The Start at Last
The last view of Le Puy, under very threatening skies.
The good weather on Friday failed to carry over into Saturday and I packed up the tent in cold wind and fitful rain squalls.
As I’d already done the first mile or so through the streets of the town all I had to do was find a boulangerie for a sandwich and get going.
The walk up and out of Le Puy was easy enough despite the weather and I made good time until I got lost.
Not badly lost, but a bit lost.
Generally the way is very well marked by red and white paint flashes on trees, walls etc and indicators where there is a choice of routes.
A rather soggy bit of the path, note the red and white paint on the tree.
Anyway it suddenly dawned on me that I hadn’t seen any marks for some time. Out came the phone and a quick check on the French mapping software showed me I’d missed a turn about half a mile back.
Fortunately I was able to correct the mistake without having to retrace my footsteps and only added about half a mile to the day.
After Le Puy the first stop was at Coubon where I picked up an apple for breakfast, lunch already having been purchased.
From Coubon I kept a better eye on the way markers and arrived safe at Le Monastier sur Gazeille.
The campsite here was delightful, although the wind continued to be strong and chilly.
When I booked my I noticed the menu and asked what time the restaurant opened. The lady said 7, so off I went to get the tent up, have a shower and settle in.
Much refreshed I presented myself in the dining room, only to be told that as I hadn’t booked a place I couldn’t eat! I was much displeased by this news, especially as the room had been set for more than 30 people, almost all of whom arrived in mini busses!
On reflection it was probably my fault, these small dining rooms often only have one sitting and one set menu. Consequently they only cook enough for the number of people booked in.
Understandable but at the time very annoying. Fortunately the campsite also had a take away pizza bar, so I ate there.
Sunday dawned fine and bright, which was nice.
The tent was packed and I was off by 8:30, following a rough track through steep woodland. After an hour of hard work the path levelled off and exited the wood and into open country.
Here I could stride out and get a decent pace going, although al the recent rain had left some impressive puddles which too some negoctcating .
Half an hour of puddle hopping brought me down to a lovely village, St Martin de Fugeres.
Here I enjoyed a fine breakfast, pain au chocolate and espresso. Across from the cafe was an old church and facing it the village’s war memorial.
When I’m in France I’m always struck by the number of names on these village memorials, this village would be hard put to muster moire than 100 homes but there was over 60 names on the memorial.
A sober reminder of the scale of French losses in the First World War.
From St Martin it was a couple of hours strolling in the sunshine to the village of Goudet.
There are six things of interest in Goudet and to ensure you know where to find them all a helpful ceramic information panel sits beside the path where it overlooks the village.
When Stevenson walked this way in 1878 he had a donkey, called Modestine, to carry his pack, Stevenson’s face with Modestine as a shadow has become the logo of the walk and is everywhere.
You can even hire a donkey to carry your equipment for you, but according to the lady, this donkey walked very slowly.
Most of the campsite was great, although most of it wasn’t open this early in the season.
I’m always surprised by how short the main French camping season is, most sites open towards the end of April and close about late September, which compared to the British season is very short.
The main benefit of arriving so early in the season is that most of the campsites are very quiet, the main disadvantage of arriving so early in the season is that many of the facilities are closed and only basic provision is provided.
On the plus site, the bar was open and did a great local blue cheese burger and chips!