We are walking in a very rural area. Farms dot the rock free land while plantation spruce fills the rest. Our route, a gentle roller coaster, follows mostly gravel roads and paths that wind their way through the two. Towns have been replaced by Hamlets and even they are sparse.
Claude is from the south of France near Toulouse. He is retired and is walking his first Chemin. He plans to reach Santiago de Compostela but is in no hurry. He reached Santiago May 27 along with my friend Mark K and several other pelerins that all started the same day, April 1.
Jean-Francois is from Corsica, French islands in the Mediterranean that are part of France. He joked that he had more photos of his dog on his phone that he had of his wife. He is walking to Saint Jean Pied de Port. He arrived the same day as us in Saint Jean Pied de Port, April 28. It was difficult for him to leave behind so many new friends made on the Chemin.
Finding places to stop, rest, and refuel is more of a challenge now. We reached the 10 km by 10 am mark at the site of a fromagerie that, a little later into the season, would have been selling drinks and sandwiches along with their cheese. Today the picnic tables were quiet. Even the black and white border collie patrolling the farm property didn’t want anything to do with us. But as we’ve come to expect, there is usually a second opportunity close by. Only 500 meters on, a Gite had a cafe area open, where we rested out of the cold, and drank chocolat chauds with many other pelerins. At 12:30 pm we reached Domaine du Sauvage, a gite/restaurant housed in a restored farm complex on the edge of a forest. Quiet and cold outside but lively and warm inside with many tables of pilgrims enjoying the menu of the day. We had bolognese pasta and salad. Our new friends Claude and Jean Francois had the lamb and potatoes.
The region we were passing through today, Gevaudan, was known for “La Bête du Gevaudan” a fabled wolf creature, possibly more than one, that between 1764 and 1767, was blamed for 100 deaths. Every town we passed through had sculptures or signs depicting the beast.
We finished the day in Lajo, a hamlet of maybe 20 farm homes, about two km off the official Chemin route. We are staying at Gîte et chambre d’hôte les Bouleaux Nains. The hostess and her husband farm, but have turned part of the original barn building into a Gite for pilgrims. The wood stove was on and we were cozy. The hostess joined us for dinner at 7 pm.