Follow your heart.
- John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678)
Upon arriving at the cosy Maison Saint-Pierre pilgrim hostel in Bourg-Saint-Pierre, our hearts became heavy at the thought of doing all we had to do in the course of the evening and then rising early in the morning and rushing off to complete the long uphill hike before the forecast rain began in the afternoon. So I sent the manager of the hostel a message asking if we could stay another night, and he readily agreed.
We were up early anyway, as there were no shutters to block out the morning sunlight, and wondering what to do all day! But before much of the morning had gone by, as we sat out in the courtyard we were joined by Jannis, a walker from New Zealand, who had taken the bus up from Orsieres to rest up here before tackling the pass. We showed her to a room and then sat outside chatting. We all walked up to the gas station store to buy enough food for another day. I found all the ingredients to make pasta with tomato sauce, tuna and peas; the extra pasta we dressed with grated cheese and cream, and we ate some of each. We had just finished washing the dishes when in came Brian and Alison, also from New Zealand, just in time to take care of the leftovers! Audrey had met them already, at an earlier stage of her walk, before she started walking with Elaine and I, and she was overjoyed to see them again! I was also happy to have their company, not least because they have walked over St. Bernard's Pass before and are familiar with the path.
By this time it was raining slowly but steadily, and we were happy to be indoors sipping cups of tea rather than outside walking!
I did take a walk around the village in the morning before the rain began, and photographed some of its notable sights, such as a fourth century Roman milestone up against the back of the church, dedicated "To the Emperor Cesar Valere Constantin".
Another remarkable feature of the village is its wooden grain storage bins, which exploit the same principle as the horreos of Galicia: mice cannot walk upside-down, so the wooden structure is raised on feet incorporating a wide, flat stone.
After our morning walk, culinary venture and chat with the New Zealanders, we spent most of the afternoon sleeping! Though we are only at 1600 metres here, I believe the altitude has had an effect on me, as I felt a bit short of breath on the uphill stretches even just walking around the village, and I slept very soundly for at least a couple of hours after lunch. The extra day will not only allow our leg muscles to recover, but give our bodies a chance to get used to this intermediate altitude before we climb to the pass at 2478 metres tomorrow.
A well-earned and much-appreciated day of rest!
View of the approaching rain clouds from our room at Maison Saint-Pierre
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