The trip to Le Puy - Sunday October 17

The plan was to catch a train to Le Puy-en-Velay to begin the walk.

That was the plan.

I got the train to Gare de Lyon without any problems, but then found out that the only long distance train going to Le Puy was full. I was told to come back tomorrow and, dejected, I went and found a cheap(ish) motel. After a while of moping about I felt a strong urge to go back and ask someone else. I did this and found out that, due to the massive strikes in Paris at the moment, no more trains wpuld be going to Le Puy until at least the end of the week. I decided to hire a car instead.

Europcar was first, they were out of cars. Hertz was next (and I think last), and here I was very lucky. The girl at the counter said that she couldn't help me, so she called Head Office and got me to speak to them. Because my French is non-existent and her English was not very good, she thought I wanted to pick up a car in Le Puy, instead of driving it to Le Puy. If she had have known that she would have told me they had no more cars. Instead, I straightened this out with Head Office, who didn't seem to know about the lack of cars, and they booked one in for me for the following morning.

As I hung up, I heard another girl explaining (in English) to someone that all cars were booked out. I waited until she was finished and asked about my car. She checked the computer, then said, "Wow, you're lucky. We don't have any cars left - but since Head Office have booked you in, we'll just have to find one."

I spent the rest of the afternoon in the hotel feeling miserable. I had come here to escape the stress and lack of alone time, and instead was in a very crowded city that I couldn't seem to get out of, and where any kind of communication bordered on impossible. The last two days have really highlighted just how much importance I place on needing to be understood, and just how much I take it for granted.