Category: A Very Short Story

Walked by this place late afternoon yesterday. It was so stinking hot and humid that when I saw it I had to book it. It is a camping site on the Lot River. It turned out to be a huge mistake because it was run by a couple who were totally incompetent.

They were Muslim and she wore the whole chabang (I don’t know what they call it). She was the cook as they advertised a restaurant that opened at 7pm. Did not matter as she didn’t know how to cook or prepare dinner. I found out the hard way. Yup, I ordered a peperoni pizza but she had no clue even though it was a menu item. She had to call her husband many times for help. I am sure that there must be a fire warning standing over a hot stove with all those robes on. After an hour I asked for my pizza. She shrugged and yelled for her husband.  Turns out she had not even started preparing it. I lost it and left for the town center,which turned out good as they were having a fête.

Good food and beer and a live band who were excellent. Got back to the camp and it started raining. The cabin they gave me leaked. I was about to go postal.

It rained all day today. Everything is wet. On top of that the humidity is through the roof. I avoided going into the hills as much as I could. Luckily it wasn’t cold. Reached my destination in 7 hours – 25 kilometers.

Moral of this story? Don’t order pizza in France. On final issue. The Muslim couple played middle eastern rap very loud and until 11pm. I was pissed but as Katie would say: hmmmn. Johnnie. hmmmmn.

September 1st? Unreal

 

Conque is considered one of the top 5 best medieval villages in France. It is built on the side of a hill but at converse such that it is situated in a bowl. Conque means a bowl in Latin. It is quaint for certain but you better be in good shape to live here.

Conque is anchored by the Abbaye to St Foy. St Foy was a simple but religious 12 year old girl who was martyred for refusing idol worship. The Abbaye was founded in the same year that the remains of St James were found in Spain, around 8-900 CE.  St Foy Abbaye became an important Pilgrimage site as a stopover on the route to the Camino to Santiago in Spain  It’s tympanum is considered to be a masterpiece.

The walk out of Conque was a brutal climb. Almost 1 kilometers in length. It was rough. At the top one found oneself to be walking on a ridge. The countryside was spectacular – in all directions. Beauty in the early morning light and mist. You could almost cry in seeing nature in all of God’s glory. I was overcome with emotion. At the same time it was tough as the temperature and humidity were increasing dramatically. By 930 I was soaked in perspiration.

Arrived at a campsite in Livinhac. It is situated on the Lot River and it has a pool. I am here relaxing and chilling in this 33C heat.

 

 

 

 

It was a mistake staying in Espayrac. Absolutely nothing to do there. Just an old church that had seen better days. It did have a small epicure, which is a small grocery store. It was well stocked with very small cans of ice cold Heineken. And the 300 pound owner took a fancy to me. Adele had a 400 pound son. I 🤔 but I can’t be sure that they had been eating into the inventory.

They told us that the meal that night would be pizza from a pizza chip wagon. I ordered  chorizo and after an hour wait  nothing. I went up to the pizza guy and asked. Where is my 🍕.  He told me I would have to wait 45 more minutes. Mon dieu I said and he said tabernac so I said adieu to you too and left without my pizza. Adele felt sorry for me and gave me a free Heineken. Bless here heart. We exchanged emails (not).

I left at 730. It was cool with a slight breeze but I knew it was going up to 33 today. Luckily I only had 12 klicks to do. As usual the video was half right. We had a 1.5 hour climb, then a 2 kilometer descent over very bad ground. It is frustrating because the bad ground slows you down to a crawl. It took me 45 minutes to cover 1.5 kilometers.

In Conque now having my Pierre d,eau. my Orangina followed by a cold glass of beer. I started talking to Lisa from Toulouse. She like me she said and asked if she could give me a kiss when she left..I said sure thing. She said I was a nice man. I probably reminded here of here grand pere. I felt flattered.

 

Lisa

D’Estaing is a beautiful village.

It has its perks too. 90 degree 🥵 and an outside swimming pool. I could not resist.

The video shows just how lush and beautiful the countryside is, when the terrain is OK. Of course the video was shot in the fog and lower temperatures – low 80s. Today it was 92 and tomorrow 95. I will take the bus tomorrow because I will not walk in the hills when it hits 90. Likewise with the bad terrain I will not go into the hills when it is raining.

This village has a large Chateau that was owned by the D’Estaign family. They were aristocrat’s, which was not a good thing back in the 1790s. This D’Estaing guy had a thing for Maria Antoinette. When she went on trial D’Estaing stood up for her. Of course Maria lost her head and D’Estaing followed soon after to Madame Guillotine. Brutal back then. Those were not to good ole 😕 days.

The village was also the birthplace and home of Valery Giscard d’Estaing, the President of France from 1974 until 1981. Interesting stuff.

My gite last night. A converted church. Best one so far on this trip.

Interesting thing about this walk is that the majority of pilgrims are women. Very few men. Why I don’t walk in the heat? Yesterday two women had to be rescued due to heat exhaustion 😩 . Another one of my girlfriends sprained her ankle on the terrible terrain. Her Camino is over. Sucks bigly. Here is one for Katie:

Johnnie…out.

 

 

Let me tell you about my gite in St Come. Beautiful little village with the crooked church bell tower. The gite was family run. It was French wokenèss essentially on steroids. It was in an old building with narrow staircases and small rooms. Each room had 6 bunk beds. 25 pilgrims and only one toilet and one shower. It was everyman or woman for themselves. Like I said those walking sticks are not just for walking. It turns out that the hosts are Vegans so all pilgrims have to comply. The male host could speak good English so he explained to me each and every ingredient in the salad. Then we had to sing a song dedicated to Europe, Charlamagne and the Camino. Then the main course came. Orange colored goulash with whatever ingredients. Again the host explained to me in great detail all the ingredients. Then I turned to me left and saw this great big boob. The host’s nephew’s wife was breastfeeding. I bet the baby’s main course was a tad better than mine. Wow. And I dared ask if there was viande in the meal. We’ll, you would have thought the devil himself had shown up. Mon died Monsieur. Viande? Sacre blue.

Then the male host gave us a 40 minute sermon about St Jacques and the Camino. 40 minutes of my life that I will never get back. The only escape for me was to fiegn diarrhea and high tail it out of there. Shit. It worked. I escaped but I flushed the only toilet many times. I know I lied.

Lover’s lane. Ah to be with the one you love here.

The trek was short but the last 10 kilometers were brutal in 32 C heat. I stopped for a break on the shade by the side of the road. I was exhausted and so, so hot. A couple stopped for me and gave me a lift over the last 1.5 kilometers. I almost cried with their charity. That is the spirit of the Camino. Total strangers reaching out for one another. Then I met Vincent and Natalie, Gregor and Clair. They are all part of the Camino family. Here now in Estaing. They have a public swimming pool so I am going to go swimming. Read ya tomorrow From Esperac. Cheers.

To prove I am really here.

Happy Anniversary Dottie.

Having been associated with the sea almost all of my life, I thought of this. A very young Rod Stewart.

 

John…out.