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La Sauvage. The beast that terrorized this area back in the mid 1800s. It had a taste for human blood. It took a while for the locals to hunt it down and kill it. They say it was half wolf and half 👽.  A local legend but it does look ugly. It is the French version of Sasquatch.

Another brutal day. Not as bad as yesterday but hard nevertheless. Got off around 8am. It was uphill from start to finish. But for the fantastic scenery I would have been done. It was only 19 kilometers but uphill all the way. I thought I was in for it. My legs were OK but my cardio suffered. My friend Jerry told me about Poly Poly. Do 100 paces then stop for 20 seconds. Of if it is a steep grade do 50 paces then stop for 20 seconds. Today it started at 100 paces but went to 50 toward the end. It worked for me. Thanks Jerry.

My walking partner today

He did not say much so I bid him adieu. Everyone here is French. But why not. It is France after all. I have met many people so far. I say hi to everyone. My French is very bad but they laugh and put up with me. That stupid Canadien they say. I 😃 laugh. I have met a French Canadian woman here but again very unfriendly. Why?  Why? Anal. What a great word.

Some of my friends:

 

Jean, Dylan (from Toronto), my two German friends from Dortmund and Aachen, and Ignatieth from Toulouse. All sitting around enjoying a beer and some chin music.

 

Today began well. Had my usual concrete sandwich with black coffee at 645am. Then off at 715. Cool morning with clear skies. But don’t let those early morning photos fool ya. Started a 7 kilometer descent into the Allier River Gorge at a place called Monstriol. The terrain underfoot was rock, stone, slate and loose gravel. Ankle busting ground. I got through it though. The scenery 😍 made up for it.

That was going up. The Pic does not show how steep it was. There was a chapel built into the rock. Unreal. The pastor said I was past the worst part. He lied.

Made it to the top but so so tired. I stopped and had a power nap under the shade of a cherry tree thinking of the one I love. No, but it was a nice break. Then I met my two new girlfriends and they took my picture by this strange wood carving. Finally,after 8 hours I arrived at my gite.

 

My gite is wonderful. By the way I am all cramped up. That is OK though because I should be dead.

Today,s. walk.

 

Hallelujah, I am still alive.

My French maid but she is the silent type.

Up at oh-dark 30 but had to wait a bit until Antoine opened for breaky. He would not let me pay or go until I had breakfast, which consisted of a concrete sandwich and a bowl of coffee. Not good. Margit’s breakfasts were awesome. I am so thirsty.

Le Puy was great. I had one of the best burgers 🍔 I have ever had, avec friet met mayonnaise. I washed that down with a few beers. Here is my before I started picture:

Here is my after picture:

Not good, I know. It was a moderate slog today but the temperature was perfect for walking. Countryside was awesome. Last 5 km were the worst. A steady uphill climb of about 120 meters followed by a 1 km descent into hell. If not for my poles I would have been fooked. It took me 1 hour to cover off 0.9 kilometers. 😖.  Having said that the scenery is fantastic. Oh, and I could get Orangina again.

Awesome vid that covers off the first stage. Le Puy to Saint Privat.

I know it is not a French song but it is uplifting just the same.

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It took 14 hours but finally made it. It must be my age because the time flew by like the scenery from a train doing 300 klicks an hour. I am not kidding. And I had to put up with screaming kids and a guy who would not stop talking. SHUT THE BLEEP UP. It must be my age. It couldn’t be my awesomeness personality could it? I am a grumpy old man and I am killing  it.

My friend and host drove me to the Augsburg train station at oh dark 30. That is really early. Everything went well until Paris. I was going to take the metro but the lineup to get a ticket was full of rookies. They just could not figure it out. After 10 minutes waiting I hadn’t moved so I left and got a taxi. The taxi tried to rip me off. Combien I said. 65 euros monsieur he said. I said no way, sacre blue monsieur. He said 70 euros. We agreed on 25, which is what it should be. We both laughed and I gave him a 5 euro tip.

Off I went with no delays and no problems except for the screaming kids. I almost lost it again and yelled SHUT THE BLEEP BLEEP UP. They yell here just as bad as in Canada but in French and I didn’t know how to say shut the…up in French.

We arrived. I found my gite and here I am having a beer on a terrace.

Bon soir.