In Montbonnet

The first day of the Le Puy walk is behind me and what a day it turned out to be! Had to say goodbye to my French friends this morning which was a bit sad, then set out up the big hill out of Le Puy. I walked slowly, but made good time, as it was simple stuff really compared to some of the Cluny climbs!

The walk started in sunshine but changed around midday. I took some great photos of the atmospheric skies but soon the inevitable happened and I needed my raincoat. At this point I left my sunhat behind unknowingly. Then the thunder started, then lightning, then hail. And the hail got heavy and lasted for ages and hurt, and whalloped hard on the head. Luckily I had decided on a short stage and was booked into a gite attached to a bar in Montbonnet, and when I limped in looking like a drowned rat, I was soon taken across to my room. The gite is new, called Les Granges, and is just beautiful and spacious and I was soon all comfy again.

I returned to the bar for a hot chocolate and it was full of walkers escaping the rain. Everyone was laughing about the hail and how hard it was. I was really glad not to be walking on 8 more km to St Privat. I mentioned that I had lost my sunhat on the trail, and a Frenchman had retrieved it. And he had lost his sunglasses and someone had retrieved them and brought them to the bar as well!

So, you know where I am. I still have more posts from the Cluny walk and will send them when I find wifi. Things will be rather out of time order, but I guess if I can survive a hailstorm, you can cope with that!