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12 September 2026 - Saint-Privat-d'Allier

Last night the new sleeping bag was definitely warmer. I almost didn't want to to leave it when dawn came. I broke camp and was on the road before 8AM, which was gravel through fields to the town of La Roche, where fittingly all the buildings are stone. Like everything in this area of France that stone is something igneous - basalt, tuff, pumice, etc. La Roche is on the edge of a canyon and the Chemin becomes a path following the rocky edge of this canyon. The path being red from the iron in the rocks oxidizing, the stone buildings, and then a bird running down the path before me...

I had a coffee and croissant in the town of Saint-Christophe-sur-Dolaizon, where a young woman struggled to control her horse while talking to her friend. Then it was out across the fields again. I reached Montbonnet near lunchtime. At the chapel I donated my Walmart sleeping bag from California that just wasn't warm enough for the cold nights, replenished my water supply, and went to the town restaurant to get lunch. Sadly, like many towns so far, the restaurant was closed. Fortunately I keep a sandwich in reserve for just such occasions. And I was joined by a nice couple from Australia, and we shared stories of our lives over a meal. This was the beginning of the deluge of people the couple from Grenoble had told me to expect after Le-Puy-en-Velay. Apparently lots of people start there. The Australian couple did, and they are only going to Saint-Jean-Pied-du-Port.

Montbonnet was the beginning of a climb up a hill to just over 1200 meters. Along the way I was passed by several people. And then I heard the Americans coming. That's the great thing about Americans - you can always hear them coming! This trio was from the Pacific Northwest and and we shared our life stories on the way down the hill. The place people are stopping is Saint-Privat-d'Allier, which is a neat little town with tiny winding streets between stone buildings on a defensible promontory with a castle overlooking the valley. I sat there and read the book I bought in Le-Puy about Volcanoes in the region, before going for dinner and running into the Australia couple I had lunch with earlier in the day. After eating I grabbed a bottle of wine and headed on down the road until I found a cowfield to camp in.