This final section of the Way of Geneva took us over the range, from the Rhône catchment to that of the Loire.
We followed an abandoned railway line as far as Dunières and spent that night in a hotel in Montfaucon, a lucky chance for us, as it rained hard all night.
Then we pushed south to Tence, passing as we did so our grand total of 10,000 kilometres of walking in France (thankyou, Dataman).
The next day we entered a strange landscape of steep conical hills, or sucs, remnants of volcanic cores from eruptions long ago.
Threading between these sucs, we found our own way to St-Julien-Chapteuil without following the much more roundabout GR65.
As we set off on the last day the air was still icy cold, but it finally warmed up and we walked into le Puy in a lather of sweat, in the company of two agreeable Canadians.
On this section we managed to have a restaurant dinner and a proper French breakfast every day, but even so we both lost weight overall on the trip. It does not seem possible to eat enough to make up for the energy expended on a long walk like this.
Day 14: Saint-Sauveur-en-Rue to Montfaucon-en-Velay
Day 15: Montfaucon-en-Velay to Tence
Day 16: Tence to Saint-Julien-Chapteuil
Day 17: Saint-Julien-Chapteuil to le Puy-en-Velay
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