Montbonnet to Monistrol

The way up and over the mountain after Montbonnet was in lowering cloud through the pinewoods. Various forms of lichen hung from the trees. The way was as always well signposted. Even I could not possibly get lost!

Coming down again to St Privat, the rain started and persisted all day. I stopped for a sandwich lunch and a tiny glass of red at L'Acrobate where there was a lovely heater going and strong wi-fi. The sandwich was massive, with prosciutto and gerkins, but I consumed it all to give me strength for the long and some say dangerous descent into Monistrol. The rain was heavier. I was keen to get out of the wet wood. "Drowned Rat" springs to mimd.

On entering Monistrol I was pretty tired and couldn't find Le Repose du Pelerin where I had a booking. The first place I saw was Le Pain du Sucre. I knew from my blog reading that the owner was English and a noted chef, so I went in and asked for a room. Nowhere is full because of the atrocious weather.

I enjoyed dinner with 3 ladies from Bendigo. The waiter was modelled on Manuel and provided a lot of merriment. The food was delicious: first course melon with charcuterie, followed by house made spaghetti with lamb and mushroom sauce and apple tart in the shape of a shell. Compliments to Peter the Chef!

Lichen 

Highest point at 1206 m.

Spring flowers enjoying the rain. Lots of birds singing and cuckoos calling.

Coming down to St Privat.

Old water mill.

St Privat in the rain.

Inside the Romanesque church at St Privat.

Enjoying dinner at Monistrol.

Patrick presents his apple tart.

Today's expenses

Lunch at St Privat 8.80€

Demi-pension at Pain du Sucre 80€

Gite La Grange in Montbonnet

For dinner we were given soup (maybe tomato and pumpkin,) followed by sausage and mash, then two cheeses and apple tart, with plenty of red wine. We all admired the view from the huge picture window.

We all slept well.  Everything was quiet. After a small breakfast we were on our way at 8.30. It was cold and overcast.

This poster was on the wall. I have the very same postcard in my album.

Le Puy to Montbonnet

Place du Plot is the traditional starting point for pilgrims. Last time I was here I had my photo taken with Claire at this very spot. There used to be a map on the wall, but this has been taken down for some reason.

These shells mark the way out of town. Le Puy was a centre for bobbin lace making and a few shops in the vicinity still sell lace products to tourists.

I set off from Le Puy at around 8.30 am in light rain.  This stopped after half an hour but it remained cold all day.  It was 8 degrees first thing and this afternoon a biting wind sprang up. Can this be mid-May?

I stopped for lunch half way at St Christophe, hoping for a coffee, but the only bar in town was having a day off and the restaurant would only serve a full meal. I had to make do with cheese and biscuits from my emergency rations plus an orange taken from the breakfast offerings. My flask was full of wine and water mixed, so this kept me going.

The last few Ks into Montbonnet were a hard slog so the sight of the bar at Gite La Grange was indeed a sight for sore eyes. It was packed with a group of Germans drinking beer before going onto the next town.  The Gite is only a few years old. Everything is new and spotless and only about 5 or 6 people are here. I am sharing a mezzanine area with a Dutch lady and there is one Frenchman downstairs.

Fitbit thinks I have done 28,000 steps and 19 kms! MMW thinks 19.8 in 6.5 hrs! This will come as a big shock to both devices!  Too much for Day One, my legs are saying.

Leaving Le Puy was steeply uphill and very hard work!

This device is for holding an animal while they look at its hooves.

12th century church at St Christophe.

Today's expenses

Demi pension at Gite. 31€

Beer.  2.30€

Le Puy in the rain

After breakfast in the hotel, I donned wet weather gear plus umbrella as the forecast was bad and it was already pouring down! I had a couple of important jobs to do first: buying a knife for making picnic lunches and getting a French SIM card for my phone. The first was easy: I found a pilgrim shop that sold everything you could possibly require, including anti-bedbug spray. The second was more complicated: you buy a blank card at a phone shop, but then you have to visit a Tabac to pay for the "recharge". This was all explained to me at the Orange phone shop, where the man used Google translate to get the message across.

