We keep meeting people that we have met before and it’s like we’re old friends. This is what Le Chemin is all about.

For example, last night we dined with three couples. Two of them we had met on the path that day, the others were strangers to.

Then at the communal dinner tonight, we dined with the two couples we had dinner with the previous evening. It was funny as we were like old friends, happy to see a familiar face.

And then the couple we kept meeting on the path today joined us as well.

None of them could speak very good english and we couldn’t speak good french, but we still had a good laugh.

This is how the whole trip has been and its been brilliant. And often I find myself thinking about the people I’ve met and what they’re doing now.

Thankfully the green bus people sat on a separate table.

One of the men took a photo of a kangaroo outside of Paris. There had been a storm at the Paris zoo years ago, and some animals escaped. See photo below.

Food tonight was amazing:

Delicious starter. Vege tarte tatin

Om my god yum

Man showing us his kangaroo.

Varaires to Mas de Vers – 15km

A short day today as we did a few extra kms yesterday.

We keep running into the green van people. They are a bunch of noisy middle aged people with no respect for others, the same people who woke us up at 5am the other morning. They are touring around with a green van. The van takes all of their luggage, including an electric chilli bin, while they walk. One woman had two huge suitcases!

Everywhere we go, the green van seems to arrive. Yesterday we tried to book into a gite, but it was full up with green van people. Then we’ve seen it a couple off times, hanging out with them on their lunch breaks.

And guess what happened today when we arrived at our gite? Yep. Green van.

It was an easy stroll today in 30 plus temperatures. We found a nice spot to sit and eat lunch but when we brought out the meat we’d bought for lunch, it turned out to be bacon and required cooking. So we had to open our emergency tin of tuna and made a fishy mess all over ourselves.

We arrived at out gite just before two, but they didn’t open until three. So we chilled in their nice garden while we waited.

The kind owners let us in just after two which was nice of them.

We never really know what to expect when we arrive at a gite. Will we be sharing with weirdos? Will there be enough bathrooms for the 20 people staying there? So far there have been quite a mixture.

Tonight we were pleasantly surprised. We have our own private add on to the house with private toilet and bathroom.

Here’s our little house:

Our house

And inside:

And funky bathroom complete with hairdryer:

Lunchtime nap

Dreaded green van

Cajarc to Varaire – 26 kms

Today we were awake at 5am thanks to the people in the next room banging about.

We got up early, keen to avoid the heat, but the patisserie didn’t open until 7.30. So we sat at a bar and drank coffee until it opened.

With a baguette, two pain au chocolates, and some cat sick from the butchers, we were on our way.

It was hot, Hot, HOT!

Today we saw a snake and a fossilised foot, but Mike reckons its just stones.

We had only planned to walk 18km today but we arrived at our destination just after 2pm and there was nothing to do in the town. So we decided to push on another 7km to the next place, and it was much nicer.

We had one of the best meals yet, but unsure whether we’ll sleep as it’s so hot still.

.

Looks disgusting but is delicious

Beduer to Cajarc – 18km

Today was a nice easy walk through undulating terrain in the full hot sun.

Not so much road walking today so that was good.

We arrived at out gite at around 2pm, found our private room, then went into town to find some shoe supports for me. The rest of the day was chilled, not wanting to do too much because of the heat.

While we were cooking dinner at the gite, one of the french girls offered us something resembling cat sick. Of course I refused, but mike tried some and really enjoyed it. Of course I then had to try some and he was right. It was delicious.

After dinner we went for a walk snd saw a bloody llama stopped at the pub.

Figeac to Bedeur – 15 kms

Knowing we only had a short walk today, we took our time having breakfast at the hotel and didn’t get away until 9am.

It was already damn hot, and 32 degrees was forecast.

It was another boring walk today, mostly along roads and the sweltering heat didn’t help things.

We arrived at the campground dripping with sweat, just after 1pm.

The nice lady greeted us with some cold water, then showed us to our mobile home. Then she mentioned the swimming pool.

‘Swimming pool?’ We both said, our eyes lighting up.

