Walking along Sept 8-10th Le Chemin de Saint-Jacques de Composelle

We left Bains, Sunday, a little after 8 am and walked to Monistol-d'Allier. Our hosts were up in the morning with the breakfast on the table. After breakfast we paid 75€ for our meals and room and they stamped our Credenteil. Our hike Sunday was about 22 kilometers with mostly down hills. It was also raining in the afternoon so the path became slippery. We were walking with a Canadian couple (65 and 70 yrs of age) and a young Chinese girl who was studying French in Lyon. There are very few cafe and lunch stops along this route. Also as the French eat between 12 and 2 pm if you are not at a location with a cafe in those times you are out of luck. We had read about packing a picnic but had not realized the importance of this yet.

We ate our granola bars from the breakfast in Le Puy and some cheese slices from the same place.  On arrival we were delighted to finally get out of the wet and cold a little after 4pm. The Gite where we were staying did not have the owner there so we just went and claimed a double room. There were 3 other Canadians, and a young Swiss girl who had left from Geneva a month ago. The proprietor arrived around 5pm to prepare our dinner which consisted of a lovely salad, sausages, boiled potatoes, carrots and local red wine. This Gite (simple guest house) had a place for washing clothes which we used.

As we learned was the norm, the proprietress would put out the makings for our breakfast or inform us as to where they were as breakfast was self-serve. Breakfast usually consisted of French bread, jam, juice, coffee/tea and if you were lucky some fresh yogurt for protein.   Our clothes were not dry in the morning so we packed them up and hoped to dry them later in the day at the next stop.

Monday had us walking to La Clauze with the most difficult part coming in the first few kilometers as it was basically straight up to get out of the valley. We were again walking with the same companions part of they way. We were seeing signs for a  mushroom omelette at a cafe up the path we we kept hoping we would make it there to enjoy one. We were all very happy to get there at 1:45pm so in time to have that delicious omelette. The mushrooms were grown in the area and the omelette was delicious as was the owners blueberry tart!

We then split from our companions as we needed to walk 7 km further and needed to pick up our pace. We finally struggled into La Clauze (almost 9 hrs on the path) and found our Gite- the only place in a very small hamlet. We pelerin ate together in front of a fire on a big long table. Sophie our proprietress  cooked a lovely zucchini soup, salad, ham, potatoes with cheese, a plate of cheeses she had made, plus creme brûlée for dessert. We were able to put our wet laundry near the fire overnight.

Tuesday morning we had a self serve breakfast which included yogurt. We also gave ourselves a protein shake for energy. Sophie had kindly helped us organize a room for the next night. We had wanted to walk only 20 km but were forced by lack of accommodation to go further to St-Alban-sur -Limagnole for a total distance of 24 km. we left our bags for La Malle Postale to pick up and move to the hotel Central in St. Albans. The country walk was beautiful over rolling hills, cow pastures, and wild flower fields. We had been thinking to take a short cut as some French pelerin had told us about that they were going to take but unfortunately we missed it so it became a very long day and Leslie finally insisted to stop and call a taxi if there was to be any ability to walk the next day (sore hip, shin splits and foot ailments).  Our French SIM card which had been working but now for some inexplicable reason was not, which caused more consternation. however we asked for help at the Gite we had wanted to stay in but they were full. One kind man from Marseille offered to give us a ride the last 3 km to the village. We were so grateful! We had done over 8 1/2 hrs of walking. Dinner at the hotel was with a group of French hikers that live in the south of France and a Swiss fellow Conrad who had walked from his house near Geneva. He was going on to Santiago. The hotel lady here has booked our rooms for tomorrow night and the night thereafter so we can rest now with that concern done.

Wednesday morning we took some extra time to write the blog, do emails and rest. We are doing only 12 km today according to the guides. It is very strange but various hikers that we have met have been complaining about the fact the distances in the guide book are not correct and that someone must have driven on a road and put in the distances based on that drive - no one has found the distance to be shorter than in the guide book and most have found them to be a couple of km more.  This has been the case with us and our FitBits! The FitBits also show calories burned, usually 2,500, and number of stairs climbed.