Le Puy is an ancient town with rocky peaks among a volcanic landscape. The cathedral has a Black Virgin in it that is an important part of its festivities. I would learn this trip that in the 20th century there were three jubilee years, in this century only two, in 2005 and 2016, with the next one about 150 years away. A jubilee year is the year the feast of the Annunciation lands on Good Friday. So it ends up that the year the kids and I walked was a jubilee year!
We started our journey the same as we did five years ago, with 0700 mass at the cathedral. Two weeks would separate our time period, I share thst as this mass was a completely different experience than our last. Five years ago we were six of like 12-14 pilgrims at the morning mass, this year every pew was filled, maybe not shoulder to shoulder but several pilgrims deep. It was a beautiful diverse crowd, many young families and children dressed up with hiking sticks and cute attire. Five years ago we would stick around a chat with the priest and nun for a good an hour, this year we estimated atleast 150 people, backpacks lined the walls of the cathedral and when they asked who had the destination of Santiago I think only four raised their hands. We were the only United States citizens in the bunch which did surprise me. The biggest marvel is the opening of the cathedral doors down under the pews, a dramatic opening that is supposed to be what leads you out to the streets and in the direction of Santiago. How I missed this five years ago I will never know, I wonder if it’s because our mass was so intimate before, we went off to a room to chat and went out the side doors. Anyway this was a pretty emotional experience this year!
We were among many hikers today a festive , happy group, filled with conversations or attempts at them. Everyone we met, with not one exception was French. In fact I think less than ten people identified themselves as not French in mass. Five years ago the kids and I slept in the back of a small church where today we were welcomed by two female volunteers sharing about it, it was a treat. I got emotional knowing that we, as a family with small kids slept outside way back then more than 80 percent of the time to Santiago. This trip woukd supply more luxery being just the two of us. I had to remember five years ago we walked to mass from our camp site which added about an hour and a half to our days trek.
Tonight we would stop in Saint Privat, a cute town where a corner street bar is where everyone ends up. The word bar is used on Camino and it’s not until this trip that I have realized it’s really suggesting it to be a “ snack bar”. We ended up staying the night here, a simple place that met our needs. Kompstl is the name of it and run by a sweet very hard working family that includes their young teen sons in serving the tables and they were an impressive group. Dinner was just OK in my opinion, and doesn’t matter, however if I did this route again I might just stop for drinks here and carry on to Monistrol d’ Allier where the kids and I slept out on the water last time. I say this too because one of my favorite restaurants is Pain du Sucre there. With thst said our evening was fabulous!
