april 5 from st. alban

this is my first internet access since leaving the US.  I am using a French keyboard which is very different from the English one.  On top of that I just found a button that switched the letters so that I can type on the French keys and the English letters appear.  Pardon any typos.
We are in St. Alban.  I do not have my guidebook to tell how far we have come but it is less than 100 km.  All is well.  Going is slow because of terrain and my fellow pilgrims' health issues.  Slow start is good for me too.  Not much in the way of blisters!
I arrived in Paris, made my train connections and arrived in Le Puy on March 30 as anticipated.  Chris and Gitte arrived at the hostel about two hours after me.  March 31 we explored and then Marie-Helen joined us that evening so our group was now complete.
April 1st we went to the 7 a.m. pilgrims' mass.  I was surprised to see that there were about 40 of us there.  The vast majority of the pilgrims were French and were older.  Turns out the bishop did the service.  If I were Catholic I would have know that because of the color of his robe and hat.  The local priest did the benediction after the service and as one of the few non-French there I got called on to read the benediction in English!
April 1st we made it to Montbonnet which was 16 km away.  April 2nd we walked 14.4 km to Monistrol-d'Allier.  April 3 we walked 12.1 km to Saugues.  Yesterday we walked 15 km to Chanaleilles.  All this was in the Haute-Loire region of France.  We have now moved into the another region whose name escapes me right now.
Weather has been very good for walking.  Yesterday was our only day with rain and it was only sprinkles.  The countryside is stunningly beautiful.  The people have been very friendly. 
Well, there is someone else waiting to use the computer so I'll close for now.