Date: Tuesday 29 April, 2025
Day: 2
From: St Privat d’Allier To: Sauges
Start Walking: 754am End Walking: 338pm
Time: 6h25m
Distance (Planned): 19km Distance (Garmin): 21km
Progress: 45.2/765km
Ascent: 765m Descent: 668m
Weather: A BIG fog to start the day. Then clear and hot.
Stayed At: Gite Communale
General Comments:
• I’m still struggling with jetlag and only getting 3-4 hours sleep a night. That’s making it a bit hard to be overly enthusiastic about getting out of bed and walking +20km, but those kilometres don’t walk themselves and it’s what we came here for.
• It was very eerie setting off walking in the thick fog. Other walkers would materialize and then disappear again. It diffused the light amongst the tall trees and overall was quite atmospheric and very beautiful.
• Today was supposed to start off heading downhill, but there were enough climbs for me to wonder who was writing these guide books and what they were drinking at the time!
• The first highlight came from a short detour of the trail to visit the Rochegude chapel and tower. Both are incredibly old and seem to have grown out of the large boulders that decorate the mountain top. I just love stone buildings and my cup is overflowing on this trail. There are gorgeous stone buildings everywhere.
• The hard yakka started from there with a very long and very rough descent over rock-strewn and root-covered paths, just waiting to trip up and unsuspecting pilgrim. You truly had to watch and place almost every step and that is pretty tiring.
• After a short reprieve and a restorative coffee, it was time for the Up section of the day. Holy cow! What an ascent! 4km of hard, relentless bloody up, but I kept telling myself ‘at least it’s not as hard as heading to Everest Base Camp’. And although it was pretty ragged at times, at least I can breathe here. 🙃
• The path was busy again today and nearly everyone had a smile and a Bonjour. I know the French people get a bad reputation for being rude, but on this trail everyone has been incredibly friendly and welcoming. Maybe it is because we are all doing the same thing and feeling the same exhaustion!
• To distract myself from all my puffing and panting, I tried to focus on the magical sound of the cuckoos calling in the forest. Such a wonderful sound as we don’t have any cuckoos in Australia unless they are in our Parliament.
Top Tips:
• Start early! This is a tough day, even if it is shorter than yesterday.
• If you can learn some simple phrases and words in French you will make many more friends and earn many more smiles.
• If you are considering walking this route, don’t ignore the Gite Communales as a good and cheap option. We dodged a bullet (long story) and ended up being moved into the Communale where we had a private room with ensuite for a very reasonable cost. I will keep my eye out for more of these down the track
Bon Chemin.
(Sorry guys, I feel a bit rusty with these posts. I will try to do better
Life...one big adventure 
Aah Mel, j’ai envie de visiter cette région – c’est belle! Don’t beat yourself up about not posting frequently; I know the feeling! It would be really hard to keep on top of it when you have all that walking to do. It does look like it’ll be amazing though. Bon chemin!
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Thanks, S! The scenery is absolutely wonderful. Unfortunately it does mean that often we have to scramble up bloody great hills to enjoy those views, but it is worth it. Merci ma cherie. Melx
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So atmospheric in the fog surrounding the chapel. Lovely. And your posts aren’t rusty, we love following along!
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Thanks for your vote of confidence, Han. I have been focussing on getting the body moving and the brain is still playing catchup! 😎
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I think you are doing very well. As long as you keep a diary you can catch up with the blog when you have time, energy and WiFi.
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That’s a good plan. I may just do that. 😊
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I love the eerieness (is that a word) that comes with fog. I imagine it was a bit damp to walk in, though.
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I’m with you. I love the feeling of the moisture on my skin and how it seems to dampen the sound. Very eerie indeed.
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I don’t know why the French have that reputation. They’ve always been perfectly nice to use over several trips there, both in the big city and the rural areas.
Feels like that camino is ripe for an ACCURATE guidebook. There’s your next gig, Mel!
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Well said and I agree.
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💕
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😁 I’m not sure my brand of honesty would sell many guidebooks! I do appreciate the level of research and detail that goes into a guidebook though, bearing in mind one person’s ‘moderate ‘ is another person’s ‘bloody hard.🤣
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I think it’s in human nature to be nice or rude, it has nothing to do with nationality. We met some extremely friendly people when we hiked in Provence few years ago. It was funny when my husband noticed, after few days of continuous Bonjours, that women had a certain intonation, while men had a different one.
Bon chemin, Mel!
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Huh! I haven’t noticed the difference between male and female bonjours, but there are definitely a myriad of accents. Even The Husband is wishing everyone bonjour in the broadest of Aussie accents. People must think he is from a very remote part of France! 🙃 Bon soir.
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😍😍 Bonne nuit!
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Hi Mel, always amazed at how you manage to blog whilst doing a Camino/chemin/trek/ramble. We had planned to be walking up the Portuguese Coastal Camino during May but the need for hernia surgery for me put paid to that until next year so pleased to be able to follow your current chemin while I recover. Cheers, Mark
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Some days it is harder than others to find the time and energy to blog, but I do like to share what I am seeing each day. The Portuguese Coastal is gorgeous. It’s just so special to be walking with the ocean waves on your left. I walked to Caminha and wished I had allowed more time to cross the river there and keep going. Bom Caminho to you and I hope you are better soon. Mel
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Cuckoos in your parliament – that is so funny 😂! How do you blog while walking the Camino? I couldn’t even do that when I had to pack our stuff into boxes for the move! In any case, I will shut up now and just enjoy the rest of your walk (and your husband – yeah)!
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I have enjoyed sharing my daily sights, but sometimes I’ve had to force myself to do it as I’ve been a tad tired some days!😴😴🤣
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