It took both of us 3 good days to completely adjust ourselves to France time. We had a really good night sleep, woke up all refreshed at 6 AM, no fussing around. We got ready, packed up our bags and got down to breakfast.

Ed was getting over a slight cold, or some kind of allergies, we don’t know what it was but he had a strange cough, he was not 100 percent, may be, that’s why he slept so much the past few days. Today he is all well and so am I. Two eager troopers getting ready for the day’s walk.

So we sat down for breakfast. Ed had his coffee while I enjoyed my hot chocolate and dipped my bread or croissant in to soften it and let it melt in my mouth. I read Ed the description of today’s section: for the next 31 km, it’s a continuos uphill climb! Ed quickly grab another baguette and get himself some more energy in preparation for the climb.

I still have not figured out how to get provision for the day, granted we arrived on Saturday and the last few days were Sunday and Monday, most places are probably closed. We had gotten yesterday some dried meat and half a small round of cheese. I packed us a few mini baguettes for the day’s climb. I know we will pass by 4 small villages but I am not sure if I could get any thing to eat so just to be safe, we bring along enough for a picnic today.

We set out for our walk. I told Ed to go get direction to get back on the trail from where we were staying. Ed speaking English, the other man speaking French. I should have known better. Lots of hand waving, signal to the left, then to the right, then hand signal for a steep down turn then signal for a straight up turn. What ever hand signal mankind can imagine, you’ve got it from the 4 minutes description on how we could get back on the trail. Not only one hand, but two hands, waving, lots of French and Ed repeating in English. I was not paying attention, I was too busy packing our bread for the day.

We set out, turn right, got on the Main Street then we approached the big bridge over the river Allier. This the is river when in the old days the pilgrims had to cross over with a raft and once on the other side, they can get shelter from the chapel of Ka Madeleine. We crossed the bridge, admired the scenery, took pictures and voila, we were completely lost. No signs of the red and white way marker to tell us we were on the way of st Jacques de compostelle. Ed took out his GPS. We are off the trail indeed. We need to take the lower street and cross over the smaller lower bridge so we backtracked and got on the correct way. I told Ed: he showed you the way, were you listening to him? Ed said: he spoke a whole bunch of French! I don’t understand a thing he said! Anyway we are on the right trail now so onward we go.

We passed through the village of Monistral, then we crossed the river Allier, again, this time on the smaller bridge. Then we began our ascent. It’s relentless. Straight up the hill we climb. The view back behind us was beautiful. We walked along the bank of the river, but soon we were way up 500 feet above the river as we continue to climb up.

One thing about the French, they don’t believe in switch back. Switch back are for American hikers. French hikers just walk straight up the hill. We climbed and climbed and I started the take off my jacket. I started to sweat profusely! It was a never ending hill.

The scenery was beautiful. Stunningly awesome. Jaw dropping, drop dead gorgeous view. The climb was hard but the reward well with it.

On the top we reached the chapel of La Madeleine. It’s a beautiful grotto in the rock, where pilgrims used to come and get shelter after they crossed the river.

Then we continue on our walk. More climbing. Relentlessly uphill. We passed by many apple orchards, pears too. We picked fresh black berries from the fields and ate them. Delicious! The weather was perfect. Not too hot and not too cold and most of all, not raining. We ran into a flock of sheep. They were so cute. Way high in the mountain. And we kept on climbing for another while. We started talking. Not paying too much attention. We came to a Y. Yes you guessed it, we took the wrong fork. And there were a reason to it. We took the one that went down hill. We were tired of climbing. We kept on chatting, happily going down hill. Once we get to the highway down hill we were not sure if we should turn right or left. There were no way markers again! So Ed took out his GPS. Men and their gadgets! Ed has lots of them. Spot device, Garmin handheld device, etc …,

