Day 1 – A Full Day In The Clouds – Walking Across Italy

Today we hiked for almost 6 hours. During that time, we traveled 15 miles, took 32,000 steps, and climbed the equivalent of 26 flights of stairs or almost 2,000 vertical feet. Not bad for Day 1.

JP and I attended the Pilgrim Mass at 7am because: (1) it was Sunday and (2) we heard that there would be a special blessing ceremony for those walking the Camino that morning. (That’s us.) Stephen didn’t join us because he is too grumpy before his morning coffee and Joe bowed out because he claimed to be a “fallen Catholic” ( I figured he meant, as in “fallen” back to sleep). Anyway, there were some 300 pilgrims who attended this mass before embarking on their trek. Most from France, but some from Canada, Colombia, USA, and South Africa.

Making our way to the Pilgrim Mass.

I should have mentioned that this cathedral, Notre Dame in Puy-en-Velay, is the starting point for the Camino which goes across the top of Spain to Santiago de Campostello. In other words, the Spaniards aren’t the only ones capitalizing on the ancient route of Saint James (known as, Saint Jacques here in France). Tourist from all over the world, make the pilgrimage from here to the Spanish border and beyond. (BTW, it’s a 6-week hike to the Spanish border. We are only doing a third of it on this trip.)

This shell marks the way of Saint James.

The mass was a typical Catholic ceremony, all in French, so I only caught a word here and there. But the priest was accompanied by a nun who sang the hymns “a cappella”. Her voice was so angelic that it made the mass a truly heavenly experience.

Sister lighting the candles before mass.

The most surprising thing about the mass was during the Offertory ( when they pass around a small basket to make a donation). It had an electronic device in it which allowed you make a donation using your credit card!!! Ingenious! Leave it to the Catholic Church to figure out new ways to get you to donate.

The special blessing ceremony was led by the priest who started by getting a sense of the crowd. He had people raise their hand when he called out a region of France. Those of us from other countries were also encouraged to shout out our origins, so a proper census could be taken. (It was kind of like when you go to an amusement park and they ask for your zip code, so their marketing people know where to spend their money next year.) Then, the priest told the crowd about all the prayer cards and religious trinkets that could be acquired for a small donation. (I called this the “and now a word from our sponsor” section.) This was followed by a brief blessing and the opening of the back gates which led to the Walk of St. James. Some people left the cathedral, while others, like JP and I waited in lines for some of the religious goodies.

The nuns hawking their wares.

After a brief breakfast at our hotel (croissant and coffee), the four of us returned to the cathedral to begin our journey.

Ready for the challenge ahead.

The weather did not cooperate today. No sooner did we walk out of the cathedral when it started to rain. The rain was off and on today. It seemed like every time JP put on his hat, the rain would start again.