Saint-Roch

Only half an hour out of Le Puy and I struck up with Thierry, a gentle ruffian from Paris - kind, cultured, sociable and impeccably mannered like most of the French people I would meet. After a divorce he had resolved to spend the rest of his life "on the road" as a routard or backpacker. We were to spend the next 10 days in each other's company.

In the evenings I would usually book into a convenient gîte d'étape in some small town or village while he went on ahead a few kilometres and wildcamped. We would meet up again the next day and walk on together. I remember one idyllic camping spot he had found near a bend in a remote country road. I caught up with him there early one misty morning. He had gathered sticks for a fire and scooped fresh, ice-cold water from a nearby stream. He offered me freshly made coffee. He had seen a fox in the night. We agreed it was paradise...

The photo shows Thierry in front of a second Chapelle Saint-Roch which stands on the border of the départements Haute Loire and Lozère. There are many churches and chapels along the Way dedicated to Saint-Roch, the patron saint of pilgrims. Saint-Roch (1295?-1327) was born in Montpellier and became a mendicant pilgrim throughout France and Italy after giving away his money and possessions. He was said to have been born miraculously with a red cross imprinted on his chest. He devoted his life to curing with the sign of the cross the plague victims he encountered on his travels.