After a lot of looking, zooming in then zooming out, input, output, pressing multiple button, Ed declared: we should not be here. We need to get back to where we came from. The trail is way to the left. Did I say we were happily going downhill? Which means that if we were to go back to where we were, we would have to climb back up the hill! No way, no how. I am so done with this uphill climbing. And besides, Ed was supposed to lead the way. It was so his fault. No matter how loving a couple can be, there will be time when it gets tricky. And that time for us was right here, right now. One thing you need to know when you are waking, it’s not like driving in a car. You can’t just U turn and it’s ok. No, every steps counts and every km counts a lot! One km is like a day’s drive in a car. One km on a climbing day when you are to die from exhaustion is like 3 days driving in a car without sleep. Decision must be made and since it was Ed’s fault that we were lost, of course it was all his fault from where I was standing, he had the GPS and he was the leader even though he does not speak French and can’t understand a word anybody is telling him today, when we are in a bad situation, it’s always his fault. So I quickly said: I am not climbing back that hill, I am going to cut straight across this field here and get over back to the trail. I saw cow going over there earlier so there must be a way. I have no idea where I was going, but Ed said the trail is that way, pointing to the left.
Ed said we can’t do that. I said yes we can. Ed is not listening to me so I said you go back that way and I will meet you over here by the trail then. I was determined.

Of course we can’t be separated. So I won. We both set forth and proceeded to cross the field straight up to the trail. We walked for a little bit across the field then we came to a fence. A single wire fence. Ed looked at it and declared: it’s an electric fence. You don’t want to go over it. What do we do? I asked. Ed can’t give the wrong answer, which was to go back and climb back that hill. He knew I was very tired by now. Ed looked and study the fence. You know what’s coming. Of course we had to find a way to cross over the fence. We could row sham bow. I am not afraid. If I win Ed has to cross over first. If I loose, Ed gets to cross over first! Either way Ed is going to cross over that fence first. So we tested the fence. Ed threw over the poles. Oh great, no problem! Then he unbuckled his backpack and threw over the backpack to the other side. Great! Nothing happened. Now what? It’s a point of no return. We can’t finish the Camino without poles and backpack, Ed had to cross the fence. So carefully and slowly Ed crawled under the fence and got to the other side. Nothing happened. Now it’s my turn. I was scared to death but I was so tired I would rather take a shock than having to climb back the hill. I threw over my pack and my poles, then slowly I crawled under the fence too. Nothing happened. Good grief!

We crossed some farmer’s fields full of berries. Then we came up to another fence. Same set up!

We study the wire again. Then Ed crossed over. All good. When it was my turn, a woman from the farm out was screaming out bloody murder. A dog was barking louder and louder. The woman’s voice yelling louder and louder. I am Not sure if she’s yelling at me or the dog. Is she telling me not to cross the fence? Is she telling me to get off her field? I can’t make out what she saying, just a lot of loud yelling. I hesitated. Then I threw over my poles and backpack and crawled over the fence too. Everything is fine. The woman then got into her car and drove over toward us. We kept on walking across a now neatly plowed field. May be she just sowed her field and we are not supposed to walk in it? Anyway it’s too late. We kept on walking and we finally got off the field and back onto a trail. We kept on walking, the woman drive her car right pass us and did not say anything. I thinks he was just yelling at the dog, but when you are doing something not so legal such as trespassing over somebody’s farm, you think she’s yelling at you! She actually smiled at us as she passed and waved at us on.

We kept walking on the trail looking for the way marker and with great relief we started to see the markers again. We were back on track now.

We turn off the street, found a nice patio with a table surrounded by nice pots of flowering geraniums, on the chair is a big bucket of fresh wild blueberries. We knocked in the door. A cheerful woman greeted us. She asked “what do you want?” Ed said ice cream. I said pie. Good then. Out come a glass of raspberry ice cream and a piece of blueberry pie!!!!

That was the highlight of our day. That saved us! After the nice rest, we had to go on, another 2 miles to the end of the day’s walk.

