- Time of past OR future Camino
- Pamplona to Santiago (2013)
Le Puy to Pamplona in segments (2013 - 2016)
Pamplona to León
Long, I know, but needs telling...
My wife and I set out from Le Puy the morning of October 5. Fortunately for us, very heavy rains had pretty much missed Le Puy and although the streets were wet, the sky was lightening. We found the waymarks without problems and climbed steadily. We had decided to stop in Montbonnet our first night, a short hike since we wanted to take it easy the first day or two. We first encountered two solo German hikers, both of them younger and faster than us. Then we bumped into three South Africans (Janet, Dawn, and Marian) with whom we discussed the advisability of reserving a spot in Montbonnet since the first two lodging options we had called were either closed or <<complet>>. During our pause with the South Africans, a party of five French hikers arrived and I asked in French whether anyone might help me with my new French mobile phone. Indeed, their party contained a techy guy nicknamed <<Kiki>> who was also the only member of the group who spoke English.
Kiki easily showed me how to unblock my phone and my wife and I resumed our walk with this group. It turned out that a husband and wife (Philippe and Régine) had just started to learn English and my wife, who had just started to learn French, walked for the next hour or so with Régine, both of them exploring the other's language. I hung back with the others, chatting mostly in French and occasionally in English (with Kiki). The last members of their group were Patricia, Kiki's wife, and Cati (sp?) who was walking gingerly in sandals because she had suffered a broken toe not long before. In front of a small chapel the French group stopped for lunch. Régine invited us to join their <<pique-nique>>, but we deferred and pushed on to Montbonnet. The French group was headed for Saint-Privat. We would next see them from the window of a French auto-ambulance in Saint-Alban.
My wife and I were pleased with our overall plan and physical condition over the first three days of the hike: no blisters, knees in good shape notwithstanding the long descent into Monistrol, no jet-lag problems, and the efforts we had made with our French language instruction were paying dividends. Oh yes, after 500 kms on the Camino Frances in April-May, we had also lightened our packs considerably.
In a gite in La Clauze we dined with a new group of six French hikers and a solo German. The conversation was so delightful that we decided to join them for breakfast. It's still fairly dark in France at 7:30 AM at this time of year and in our separate <<wing>> of the gite, the stairs from our bedroom down to the first floor were illuminated above but more or less plunged into darkness at the bottom of the stairs. Thus it was that my wife misstepped on the last stair and fell hard onto the stone floor. My wife hobbled over to breakfast, but when we examined her foot it was clear that our planned Camino of 14 days was at risk.
We contacted La Malle Postale and were picked up by Stephan within 45 minutes. Very nice young man who drove us to the nearest doctor's office in Saint-Alban. There we waited for the doctor, who was making his morning rounds. After lunch the waiting room started to fill up, the doctor arrived, and we saw him first after he inquired <<Who has been here the longest?>>. We should have anticipated this, but there were no Xray facilities there, and the doctor arranged for what he described, I believe, as a <<TGR>>, which in our case is used to transport patients that don't need to be flat on their backs, don't need oxygen or the other niceties of an ambulance. We were off to a hospital in Marvejols. It was 45 kms away and not shown on the Miam Miam Dodo maps. Our Le Puy Camino was taking us into the unknown. As we left Saint-Alban in the TGR we waved at the French hikers that we had met on Day 1 of our hike. I do not think they saw us, however.
Again I must say that everyone we met, our TGR driver, the admin folks at the hospital, the radiology team, and finally the surgeon...they could not have been nicer. But as the surgeon succinctly expressed it to my wife, <<Votre chemin est fini>>; the Xrays showed no broken bones, but a torn ligament with a bone fragment. No surgery, no cast, but walking only with the aid of crutches for at least three weeks and that walking to be only by placing weight on the heel of the injured foot. Our TGR driver was still waiting for us and would return us to Saint-Alban or ??? I discussed with him the possibility of a drop-off in a town where I might rent a car. He called two agencies...one was closed and the other required that the vehicle be returned to the agency. A drop-off in Paris was not an option. Our faithful TGR driver brought us to Aumont-Aubrac, the nearest town with railway access. First stop was a Pharmacie for crutches, pain killers, and anti-inflammatories. Then a nice hotel. Our driver stayed with us though our check-in and I had to force him to accept a tip - he had been with us about 4 hours.
