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.

Espalion to Estaing- 13kms

24227 steps

We left our lovely mobile home feeling a lot fitter than when we arrived. We stopped in town for a quick coffee and were on our way by 10.30am. A late start, but only a short walk today so we didn’t want to arrive too early.

The first part of the walk was a steep and muddy uphill, which of course we did in the heat of the day (30 degrees). We were both thankful for our rest day and we scaled it quite easily.

I managed to walk relatively pain free for most of the day. Even my ankle is feeling a lot better.

At 2.30pm we arrived in a charming little town on the river. Our gite is modern and clean and even has air conditioning in our private room.

We went our for dinner at a little restaurant overlooking the river. The food was amazing. I had steak and Mike had trout.

Espalion – Rest Day

After a hard slog over the last 3 days we decided a rest day was in order. We woke up just after 8am and took a leisurely stroll into town for our morning coffee.

It felt so good not having to do anything and my feet are thanking me for it.

We popped into the chemist for some ligament cream and met the aussie lady we met the day before. She walked into Espalion the easy way, along the river, something I would have done had I known about it. Turns out my sisters knew about this and took the shortcut too!

We’re going to slow our days down from now on. It’s just not enjoyable when you are aching so much.

Our cabin is right beside the river path and we sat eating breakfast watching the walkers wander by. We saw mountain man again from our first night.

It’s been a glorious day, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and I’m having my first wine of the day.

For dinner we had melon and parma salad to start, followed by steak hache, egg, and salad, and chocolate for desert. Yum yum.

Our little house

L’Estrade to Espalion – 20 km

Steps: 44235

My nose is full of snot. I had a sore throat for a few days, now I have snot.

Today we thought we had a short walk, but there were many ups and down. We seemed to climb up and up and up, then down and down and down.

My ankle seems to be hurting more than ever along with the rest of my feet.

We knew the town we would be staying at was on the river Le Lot. So why the hell does the path keep going up?

We arrived in a nice little town called saint-come-d’olt, situated on the river Le Lot. A market was just closing down so we grabbed some olives and nuts and a coffee. We’d have liked to have stayed in this town, but nothing opened until 3pm.

We saw a lady walking down the street with her backpack open. Mike told her about it in his best French, and she turned around and said, ‘I speak English you know.’

Turned out she was a kiwi living in aussie. We got chatting and she’d met my 3 sisters a few days ago. They told her how they’d left me behind and she thought they were real nasty, until she realised I had Mike with me and they hadn’t left me to fend for myself.

We chatted for a bit, then plodded on to the bigger town of Espalion. It was a hard slog up another steep arsed hill. We still couldn’t understand why we had to go so far up to come back down again. Were the pilgrims really that stupid not to carve a path along the river? And was everyone following also stupid, blindly following like sheep, us included.

We met the Aussie dude from Fremantle again. He’s a fast walker so we were surprised when he overtook us again. We figured he’d be long gone.

Anyway, after many ups and many downs, we arrived in the cute town of Espalion. Our feet ached as we trundled into town, taking breaks every few minutes.

A camping ground emerged on our left.

‘Wonder if they have cabins?’ I said to Mike, fond memories conjuring up in my mind from our cycle touring days.

We had planned to find a hotel for two days as our body’s desperately needed a rest, but camping sounded way more relaxing.

The entrance to the camping ground was 50 metres away, but neither of us had the energy to walk that far.

Instead, we collapsed on a park bench and called them on the phone.

Thankfully, they had a free cabin for only 48 euros per night and that included our own toilet, bathroom, two bedrooms and kitchen. So we booked for two nights. Voila.

Our little house for two nights

Big statue overlooking Espalion

Walking into neat town of St Come d’old

Chair without backs so we could sit on them with backpacks