We arrived in Saugues without any more incident. I think that was enough for one day. Getting lost twice and crawling under electric fence twice is enough for one day.

We enter Saugues and walk straight by the beautiful Abbey La Chaise Dieu. Built in 1052 by Saint Robert de Turlande, who came to retire in the plateau livradois in 1043. The Abbey since then had itself an exceptional destiny, from which there were many saints, and also Pope Clement VI.

By the 20 Th century, the Abbey is occupied by a community religious masculin called the congregation of St Jean.

At the entrance of Saugues, there is a big sign “museum of the beast Gevaudan”! That’s another highlight of the town.

Saugues is situated between the Gorges de l’Allier and the peaks of the Margerite, which is a mountain with peaks of 1487 meters at mont Mouchet and 1551 meters at the peak of Fortunio in Lozere. The Margerite covers the regions between the Truyere valley and Alagnon to the west, the Allier valley to the east, the bivardoise plain to the north and the Causses to the south. It contains the 3 departments: cantal, Lozere and haute Loire. Right at Monistrol d’Allier that we just walked past this morning, the river Allier passes through large valleys and gorges that’s are tight and deep. The left bank of the river is granite from the Margerite while the right bank runs on the volcanic Lava of the Deves massif. All this create a picturesque vista of deep drop against very dense forested area, mountain peaks with deep gorges and a river running at the bottom.

This mystical and picturesque landscape is the very backdrop of the tale of the beast of Gevaudan. The Beast kills 100 people that were recorded between 1764 and 1767. Many witnesses had seen the Beast. Jean Portefaix, a sheep herder, fought back against the beast while other herders looked on. Many tales of fights against the Beast by people of the region, coupled with countless disappearances of members of the communities instilled such fear and terrorized the inhabitants of the Gevaudan during this period of time. the Beast at this time monopolized all the thoughts of the people. They at first thought it could be a punishment from God and organized communal praying session where the whole community prayed fervently for this terror to end but it was to no avail. From then on the fear of the people becomes more and more terrifying.

The beast wrench such huge havoc for the region that it became an affair for the state and the country. The king then sent down Captain Duhamel and promised a large reward for who ever can capture the Beast. The reward caused large contingencies of hunters to come to the region in search of quick fortune. A renowned hunter from Normandy, Deneval, is amongst the big names that came down to hunt the Beast. Not familiar with the Margerite region and its unique landscape, Deneval fail many attempts to capture the Beast. His failure sparked even more fear and anxiety in the people. Rumors and tales became more and more delirious! The King then sent down a special envoy equipped with special weapons to combat the Beast. On June 22 1765, Francois Antoine arrived into Saugues. On September 21 1765, he killed a huge wolf at Notre Dame des Chazes: the first Beast. It was stuffed and brought up to Versailles to be presented to the King and the royal court.

However, a while later, the massacre began again. Finally June 19, 1767, a farmer named Jean Chastel killed the second Beast and put an end to the terror of the region. This Beast was also brought up to the king but by the time it reached Versailles, it was all decomposed and in such a putrid state that King Louis XV ordered it be buried immediately in the garden of the castle.

The mystery of the Beast remains up to this day. Many theories exist. From werewolf to extra terrestrial creature that hid itself under a wolf appearance. Even a theory that the Beast is the farmer’s son! The myth remains to this day. A museum in the center part of town recreates some scenes of the Beast, the terror it created on the people of the region and the myth of The Beast live on to this day!

Today we walked through the dense forest of the Margerite and survived it, we did not get attacked by the Beast of Gevaudan. We were beaten however by the steep climb and the nasty descent, rocky up and down of the trail but we did it with a big smile. The reward of the most beautiful and picturesque vistas all day long was extremely memorable.

Tonight the dinner promised to be a special feast as we will be sample the most special things of the region.

After dinner Ed will be very busy as we had many petitions for prayers sent in by our patient base. Eddie will read them all every day as promised!