Source: La dispersion des montagnardes (The Dispersal of Mountain Women), illustrated notebook, 1865. ACF, 10B6 / 12.1, f. 2

In the early days of the congregation, the harsh mountain climate of Lalouvesc led the sisters to spend the winter in a house they had acquired in Tournon-sur-Rhône. The community therefore made seasonal migrations with a mule along difficult paths: “We transported some of the furniture from one residence to another: mattresses, sacristy items, piano…”, as well as “trunks, kitchen utensils and provisions of all kinds that were cheaper in the mountains…To transport all this…for many years there was only an old mule with a cart covered with oilcloth…So instead of taking…twelve hours to get from Lalouvesc to Tournon, it took a day and half the night.” (Memoirs of Mother de Larochenégly. Source: MM, FT 94)

Later, or for longer distances, the sisters took a stagecoach. Mother de Larochenégly and Mother Contenet, on a reconnaissance trip to Lyon before the foundation, took the stagecoach that ran from Tournon to Lyon in December 1841. They chose the cheapest seats.