Which do you prefer hiking up a mountain or hiking down a mountain?

I ask because we literally went up and down all day long. I don’t think there was a single flat place that we walked.

Upon leaving Saint Andre en Morvan we had a steep descent and immediately a steep ascent. We had to take our jackets off because it was very warm today. Noël walked in a tshirt all day. And at one point we said we needed to take the legs off of our pants, because it was so warm. The ascent/descent repeated for thirteen kms. The last descent and ascent were perhaps the steepest and brought us into Merigny l’Église.

Our host helped arrange not only lunch but also dinner with the restaurant in town. (It closed at 3:30 so getting dinner was a treat!) the restaurant owner even prepared us sandwiches for tomorrow as well as breakfast. I mean we paid for all of it but it gave us rest in our minds about what we were going to do.

There were two men in the restaurant when we arrived and there was a very lively conversation about the Camino. Our lunch was amazing!!

We were told that we could ask a resident about getting into the church. Alas he didn’t answer the door. But we were able to get three stamps in this tiny, lovely, peaceful village.

Tomorrow we will travel 21 kms and there will be no stops except the ones we make. And where we are staying has no cafes or stores. Our host said she would go to the store for us. We gave her a grocery list.

We continue to struggle finding accommodation and yet when we do we are finding overwhelming hospitality!!

Noël noticed yesterday while washing our boots that I have a hole in mine. So he started figuring out ordering new boots and sending them to our location 17-20 February.

Our power pack quit as well did our usb chargers. We started trying to find a taxi into a bigger city. We finally managed to and had a lovely conversation with our taxi driver. Well Noel did.

And a nauseating taxi ride around the French countryside. I had to keep my eyes on the road. Lots of turns and curves. But got some great photos coming and going.

Declaring that 13 /56 degrees is hot. We feel we are nuts. 13/56 degrees is hot to us.

It’s been a nice rest day. Hope you are well!

It all depends….stay tuned for the rest of this story.

We left Vezelay by way of the Cathedral which meant going way up and way down to get out of Vezelay. The morning started clear and beautiful and then a mist/fog settled all around the area.

Our first stop was in Saint Père to get groceries for the next few days. We are staying two days again due to not being able to find other accommodation until Thursday. Our hosts for tonight offered to meet us in Saint Père to pick up our groceries and take them to our lodging. Super nice.

And then we are off again. Found an open church in Saint Père. It is being restored. Very interesting architecture.

Today was a challenge. The difference between google and the official route was over 6 kms. The height meters were intense. And the terrain a bit rough.

So back to how does a pilgrim cross a rushing creek? Again it depends…

One pilgrim carefully steps on stones/logs and finds footing, carefully taking each step not to slip, using poles to balance and makes it across.

The other pilgrim watches the first pilgrim and decides to slosh through the ankle deep water.

Funny thing we had to do this twice. And each pilgrim approached it the same way as before.

Can you guess who was careful and who sloshed?

The vistas and landscapes were so beautiful today. For the most part Vezelay was covered in fog but at one point we could look back and see the cathedral, absolutely beautiful.

The last climb down and back up was 12% descent and the climb up was at least that or more.

Although today was super challenging it was a very good day. I think the rest days really help.

Hope you are well!!

Last night we made reservations at a cafe/restaurant only to find out they weren’t opening. When we got there it was closed. Very disappointing.

I said to Noël “we will have lunch again at the place we ate lunch. A big meal and eat light for dinner.

We once again are struggling finding accommodation because of the time of year we chose to walk but we are trying to make it work.

We walked around the city today, I mean we walked around the city walls all 3,5 kms. But wow these walls are steep. And the basilica is beautiful.

We got a stamp at the basilica and Noël visited with the priest briefly. There are relics of Mary Magdalene here

It was a good quiet day. Our sandwiches are ready for tomorrow. And our host for the next two days is meeting us 5 kms from Vezelay at a grocery where he will take our two days of groceries to our accommodation. And we will walk there another 7 kms.

Hope you are well.