That first evening we enjoyed a good meal and some wine and puzzled over our future. We had no computer or smart-phone, no map of greater France, and to myself I thought there is no way my wife is going to be able to tour museums, castles, or cathedrals in her current condition. There is a tourist office in Aumont-Aubrac and we decided to go there the next day and figure out our options.
One of my thoughts was that maybe we should enroll in a language school for a week+ of instruction. The next morning we took a taxi to the tourist office in the town and asked the young lady there for any thoughts... on the language school or anything else she might suggest. But our situation was so bizarre that she was completely stumped, although she did say that she would try to give us lessons, albeit without any background in language instruction.
The office closed at noon and we left in very, very bad spirits. We had a map of France from the office and now knew where we were, but our future was completely unknown and we really had no clue as to what to do next. Then a miracle happened...
We started back up to the main street of this small town and ran into the group of 5 French hikers that we had met the first day. Well when the group saw my wife on crutches and were told of how she had injured her foot, and about how we had found ourselves in our sorry state, they first offered their sincere good will, and then they started to problem solve. They were to hike just two more days, then attend a big celebration near where we had started the hike, and then go home. We could return to Le Puy, meet them, and then travel with them, in their cars, and just stay with them. This offer came from each of two couples. We could even start with one couple and finish with the other. Oh yes, a boat trip was offered...they were going to ferry a boat up or down the Saône river from near Dijon and we could join them. As we listened to these multiple offerings of hospitality, both my wife and I could barely manage to hold back our tears, and when she saw us nearly in tears, Cati also teared up. It was so magnanimous, so generous, and was offered in such a moment of need on our part.
So it came to pass that we accepted their offer (yes, how could we not, we had no idea what else to do). We traveled with Philippe and Régine to Dijon, after attending two big retirement parties for one of their friends in a tiny village near our starting point of Le Puy en Velay. Our hosts still work, so when we rose a bit late, the coffee was on, fresh croissants and bread had been purchased, and even their computer had been left on. Talk about random acts of kindness!!! Thank you so very much for rescuing us, Philippe, Régine, Kiki (Christian), Patricia, and Cati. You are all true trail angels and your actions are truly exemplars for the <<L'Esprit du Chemin>>.
My wife and I set out from Le Puy the morning of October 5. Fortunately for us, very heavy rains had pretty much missed Le Puy and although the streets were wet, the sky was lightening. We found the waymarks without problems and climbed steadily. We had decided to stop in Montbonnet our first night, a short hike since we wanted to take it easy the first day or two. We first encountered two solo German hikers, both of them younger and faster than us. Then we bumped into three South Africans (Janet, Dawn, and Marian) with whom we discussed the advisability of reserving a spot in Montbonnet since the first two lodging options we had called were either closed or <<complet>>. During our pause with the South Africans, a party of five French hikers arrived and I asked in French whether anyone might help me with my new French mobile phone. Indeed, their party contained a techy guy nicknamed <<Kiki>> who was also the only member of the group who spoke English.
Kiki easily showed me how to unblock my phone and my wife and I resumed our walk with this group. It turned out that a husband and wife (Philippe and Régine) had just started to learn English and my wife, who had just started to learn French, walked for the next hour or so with Régine, both of them exploring the other's language. I hung back with the others, chatting mostly in French and occasionally in English (with Kiki). The last members of their group were Patricia, Kiki's wife, and Cati (sp?) who was walking gingerly in sandals because she had suffered a broken toe not long before. In front of a small chapel the French group stopped for lunch. Régine invited us to join their <<pique-nique>>, but we deferred and pushed on to Montbonnet. The French group was headed for Saint-Privat. We would next see them from the window of a French auto-ambulance in Saint-Alban.
My wife and I were pleased with our overall plan and physical condition over the first three days of the hike: no blisters, knees in good shape notwithstanding the long descent into Monistrol, no jet-lag problems, and the efforts we had made with our French language instruction were paying dividends. Oh yes, after 500 kms on the Camino Frances in April-May, we had also lightened our packs considerably.
