2017-09-14 Saugues - Saint Alban-sur-Limagnole (36/81 km)

The day stated a bit improvised with a coffee in a bar at the square and buying a little bread in a food store.

Not far after leaving the city around 8 it started to rain, something that continued until after lunchtime. And besides the rain the day was chilly, about +6 deg C. So my big rain poncho was very useful. But I could had more clothes on. Sometimes a lot of people around me sometimes not so many. Most well dressed today in various rain protections. You start to recognize some of them. But I saw a girl twice that walked only in shorts. I wonder how she survived the day.

The Margeride landscape is sparsely populated and the small villages are sometimes far apart. Forests and fields and stones. Eventually we - I say we, since there were a number of people around me then - reached Sauvage a farm with a big stone house in the middle of nowhere in the forest. I read in my book that it used to be a Templars center in the XII century. Now a place to eat and a "gite" to stay in. It seemed to be a good place with resources. I had something to eat for lunch there and got a teacher from Germany to talk to at the table. Not long after I reached the San Roch memorial. A source and a chapel - also originally built by the Templars.

But I continued another 12 km to Saint Alban, passing the high point of the day at 1.300 m. I went into the first "gite" I saw, but nobody took notice of me. There I discovered the secret behind the light backpacks that a number of people I had seen did carry. They transport the rest of their things with the assistance of a service company! Pilgrimage is not heavy for some these days.

So I left that place and walked to another gite co-located with an old hotel. And that worked. So I'm staying there taking care of my good old cold.

On the way I found the quote of the day written on a wooden post at the side of the road. "The extraordinary you'll find on the road of the ordinary people." How true!

Que día. Lluvia fría toda la mañana. +6 grados. Brrr…! Las Magerides es una región poco poblada. Pueblos pequeños. Muchos bosques. Altitud 1.200 – 1.300 m. Pero también restos de los Templares en “Le Sauvage”. Muchos peregrinos tienen mochilas pequeñas, porque ellos transportan los restos de su equipaje con servicios especiales. Citacion del día: "El extraordinario se encuentra en el camino de las gens ordinarias"