We left by eight. A stroll down the town to the bridge over the river and then up very steeply as promised. While steep it was nothing we had not seen before and within an hour the climb was behind us. Goodness knows how 'Lily the Limp' will manage it. We paused at the little chapel of Ste Foy for a final view of the town although at this stage of the day it is deep in the shadow of the valley. The views overall today were splendid with beautiful green rolling valleys and hillsides in mixed farming country. We seemed to be on the ridge of various hills with views either side, our track changing from path to road and back again. We did not take the new, longer, scenic detour but pressed on for Noailhac. We chatted to a nice open couple from Brisbane, Aus. who were very friendly. 
They were well organized experienced walkers and heading for the Pyrenees. They hoped to complete the whole Chemin by 2008. They had walked extensively in England, Ireland (inc. the canal path past Daingean) and Canada. They carry their stuff and all planning is done on the Internet with the map on the ironing board. They thoroughly appreciated every detail of all they were seeing.We stopped as we came down to Noialhac to a) inspect the church of St John the Baptist and b) get coffee and supplies for lunch. The Australians duly brewed their Billy Can on the ledge of the church memorial. From the village we climbed uphill to the wayside chapel of St Roch passing as we did the Stations of the Cross set into the path. Liz and Clare duly deposited 13 offering stones as we passed each Station. From there the track was nice and high again with good views.
We came to the so-called 'green meridian' - a millennium stunt to mark the meridian line through Paris by planting trees at wide intervals down what is essentially a rural swathe of France. Lunch was taken with 2 hours or less to go and many passed us as we ate. The girls had organized a nice selection of quiches with some good tomatoes and i enjoyed a particularly large NZ apple. Those who had passed we passed in turn as we made good time on the flat road to Decazeville. It hove into view long before we descended through suburban villas to the commercial centre.
A sad place. Decazeville was built from nothing in 1833 to service the largest opencast coal mine in Europe: this is due to close (literally in one week according to the owner of a small grocery shop but I suspect it has been declining under the kiss of death for decades like coal mining elsewhere in Europe) with huge local economic and social repercussions. It is not a very attractive place but many ordinary families living in large appartment blocks will be affected by the economic decline. Other local industries including steel are also in a bad way with consequent knock on effects on all aspects of local trade, commerce and daily life.
We made our way across a busy through road to the centre to find the Hotel Modern;
it too seemed to share the local gloom and foreboding. After Creanciale stamping we visited the war memorial and the church. The former is a large non-religious structure built in the mid-thirties. Instead of the more usual cross it is decorated with a large miner's lamp. The monument is well decorated with four bronze plaques (after Jean Andree Gautier ?)in "Soviet Proletarian" style. Inside the badly weathering 19c rough stone church there is a fluent and balanced set of Stations of the Cross painted by Gustav Moreau, 1860's symbolist.Veal stew for supper. To be honest there is not a lot to linger for in Decazeville.
