Day 1: Le Puy-en-Velay to St Privat d’Allier

The weather is not your friend, my friend, she’s fickle as fate in a huff

One moment she’ll shine with a dazzling smile, the next she’ll say ’nuff is enough

And blow you aside as a leaf on the ground, or drench you with gallons of wet

But you must decide if you will survive this deluge of challenges met

27 April 2024, Saturday

Distance hiked 23.5km (14.6m)

Ascent 1,017m

Well that was a baptism of fire. 18 months ago I had knee surgery, under the knife for a couple of hours and the surgeon told me I’d need a year to recover. It has twinged a fair bit even beyond the year, and is worse in cold and damp conditions. And this day has been cold and damp. And, even worse, hellish windy.

Peter and me at the cathedral’s trap-door portal to the Chemin

After hoofing it up to the cathedral for the 7am mass and blessing you pick up the essential record book to be stamped at each stop, the “Credential”, and then leave around 8am. There are several kilometres of relentless ascent, then you hit a plateau for nearly 20km before a final steep descent into St Privat d’Allier. But back to that plateau: very exposed, and combined with a relentless 50mph wind (yep, 80kmph) and you get a sense of how tough today was.

It was seriously cold. I wore 5 layers (all five of my layers) including 2 fleeces and a cashmere sweater. And a fleece snood, and gloves. And this all led to some serious playing up in the kneeish region. Or perhaps I’m just blaming one part of my body when everything bloody aches. A day like this provides little opportunity for philosophical reflections. Nor for encounters during the stroll. And nor for pictures, particularly, for gloves and phones don’t mix. You try to make it to the destination in one piece. But the focus on a single goal is itself cleansing and it’s what I suppose I came on this walk for. I didn’t think about investments, or insurance, or feeding the dog, or the tax implications of waiting to sell a house. I just put one foot in front of another and gritted my teeth in the face of a bit of discomfort. On reflection, now, despite the tight muscles and achy knee, I have definitely gained from today. Mentally refreshed and a bit proud of achieving a physical feat beyond what I expected.

The view of the first few meters of the Chemin at Le Puy

Another point to note about France is the abundance of bank holidays (often based on events in the Catholic calendar) and starting this walk on 27 April wasn’t clever. There is only one real option of where to get to at the end of day 1, and that’s St Privat d’Allier. So two weeks before setting off I contacted every accommodation option in St Privat and they were all full. I saw why this morning at the cathedral: there were at least 200 walkers / pilgrims (same thing with a bit of mental flexibility) and these are just the ones who started on this Saturday with the 7am mass. I can imagine there are many for whom that’s too early or perhaps simply not known about. So let’s say there are 400 people who left Le Puy this morning to arrive at St Privat this afternoon. No wonder everything is full. Thankfully I recalled a hotel in the next place on the route, Monistrol d’Allier, where the chap will pick you up in his car, so Peter and I ended up coming to Monistrol for our accommodation. Given the weather forecast tomorrow, heavy rain all day, we have just decided to push on from here rather than go back to St Privat to be purist about following the route.

One note, about the hotel Pain de Sucre in Monistrol: avoid, it is filthy.

The last view before leaving Le Puy. The huge statue of The Virgin was made from melting 213 captured Russian cannons in the Crimean war

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