Walking the Camino

Up early on Tuesday morning we had breakfast out and Simon found a bookshop with an English section so treated himself. We collected bags and parcelled up stuff to send back to England.
Due to our 90 day, limit courtesy of Brexit , we have to do a few train jumps to enable us to complete our odyssey! So today we had a train trip via St Etienne of football fame to Le Puy en Velay.
We passed a post office on way to station and attempted to post the parcel. They put me on a French computer system to do this. It was so complicated we ran out of time and had to run off for our train.
Monbrison station was overgrown with weeds and very quiet - a bit like Duddeston for Brummy readers! We eventually got a guards attention who said ‘oh no train- it is a bus out the front!’
So we got a bus to St Etienne. The lady bus driver was very grumpy but it was pouring down.
At St Etienne we disgusted ourselves and had a McDonald’s 😂
We actually got a train on this leg of the journey and had scenic views of the River Loire most of the way.
Le Puy en Velay is a bustling, groovy vibe and is full of jaunty pilgrims with all their gear. Lots of narrow, cobbled streets with tall shuttered dwellings lining each side.
We found a nearby launderette so no handwashing today 🙌🙌
Mary was determined to get up for the 7.00am pilgrims Mass at the Cathedral. Simon joined me at the last minute. There must have been at least 500 attendees- quite amazing.
At the end of the service the middle aisle opens up and we are sent on our way with a blessing and a Camino medal through the floor and out to The Way!
We came back to our bijoux apartment as Simon had his head fixed on a good fry up - too many croissants- and managed to set off smoke alarm in his efforts- it was a race to throw the window open and get the alarm off so we didn’t upset the neighbours.
Today we have explored the delights of Le Puy as we set off walking tomorrow. It is Remembrance Day here for the end of World War 2 so found ourselves in the middle of the parade. And guess what it’s a bank holiday because of it, as is tomorrow as it is the feast of the Ascension.
Fortunately, as we are in quite a tourist place, restaurants and supermarkets still open - phew!
Now we are chilling out having boiled the rest of the eggs for lunch - obviously the day of eggs. We set off early tomorrow 👣👣👣En savoir plus