We had a most amazing stay at the gite de virlange. Sebastian was an excellent host. Yesterday as we arrived we couldn’t get the gate open and this boy came over and kicked it open for us as Sebastian welcomed us at the door. Later we discovered the boy was his son.

Everything was amazing.

So here is the funny story. Sebastian told Noël that today was relatively flat. From now on I will ask, “flat for someone coming from the Netherlands? Or flat for someone coming from the alps?” 😂 we climbed 300 meters/almost 1000 feet. Ohhhh and again in the snow sometimes knee deep snow.

We laughed a lot today as we traveled from Chazeaux to Saint Albans sur Limagmole.

We arrived and were too early to check in so found an open cafe. It was the owner’s birthday. Afterwards we were able to check in. When we had checked in we sat down to have a drink and try to find accommodation for two days from now. As we were working on it the door opened and in walked Ann and Didier from our first stop after Le Puy. A fun reunion and they told us that as long as we keep using their list gite owners will be able to help us find next accommodations.

After they left , Julie, the owner where we are staying secured us our accommodation.

This has been such an amazing journey so far: learning to ask for help, realizing we are stronger than we think, adapting and adjusting, resting regularly, accepting weakness and giving it the honor it needs.

Wow!! I’m overwhelmed by the birthday wishes and contributions to our gofundme. Thank you!!!

We had a great day. It snowed off and on all day long.

We are in a super gite! Gite de la virlange.

After 28+ kms and nearly 1000 height meters we are exhausted.

However best husband award goes to Noël! He arranged with our host for the night for flowers and champagne for me. He came through. And then our host had a special cake for me.

Wow!!! Nature and the divine provided snow showers and beautiful landscapes all day !! And we have made it almost halfway, well we may have made it halfway.

Noël very sweetly said as we were climbing this morning “if you want to take transportation in Saugues we can. It’s a super special day. And about that time a message came through from Lindsay singing happy birthday to me. I burst into tears. needless to say we walked the whole way and it was glorious!! We even got a glimpse of St James in the clouds watching over us.

It was a great day.

Some random photos.

I wrote a beautiful piece about our very difficult climb today. And pushed the wrong button and deleted it. Par for the course today.

We had a very tough uphill and downhill in the snow. A nice visit with a pizza owner and another customer who sang “it’s a long way to Tipperary” to me.

Tomorrow is another day…my birthday and our anniversary. So if you feel inclined celebrate with us by helping to eradicate cancer.

https://gofund.me/e25bbc66

As I’m writing this we are comfortably in our Gite for the night, showered and warm smelling dinner cooking and it smells amazing!!

We started out of Le Puy en Velay in the snow and it was all uphill, at least that is what I remember. I can imagine this being a really nice walk in better weather conditions. It wasn’t too bad today until the wind decided to participate.

I’ve seen photos of the camino in the snow and always imagined what it would be like. And thought I’d really like to experience it. Well we have. And will for the next few days. This is actually the second snow that we have had. But today seemed different because it snowed all day long and is still snowing. There has to be at least 20 cm/8 inches in some places. And it’s expected to continue into the night.

I’m going yo say that the last 4 kms seemed like an eternity with the wind. And I’m going to say we had a really great day. Thankful for a little shelter and an open church.

We hope that you have a great day also.