No, I did not do the Chemin Saint Jacques, but I did go to Le Puy-en-Veley so I could be immersed in the pilgrim’s spirits.

Le Puy is 4.5 hours drive from Pommard. We got lost for an hour just trying to get out of Pommard. We thought having an overnight stay at Thiers to break up the drive was a good idea. Thiers is an ugly and dirty town. There’s a restaurant called Le Chaudron that has high recommendations. We walked by to check it out. On the walk there, there was so much dog poops and flies swarming that I just felt uurgh with goosebumps and had to change plans for dinner. We stayed at Campanile and had dinner there instead. Dinner turned out to be good, with not a lot of choices, but the service was efficient and friendly.

On the drive down to Le Puy, we made a coffee stop at Olliergues, a small town of 800 people. The coffee shop owners are english and scottish, in their 50s, and they moved to France 10 years ago (before Brexit) with their 4 young kids in tow. With the assistance of the town, they bought a place and renovated it into a coffee shop. The husband serves the drinks, the wife cooks, the kids help with serving when they’re out of school. The drinks are mainly coffee. Only one dish is offered a day, and today was pizza. It’s a simple life.

Le Puy is a bigger town of about 20,000 people. The place we’re staying is an apartment inside a 16th century building. It even has an article written about it. The frescos in the reception room date from the 13th century. The ceiling of the apartment is like 20 feet high, with windows and locks that probably dated since the 19th century. It is conveniently located right next door to the Romanesque Cathedrale de Notre Dame where pilgrims are received and blessed before starting their trek west of the Camino de Santiago (Via Podiensis). The Cathedral is dated from the 11th century, and houses the Black Madonna statue.

Walking from the logis to the Center was 10 minutes walking up and down steep and uneven stairs. Knowing what I know now, I will not book a place closed to the cathedral. It’s shown on the map as closed to the Centre, but it is 130 ft of climbing above town. The local specialty is Lentilles Vertes du Puy. It’s more nutty, often served with a salad or with sausages.

Maybe because of the season, but I didn’t see many pilgrims in the church or on their walks. The vibe is very different from Saint Jean Pied de Port. It’s a much bigger town, and it’s not built just to support the pilgrims.