Hey Pilgram!

Our tour “Food Lover’s French Way of St James” kicked off this morning. Today was the longest and hardest walk, about 18kms with the steepest ascents. We had been lucky with the weather so far and today it looked like it might rain, but turned out to be pretty good. We started at the official start, which has a plaque that states - Grande route du Pèlerinage de St Jacques de Compostelle. There is also a beautiful statute here that is titled “La Jenner Pèlerine”, which was created by Hungarian artist Andràs Lapis in 2018, and represents the pilgrim.

Our objective today was to walk from Le Puy en Velay to Saugues via some lovely towns and countryside. We first walked to St-Christophe-sur Dolaison (about 8.5 km) and were then transferred in the bus to St-Privat-d’Allier, where we stoped for a picnic lunch. Wonderful spot to have lunch with great views out over the steep gorges below.

We then begin our afternoon walk from St-Privat-d’Allier with a climb to one of the many, Hundred Years War watch towers which dot the surrounding area. We continued walking across quite rocky and hilly terrain, through beautiful forests, past lovely old villages and plateaus with amazing views. After first going up, we then had a long descent down, much of it over a quite rocky path.

We ended our walk in a lovely town called Monistrol-d’Allier, where we had a much deserved coffee and met our driver Jerome, who took us to Saugues (where we would normally stay the night), but on this occasion it was just to get our passports stamped, and for a bit of a look around. Following COVID-19, a number of businesses have closed and so we are stayed instead in a hotel in the most picturesque town of Le Malzieu-Ville.Read more