‘But we have no togs!’ The despair evident in our voices.

The kind lady said, ‘doesn’t matter, you can go in naked.’

Okay, that’s what Mike wished she said. What she really said was, ‘we have togs you can borrow,’ and she bought out a big box full.

We made sure to keep our underpants on.

So, the afternoon was spent swimming, doing our washing, and drinking beer.

We met a guy who noticed us speaking. ‘You speak English?’ He said.

‘Oui,’ I said. ‘You?’

‘Yes, I am from Germany.’

We got chatting and he is travelling with 15kg on his back and he has taken 1 week to get to where we have taken two weeks. The reason he carries so much is because he is camping. Bugger that.

Then he started talking about the meaning of life and that he is searching for the answer and we decided it was time to leave and cook our dinner.

Mike strapped my right foot (not the sprained one) before we left this morning following the instructions of a youtube video. It helped heaps, so we’ll strap the left one that way tomorrow too.

We saw a horse pulling funny faces.

Chilling by the pool

Our home for the night

Figeac – Rest Day

We stayed in a nice hotel overlooking the river last night. I woke up this morning sprawled across our large comfy bed, not wanting to leave.

Feet complained they were still sore and demanded a rest day. Well, you can’t really argue with Feet. Without them, camino would be impossible.

So rest day is was, and rest is what we did. We spent the morning wandering around Figeac. We visited my sisters b&b to retrieve Susan’s glasses, but they couldn’t find them. They gave us her sticks though, said they didn’t want them cluttering their downstairs area.

As it’s Sunday, all the shops were shut, which was a shame as I need something to keep Feet happy. I’ve realised I need some sort of arch support, to stop Feet pronating.

I might try strapping them tomorrow, see if that stops them complaining. I know it sounds severe, but it’s not really a form of capital punishment, it’s just taping them for support.

We dined at the hotel restaurant again as it’s such a nice setting overlooking the river. Tonight we both had the confit de canard (duck) and again it was so delicious.

When we headed back up to our room, the key card didn’t work. Mike tried rubbing it on his trousers, I tried it on my merino top, we even tried farting on it, but nothing worked.

We’d been locked out of our room!

Anyway, the guy on reception reprogrammed it and it now works. Hope he washed his hands.

Our hotel over looking the river

Mike on our balcony

Decazeville to Figeac – 33kms

It was a hard slog today in 30 degree heat and very little shade.

Today we walked a massive 33 kms, but not by choice. It turned out there were no sleeping places on the way. We knew beforehand that we may have a bit walk ahead of us, but we were also hopeful something would turn up earlier

On the positive side, my feet felt good as we left our gite. My feet are usually well behaved until the 15000 step mark, so when Left Ankle started complaining 8000 steps in, we had to have words.

I told him he had to get his act together as we weren’t even into a fifth of the walk yet. He didn’t listen and continued to complain. I promised a foot massage at the next rest stop. Left Ankle demanded exclusive treatment. I had no choice but to agree.

We walked into a farming village where a bench seat sat in full sun. I kept my end of the bargain and plonked myself down and whipped off my left shoe, totally ignoring the right foot. An old farm dog came and lay at my feet. Left Ankle scoffed a bit at the smell, but was relieved when I started on the promised massage. Right foot remained quiet inside his shoe, not needy like his twin.

After a short break and the much needed massage, left foot decided to cooperate, though not without complaining, for the rest of the day.

It was a crappy walk today. The roads were hard, the sun was hot, and the feet were annoying.

We finally limped into Figeac at 6.30pm, after 10.5 hours walking. We stopped at the first hotel we saw, which happened to be the best western on the river.

I had my much craved confit de canard for dinner and Mike had a huge 300g steak.

Left foot getting exclusive treatment

Le Lot

Looking back on Decazeville

Chilling on our hotel balcony

Conques to Decazeville – 24 kms

It was a big ole hike out of Conques this morning, pretty much straight up for over an hour. Thankfully it was shady for most of the way up.

