Actually started the day in Golinhac, but since I had walked the distance to Espeyrac the afternoon before, I had a taxi pick me up at 8:00am and drop me back in Espeyrac, saving me 2 hours of walking. Today’s walk had yet another pernicious influence, with extreme wind gusts. At one point a branch fell in front of me, luckily not close enough for injury. In any case, not a particularly scenic day, but some good uphill to a plateau, then a long downhill into Conques. Conques is almost a fantasy of a medieval village, with cars largely kept out, stone streets and, of course, barely any of the businesses open. Found some familiar fellow pilgrims and went to the 11:45am mass, then a salad at one seemed to be the only restaurant open in town. It was a creperie, but didn’t have galletes, the buckwheat savory crepes that are GF. (Imagine how pissed I was when I walked by later in the afternoon and everyone was eating galletes! I called the owner on it and he gave me some BS about the kitchen etc…..somethings in France I will never understand.). My assigned hotel didn’t have my reservation, but they did have space and a quick text to Walk the Camino had it fixed in short order. I got a very cool corner room.

Anyway, today was day 11 of walking many miles everyday while carrying a too heavy pack. I’m grateful that I had nothing other than the usual aches, pains and stiffness one would expect. No blisters! I’m also happy to call it good for this trip, with approximately 206km/128 miles of walking in the last 11 days! (Not barefoot, but uphill in the snow for sure!). Tomorrow I will take an expensive taxi ride to the nearest train station and take 2 trains to Perigeux, the capital city of the Dordogne. This is an area famous for truffles and Foie Gras, should be interesting!

I would like to complement Walk the Camino, the company in Scotland that made all of my reservations and arrangements. They did a good job, and were always available by WhatsApp. Thank you Tracy, Caroline and Christine. If you want an adventure like this have a look at their offerings: https://walkthecamino.com/

Today was the first day of sunny, beautiful weather, and wow what a difference it makes. It was chilly this morning as I crossed the bridge out of Estaing just before 8:00am. The first hour or so followed a closed of road alongside the lot river, before a steep climb up above. The scheduled walk to Golinhac where my reservations are for the night meant that I arrived at the hotel around 11:30am. After a quick salad and a look around, I decided I really didn’t want to sit around all afternoon. Tomorrow was scheduled for a really long stage, so, I found a taxi and walked an additional 8km to Espeyrac, then got picked up and returned to Golinhac. Tomorrow I’ll have the taxi drop me back and that will cut 2+ hours of walking off my day! Everyone says that Conques is amazing, so hopefully I’ll get there around noon for lunch and have the afternoon to explore. Tomorrow is the last full day of walking. This area is beautiful and bucolic, and temperatures today are in the 60s!

Had a pleasant quiet night in the Couvent, and abbey or monastery that has been converted to a hotel. Very quiet, a simple but good dinner. Was out the door just before 8:00am and walking through Saint Come. Although in total there was not much net change in altitude, there was quite a lot of up and down today. Weather, although forecast for rain, gave me a break and was actually quite pleasant. Basically a long walk through lovely countryside. Of course when I arrived around 2:30pm in Estaing, the hotel had a sign saying it would not open till 4:00pm, no restaurant would serve me because it was after 2:00pm. Luckily, the grocery store was open. So, today was the ninth day in a row of walking and definitely the easiest weather wise. It is interesting that after nine days of solid walking I still find it a challenge, lots of up and down, mud, rocks etc. Navigation is pretty straight forward, well signed and I have the Wise Pilgrim app to consult if I feel that I might be off trail. Somehow my pack is still heavier than 20lbs even though I’m having a bag transported. Walk the Camino, the company that made my reservations has done a great job and is very responsive to WhatsApp texts. My 3 different French Sims all seem to work, with Orange having the overall best coverage. Other pilgrims have been pleasant to meet, no other Americans encountered yet. Hard to believe only two more days to Conques where I end this round. I will plan to come back and walk another section, probably in the fall.

Last night’s hotel in St. Chely was a lovely 3 star run by a husband and wife who clearly enjoyed it. He enjoys cooking and dinner was simple but good. Set off in the rain again at around 8:30am and after about an hour of uphill climb the rain stopped and it got very nice. Temperatures today remained in the 40s and it was the first day of the trip that I didn’t see any kind of snow. Today started at an altitude of 810m (2,660’) and ended up at 360m (1,180’). So warmer temps and more evidence of spring in the lower altitudes. As the weather improved, caught nice glimpses across the valley of fields and houses. Was able to take a lot more photos today with the weather more agreeable. I’m staying in an abbey that has been turned into a hotel, but it is 1km from town. Of course reception was closed when I arrived, so I ditched my pack and walked into town for lunch. The town has this interesting church with a twisted steeple, and is really cute, but dead as a door nail. Finally found a place for burger, that literally closed the moment some fellow pilgrims and I walked out the door. Ended up sitting with 4 ladies from Paris who are walking a few days and seem to have a good rapport.

