30 April 2019 Msafiri's letter.

 Hi Shingy, last night, we had a memorable dinner and lots of joking with our Welsh host.

The other pilgrim in the gíte was a French retiree and agnostic. When we asked him why he was walking, he said he was looking for meaning in his life. Eish, I think it may be better to ask that question sooner than later in life. Later in the day, Punda and Mpanzi were discussing this. Punda said Solomon said something like this:

"Enjoy your food and wine while you can and your life while you are young, but remember your Maker in that time. Also, don't forget to enjoy the love of your life, and you must walk while you can."

But I don't know if that is what Solomon said. Let me stop before Mpanzi raps me on the knuckles. I'd rather tell you about the day's walk.

Today was another walk-in-the-park day, not in the sense of being easy but in the sense of beauty. This countryside is truly like a beautiful garden, squeakingly clean about 99% of the way!

After an excellent breakfast of coffee in bowls (they don't use cups for coffee here) and fresh bread, we departed in a cool mist.

We descended 300 meters with much ooh and aah down to Monistrol-d'Allier on the river Allier. There is no shortage of water in this country!

The next stage was a next level 422 meter steep uphill, like Platteklip gorge but with a 10-kilogram backpack added. Punda and Mpanzi just about collapsed at the top for their midday picnic.

Then it was a "vasbyt" stretch to Rognac, where they found an old French madame who sells coffee and eats from her kitchen. No English is spoken by her or any of the other hikers, but with some Afrikaans and a few words of Spanish, we did get two big cups of coffee. As the French are okay with eating your own food with your coffee, we took out the rest of the picnic. Refreshed, we could do the last few kilos into Saugues. The French pronounce it as saw; strange are the French.

We really experience some of them as very blunt. One of them had just taken our washing out of the machine before it was done!! Haha, he did get an earful of Afrikaans.

We stay in a sports centre tonight in our own room with an ensuite bathroom, the very upper-class in Camino terms.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, let me post some photos and stop this blah blah.

Breakfast

Early morning mist

First day on GR65

 Hi, Shingy I must apologize for not writing to you during the last couple of days. The walking takes time, the daily washing must be done, mostly there is no wifi and then Punda is too tired to do the typing.'

'Let me tell you about our experience since we left Lisbon. We had an easy flight with Easyjet from Lisbon to Lyon in France and then took the train to Le Puy-en-Velay. The whole flight was above clouds and it rained all the way from Lyon to Le Puy. Nice and cool, not a hiker's dream weather I must say.

We stayed at the Grand Seminaire-Accueli Saint George. Only about three of the twenty pilgrims at dinner could speak English and we were listening to a flood of French. After dinner, we had an interesting time sharing stories with two young pilgrims. When we asked why they are walking one said it is because he was healed of cancer. It was good for Punda to talk to him.'

'The next day we attended the 07h00 mass in the cathedral. There were a lot of pilgrims present, most were French. We were the only South Africans. After mass, we visited some interesting places in Le Puy.'

'Check the half-ginger relative of yours whom we met in a chapel that was built around the year 950! It is really old. This place's history makes my head spin trying to keep track of all the dates.'

'We also visited the Statue de Notre-dame de France. It was made from 150 000 kilograms of bronze that came from cannons that the French took from the Russians after the Battle of Sebastopol in 1850.'

We left Le Puy around noon and walked nine kilometers to Tallode. It did not rain but we were all wrapped in our windbreakers/raincoats because of an ice-cold wind.

The area is stunningly beautiful, every few steps there is a photo moment. I do hope the memory cards in the cameras are big enough. It's always a crisis when we run out of memory.

In Tallode we stayed in a gîte which is a guesthouse for travelers. If the locals say gîte is sound like jeet, French are strange sounds to our ears.

Dinner was again a memorable affair with amazing French dishes of lentils and veal and lots of incomprehensible discussion around the table. This area is known for its black lentils.

Today we walked 17 kilometers to another hamlet called Combriaux. Only yesterday there was still some snow on the route! Punda and Mpanzi were again blown away by the beauty of the environment. What impressed us is how clean the environment is, with no litter laying around!

Tonight we are staying at gîte Escoule. The innkeeper is a very interesting antique dealer from Wales. He and his cat helped us to reserve gîtes for the next two days.

We are now sitting in front of the fire drinking red wine and talking to the other pilgrims.

The ginger-cat.

The only open window is our room.

Leaving Le Puy

Msafiri and Shingy chatting in the garden.

15 April 2019

 'Hi Shingy, have you noticed that Punda and Mpanzi are packing their bags for another Camino trip?'

'O yea, I see the backpacks are packed and repacked, again and again. And I hear long discussions on what to pack and what to leave, weighing each item. It seems to me they are not as strong as they used to be, each gram counts now. When are you leaving?'

'We depart on 24 April, flying from Cape Town to Lisbon.'

'For how long will you be gone?'

'Forty days.'

'O my, that's a long time to be alone at home! Last time the neighbors looked well after me, but it still was a long lonely time.'

'Don't worry, this time some British friends of Estelle Mundell will come to stay with you for a week and then Mike's daughter Robin will be here for the whole of May. You will have someone to look after for the whole time.'

'OK, that can be fun. I hope she likes cats. What route are you walking this time?'

'The French call it Le Chemin de Saint-Jacques. It is the Camino route from Le Puy-en-Velay in the Auvergne region to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port on the Spanish border. The route is also known as the Via Podiensis or the GR-65 long-distance walking route in France. Google it, and you will find lots of information.'

'Thanks, I will do that. Yesterday, when they came home from church, I heard them talking about how the news of Mercia Farmer's death shocked them. She passed away on Saturday. That is so sad. She had cancer.'

'Yea, that is sad. Is it not written: The LORD cares deeply when his loved ones die? '

'O yes, but it still hurts.'

'When we walked from Pamplona to Burgos in 2016, I saw they often took pictures of the markers on the road showing the way. They then sent those pictures as an encouragement to their friend, Lynne Budge, who was walking a difficult road with cancer at that stage. Here are some of those pictures.'

'Ja Msafiri, that's life. As Punda often says 'Walk while you can...'

Meet Msafiri

Let me introduce you to Msafiri, a trusted travel companion of many years.

I met him in December 2004 on the slopes of Kilimanjaro when Talita carried him up the mountain. Since then he switched backpacks and is now riding on mine, all over the world. 

He calls me Punda because, like a donkey, I like to hike slowly and stop often. After such a stop, it usually takes some prompting from Msafiri and Mpanzi, his name for Belinda, to get us on the road again. 

Msafiri was also the name of our guide on Kilimanjaro in 2004. He told us the name means 'traveler' in Swahili. His mother named him Msafiri since he was born on a train while traveling to Mombassa on the Kenyan coast.

Msafiri wearing Talita's sunglasses on Kilimanjaro in 2004.

Msafiri on Talita's backpack above Lava Tower