Once we reached the top, we felt like we were on top of the world, and of course we sang about it.

It was another glorious day of sunshine and brilliant blue skies criss-crossed with jet streams.

The last hour was a struggle as I limped down the hill into the mining town of Decazeville. As Tattoo from fantasy island would say, ‘ze pain, ze pain’

Please don’t ask me what they mine here, I have no idea.

We arrived at the most unusual gite. A single man runs it and our room is similar to student accommodation. There is a sunken double bed, a paper lantern lampshade from the 70s, and an ensuite bathroom with a curtain for a door.

Mike called me a snob for commenting that it wasn’t as nice as our other accommodation.

We were invited to stay for dinner, but were unsure what this middle aged single man had in store for us.

It was rather strange sat around the table with two German blokes and a lady from Austria, not a french walker in sight. This was unusual for us as everyone we have met so far has been French.

Dinner was a surprise. Vegetable soup for starters, followed by a tortilla filled with cheese and ham, with salad on the side. It was so delicious I gobbled it all up.

I thought that was the main course, but then he brought out a specialty of the region. It was a pork and cabbage terrine type thing. Man it was delicious.

Then of course came the cheese board followed by desert. Desert was the most delicious chocolate mousse I have ever eaten. Seriously, this guy should be a chef!

Where are we going tomorrow?

Je ne said pas!

Golinhac to Conques- 22 kms

Another glorious day. We started out at a faster pace today, but that didn’t last long as the day got hotter and hotter.

As we walked along a young guy overtook us. ‘Bonjour,’ he said as he powered along. Even though he was walking fast he had a sense of calm about him. It made me wonder why such a young (and good looking) guy would walk alone.

Then we got discussing whether we could ever do it alone, but both reckoned we’d rather do it with someone if we had the choice.

At 12, we found a shop that was open and bought a baguette and some cheese, and backtracked to a picnic area we saw earlier.

As we were eating, we saw the young guy from earlier, getting water from the fountain. He had a large wooden cross around his neck.

I realised then, that he was doing the walk for religious reasons, like so many are, unlike us.

We walked down a steep hill and arrived in a fairy tale town called Conques.

That evening we dined al fresco on the terrace of our hotel overlooking the cathedral, then we went to church for the organ recital.

A haunting melody echoed about the walls while shadows danced on the ceiling, the audience mesmerised.

‘I know this song,’ I said to Mike.

‘Shhh,’ said Mike.

‘Where do I know this song from?’

Another dirty look from Mike.

‘Aah, they played it at Dave and Kasias wedding in Poland. How cool!’

Mike wasn’t amused.

After the organ recital we went outside to watch a light display. Neither of us understood it.

As we headed back to our hotel we saw the young guy who had overtaken us earlier in the day, but now he was dressed in black robes. He must be a monk.

Estaing to Golinhac – 18 km

Steps: 27719

Oh what a glorious day. The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the trees are growing.

We left Estaing at 8.30am, an early start to try and avoid walking in the heat of the day as 31 degrees was forecast.

It’s one of those days where you feel thankful for the trees and the plants, providing shade from the blistering sun, oxygen for us to breathe, and something to lean on when stretching.

There was a bit of road walking today and my feet are grumpy with me again. My knee, who has been well behaved up until now, has decided to it’s time to have his shot a glory.

It’s been a relaxing couple of days just tootling along at our own pace, keeping our days short, especially in the heat.

We have given up trying to catch my sisters, because, lets face it, we’re never going to catch them. And even if we did, they’d just leave us behind again.

We are staying at the gite they were in two days ago. It’s good getting the inside knowledge of where is good to stay. We have our own room, ensuite, and sheets.

I like to think I’m following in the steps of my fore-sisters, but there are only three, so that play on words is a bit naff.

We met aussie guy again, sweating up the hill walking at a furious pace. We thought he’d be well ahead of us, but turned out he’d had a rest day as Espalion as well.

We had a nice shared meal in tonights gite and the cheese was the best I’ve had yet.

Mike has informed me it’s naked hiking day tomorrow.