Unfortunately, the forecast for this morning ended up being pretty accurate. Left out of Nasbinals a little after 8:00am in rain and fog. From here it was a climb over 9km to Aubrac,with nothing in between. Seemed to be mainly cow pastures, although I really couldn’t see much of anything between the fog and the rain. It also started blowing rather substantially with gust around 25kts. Luckily my rain gear worked well, but, there is no way you can be out in this kind of weather without various things getting wet, including your boots and socks. Fortunately at Aubrac there was something open for a cup of well needed hot tea. After recuperating for about 45 minutes I headed back out into the weather, through the little town and down the road, it started blowing again, and I decided that I’d had enough, went in to a restaurant and asked if there were a taxi, which didn’t go anywhere, but a local heard the request and offered to drive me the 8km to Saint Chely. That worked well as I arrived wet and bedraggled but in time for a late lunch. After which they put the rush on prepping my room and, now have various items spread on the radiators drying and boots stuffed with newspaper. Definitely one of the more unpleasant days on the camino, especially the wind. At one point it even hailed for awhile. Ugh…. Tomorrow is supposed to rain again, but from here I think altitude goes down rather than up, which makes a big difference not only to temperature but the amount of effort expended in walking. Sorry not many photos it was too wet to stop and try to take out the phone.

Had a fine communal dinner last night the Gite, mainly potatoes and cheese and sausages, more or less exactly what was for lunch. Decided that 26km was going to be too much of a walk especially since rain was forecast for the afternoon. So, managed to get a taxi to drop me 10km down the trail, which worked out well. Still had a solid 4 hours of walking with lots of ups and downs and still snow on the ground in places. Got to the hotel, and same name but wrong hotel. Turns out there are three hotels with variations of the Bastide name in town, luckily I’m at the most central one. Suitcase hasn’t shown up yet, but pretty sure it will at some point. Excellent lunch at the hotel with more cheese and potatoes. Neighboring table shared their Gigondas with me.

Today’s walk was relatively short compared to the last few days, and it was the first day that didn’t involve trudging through snow. It was also the first fully sunny day. It was still very brisk this morning with temperatures in the low 20s and lots of frost and ice on the ground. This area has low rolling hills and so there’s lots of up and down, but generally not of hugely long duration. Last night’s hotel ended up being really nice, very simple faux wood floor room with view of the cathedral, comfortable bed, it all worked.

Ok, I’m going to rant a little about French villages. It is apparent that Zombies have attacked the French countryside, as you’ll find that most French villages are pretty vacant, as in, you won’t see a single living person. This means usually no cafe, bar, hotel, grocery or anything. Next you have the mildly populated ones that have some or all of these things. Most of which are closed, either it’s between noon and 5:00pm, its Tuesday, it’s not “the season” or they just don’t feel up to opening. This seems to be a universal problem in France as I caught part of a newscast this morning decrying the lack of even a single cafe in most French villages. Even in places like Paris, coffee shops are often closed until afternoon on Sundays and don’t open until after 10:00am in some cases. Any veteran of travel to/from or in France will tell you to do your best to avoid traveling on Sundays. For some reason, nothing works, and god forbid you have a flight out of CDG on Sunday, you’ll be very luck to make it to the plane not matter how early you are. There will only be one person stamping passports, and it may take a few hours for your turn. (If you don’t believe me on this, go ahead and try it!)

So what is causing the demise of the French village? I have a theory: I believe that French inheritance laws are to blame. For those unfamiliar, French law specifies that all of the children get a share of the real estate equally and cannot be disinherited. Now imagine, a family with a village house that is left to 3 siblings, but then one of those siblings passes away and now his share is owned by his 3 children. Now you’ve go 5 owners, no one wants to take responsibility or put any money in, so the house gets boarded up and forgotten about. I’m guessing at some point it will be seized for back taxes, but it will deteriorate since none of the five owners will want to put any money in, then if one of the other owners passes, his 3 children get his share, now you’ve got 7 owners…. You get the picture.

Today was the first day since I’ve been in France with some blue sky. The morning was the now usual walk through lots of snow and beautiful frozen forests, by afternoon things had warmed up to a pleasant 50 degrees or so. Long walk today, but arrived around 2:30pm only to find that my hotel doesn’t open till 5:00pm and almost nothing else in the whole town is open either. Found a salad for lunch, and now at abandoned terrace near my hotel waiting for them to open.

Today was a really long day. Started out with the gite proprietor swearing up and down that all roads and trails were blocked an impassable. He had taken this line the night before adding a bit about pilgrims having to be rescued, but he claimed the road I walked in on was impassable and it was quite nice. I chose to ignore his advice and with the exception of a small bypass, and some sections of deep snow everything was just fine. Monistrol is a depressing little town set in a sink hole and the Gite I was at was just acceptable. Luckily friends were at a different one in town and we got together for a glass there. Anyway, the morning started with major snowy climb out of the sinkhole. This lasted about an hour and then things leveled off a bit. It was a solid 12km, or about 3 hours to Sauges, where I buttonholed a local on the street for a lunch suggestion. Ended up at a little restaurant that didn’t have much choice but was very friendly and packed with locals. Adequate gizzard salad. Then on the road for another 4 hours of walking finally arriving just before 5:00at the Gite, Les Deux Pelerins

Well it seemed to snow off and on all night, and forecast temperatures were even lower for today. But, a few other pilgrims and I decided to head out of Montbonnet to the at least the first major stop, St. Privat. That turned out to be largely a pleasure as it was mostly in protected forest, about 6 inches or so of snow on the ground, but protected from the wind. There were some exposed parts, and they were pretty chilly. I found that the hose to my water bladder had frozen. A stop in St. Privat for some tea got things warmed up and then it was onward to Monistrol. Locals explained that the trail had too much snow pack, and we were told to avoid a downhill section that is particularly treacherous even in summer. So we ended up with about 6 of us walking down the road, but very little traffic and still beautiful. Here are pictures from today.