puy.
They were multi-taskers in medieval days. This guy is having medieval brain surgery and is also being given the last rights at the same time. The operational success rate was fairly low they tell me. He is not too happy I think.
One of my favourite 🚶♂️ walking songs
Safe travels, glad I don’t need brain surgery lol
Katie
I have a headache thinking about it. A medieval headache.