After that, I continued my exploration of the Cathedral precinct and had to climb up and down all those steps again. I spent a lot of time looking round the Cloister, Chapter House and the museum of ecclesiastical costumes and other treasures and relics from the Treasury. Then I rewarded myself with a Pilgrims Lunch at the nice Aline & H Restaurant. This consisted of ham in mustard sauce with Puy lentils and salad, followed by a selection of 3 local cheeses and a small glass of red wine. Very delicious on a wet day!  Now I know how to produce a tasty dish out of those lentils.

Today's expenses

Knife and anti-bedbug spray 22.40€

French SIM card and recharge 25€

Entry to Cloisters  5.50€

Lunch (pilgrims meal) at Aline & H Restaurant 16€

Accommodation & breakfast at Hotel Bristol  85€

Lyon to Le Puy

The tram took about half an hour from airport to city. At Part Dieu Stn I had 20 mins to queue for my train ticket and buy a takeaway lunch from Starbucks.  Just made it! 

The train trip felt a long 2.5 hours because there were so many stops. It was a very pretty route, mostly following the Rhone, which cut through a deep gorge, curving around rocks with lots of rushing white water. The train track had to cut through numerous tunnels. We passed pretty farming communities with the odd ruined castle high up on a rock. There were other walkers in my carriage, all French. Towards the end of the trip, they watched as I transformed myself from a tourist to a pilgrim by removing my backpack from the cheap duffel bag that had protected it on the plane. This will be abandoned in Le Puy.

It was a sunny afternoon as I arrived and I knew it was only a 10 min walk to the Hotel Bristol, where we had stayed with the Ramblers in 1998. The hotel has seen better days, and maybe I could have done better, but it is central and my room is really quiet, overlooking a small garden. Also, it has a bath, which is what a weary traveller needs after more than 30 hours, 3 planes and a train!

The west door of the Cathedral and the steps down which pilgrims set off on their Camino after a 7.00 am mass.

Carving of St James below which pilgrims receive their blessing.

The tiny black Madonna and even tinier black baby Jesus above the main altar.

Today's expenses:

Rhone Express (tram from airport to city) 15.90€

Lunch from Starbucks at Part Dieu Stn. 8.55€

Train from Lyon to Le Puy 18.90€

Dep Lyon at 2.06. Arr Le Puy at 14.28

Carrefour Express Supermarket items for dinner and lunch tomorrow 15.83€

Cathedral Guide and Credencial 7€

Accommodation  Hotel Bristol 75€

Singapore to Frankfurt

Premium Economy on Lufthansa.  Was it worth the money?  The plane was smart and new and the service efficient. The late meal of Chicken Biryani was delicious. The only apparent advantage of P. E. was spacious seating and the fact that the cabin had lots of spare seats. However, there was no taking advantage of this fact to have a proper lie down. The armrests were rigid and housed the tray tables. I probably got about 4 hours sleep. It seemed a long time till breakfast.

I passed the time watching 2 films. First was The Lady in the Van, based on the Alan Bennet story. It was really funny, and the equipment was new so that every word could be heard clearly.  Later I watched I'm Off Then, a German film with subtitles about the Camino experiences of Hape Kerkeling, a comedian whose best selling book sold the idea of going to Santiago to thousands of German pilgrims. I have it on my bookshelf at home. I was pleased to note that I could almost watch the film without reading the subtitles!  (I really could have done with a French film, but none caught my eye on the long list).

This is my plane just arrived in Frankfurt.

Five hours in Changi

Even the most beautiful of airports gets tedious at 10.00 p.m., when all you really want to do is go to bed.  I admired all the orchids, then perused the shops; didn't buy any cordyceps - look at the price and these are the smallest size!