Down, down ...

Day 2 - Thursday, 26 September 2024 - Montbonnet to Saugues. Officially 26.1 klms (likely a tad more).

No, that heading is not a nod to the current regulatory/political stoush going on in Australia, although there may well be a bit of a parallel if you want to stretch the analogy a bit. [With an apology to my non-Aussie readers as the above comment won't make any sense.]

At last night's communal dinner our hostess explained about the horror down stretch just before Monistrol-d'Allier, that it was down down down and dangerous. Her advice, which I privately rejected, was that one should not use the straps on one's poles because if you fell you'd likely break your wrist. Hmmm. How 'bout "if you're careful and use your poles properly you're unlikely to fall". Anyway I held my own counsel. But the negative expectation about the difficulty had been well and truly set, and then it didn't materialise (a bit like the Aussie retailer with their down down pricing). Whether that's because it really wasn't so bad, or somehow we missed the horror stretch I'll never know.

But the real down down, which materialized all day, was the rain. Another negative expectation. The forecast was for a cloudy day with rain starting at 5pm. Uh-huh. Rain started at 6am, and cleared about 5pm. All day. Down down. We made it into Saugues, wet and soggy, and a bit cold, at 5:30. 8- and-a-half hours on the road. Down down.

But despite it being the longest day in this first half of the walk, and wet, it was quite a good day. Some pictures follow in a bit.

But let me go back just a little. There was a dozen or so pelegrins at the gite last night. Most were French, or French-speakers. We "anglophiles" (our hostess's description, which I'm not sure was entirely complementary, but in fairness may have simply been a matter of "lost in translation") were relegated to the far end of the communal table, and largely excluded from the discussion. But no matter. We mostly kept our own company. But amongst the bi-lingual people there were some lovely folk: Cynthia from Marseille who originally hails from upstate New York and who was our main translator; Johann from Stockholm who we chatted to and walked with for a while today; and Marie-Laurence from Belgium who describes herself as a "person of the world". Nice folk, and all being well we'll bump into them again.

To today's walk ...

We became a group of three today. Trish was a little ahead of us all day, and Helen, who seems to have now caught the communal bug, was behind us. She walked two-thirds of the day and then taxied the last leg. The relief map below from the guide book shows the down down for the first half of just under 1,000 metres and then the up up for the second half of around 800 metres. It was a challenging but all the same quite rewarding day (especially when we got in Saugues and had a shower and put our feet up).

Today's profile picture attempts to sum it up. A few challenges brightened by rainbows.

Here's today's pictures:

Janet and Johann negotiating puddles.

Forest walk.

Below are a series of shots which show some of the agricultural aspects. I know next to nothing about the French agricultural system, but I gather that there's a fairly healthy rural economy around here:

Saint-Privat-d'Allier

Then a few others along the way ...

Not much chat today. 23 klms tomorrow.