In a gite in La Clauze we dined with a new group of six French hikers and a solo German. The conversation was so delightful that we decided to join them for breakfast. It's still fairly dark in France at 7:30 AM at this time of year and in our separate <<wing>> of the gite, the stairs from our bedroom down to the first floor were illuminated above but more or less plunged into darkness at the bottom of the stairs. Thus it was that my wife misstepped on the last stair and fell hard onto the stone floor. My wife hobbled over to breakfast, but when we examined her foot it was clear that our planned Camino of 14 days was at risk.
We contacted La Malle Postale and were picked up by Stephan within 45 minutes. Very nice young man who drove us to the nearest doctor's office in Saint-Alban. There we waited for the doctor, who was making his morning rounds. After lunch the waiting room started to fill up, the doctor arrived, and we saw him first after he inquired <<Who has been here the longest?>>. We should have anticipated this, but there were no Xray facilities there, and the doctor arranged for what he described, I believe, as a <<TGR>>, which in our case is used to transport patients that don't need to be flat on their backs, don't need oxygen or the other niceties of an ambulance. We were off to a hospital in Marvejols. It was 45 kms away and not shown on the Miam Miam Dodo maps. Our Le Puy Camino was taking us into the unknown. As we left Saint-Alban in the TGR we waved at the French hikers that we had met on Day 1 of our hike. I do not think they saw us, however.
Again I must say that everyone we met, our TGR driver, the admin folks at the hospital, the radiology team, and finally the surgeon...they could not have been nicer. But as the surgeon succinctly expressed it to my wife, <<Votre chemin est fini>>; the Xrays showed no broken bones, but a torn ligament with a bone fragment. No surgery, no cast, but walking only with the aid of crutches for at least three weeks and that walking to be only by placing weight on the heel of the injured foot. Our TGR driver was still waiting for us and would return us to Saint-Alban or ??? I discussed with him the possibility of a drop-off in a town where I might rent a car. He called two agencies...one was closed and the other required that the vehicle be returned to the agency. A drop-off in Paris was not an option. Our faithful TGR driver brought us to Aumont-Aubrac, the nearest town with railway access. First stop was a Pharmacie for crutches, pain killers, and anti-inflammatories. Then a nice hotel. Our driver stayed with us though our check-in and I had to force him to accept a tip - he had been with us about 4 hours.
That first evening we enjoyed a good meal and some wine and puzzled over our future. We had no computer or smart-phone, no map of greater France, and to myself I thought there is no way my wife is going to be able to tour museums, castles, or cathedrals in her current condition. There is a tourist office in Aumont-Aubrac and we decided to go there the next day and figure out our options.
One of my thoughts was that maybe we should enroll in a language school for a week+ of instruction. The next morning we took a taxi to the tourist office in the town and asked the young lady there for any thoughts... on the language school or anything else she might suggest. But our situation was so bizarre that she was completely stumped, although she did say that she would try to give us lessons, albeit without any background in language instruction.
The office closed at noon and we left in very, very bad spirits. We had a map of France from the office and now knew where we were, but our future was completely unknown and we really had no clue as to what to do next. Then a miracle happened...
We started back up to the main street of this small town and ran into the group of 5 French hikers that we had met the first day. Well when the group saw my wife on crutches and were told of how she had injured her foot, and about how we had found ourselves in our sorry state, they first offered their sincere good will, and then they started to problem solve. They were to hike just two more days, then attend a big celebration near where we had started the hike, and then go home. We could return to Le Puy, meet them, and then travel with them, in their cars, and just stay with them. This offer came from each of two couples. We could even start with one couple and finish with the other. Oh yes, a boat trip was offered...they were going to ferry a boat up or down the Saône river from near Dijon and we could join them. As we listened to these multiple offerings of hospitality, both my wife and I could barely manage to hold back our tears, and when she saw us nearly in tears, Cati also teared up. It was so magnanimous, so generous, and was offered in such a moment of need on our part.
So it came to pass that we accepted their offer (yes, how could we not, we had no idea what else to do). We traveled with Philippe and Régine to Dijon, after attending two big retirement parties for one of their friends in a tiny village near our starting point of Le Puy en Velay. Our hosts still work, so when we rose a bit late, the coffee was on, fresh croissants and bread had been purchased, and even their computer had been left on. Talk about random acts of kindness!!! Thank you so very much for rescuing us, Philippe, Régine, Kiki (Christian), Patricia, and Cati. You are all true trail angels and your actions are truly exemplars for the <<L'Esprit du Chemin>>.
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