Man that climb into Lauzerte was⁰ crazy. 400 meters to the top and the village centre. And at the end of a hard day’s walk. But hey we did it and had a cold one to boot. You can see the village in the background at the top of the effin hill. I can’t begin to tell you how one feels when seeing that at the end of the day. But it was rewarded sitting having a cold one in a square that goes back to the 13oo,s,
Ah, a field of sunflowers. God’s personal favourite. I can see why Van Gogh was fascinated by these wonderful flowers. The flowers probably brought him some personal happiness in a life that was one of tragedy and heartbreak.
Hail to the sun. Amazing how they awaken to a new sunny day. But today we are having our 6th straight day of rain. Everything is wet or damp. Ugly. It made walking hard. My high tech, sun reflecting,rain deflecting gizmo has proven to be ìnvaluable.
Made it to Moissac in good time and spirit. Our gite is something else. Eccentricity on steroids. Shades of pink, mauve, purple, and red adorn the walls. The house was built in 1800 and the decor has not changed a bit. The house could have been a model for The Adams Family or the Munsters. I expect to see Lurch jump out at any second. Katie would love this. Our room is very girlish. I don’t mind as it is dry with a warm bed.
Very hard slog today. Stayed in this place last night.
Quaint but full of mosquitos. Eaten alive. It also rained all night. Hard. The pitter patter on the roof lulled me to sleep. It was very comforting. The couple who ran the place referred to themselves as children of the earth. Apparently a magnetic field of positive energy ran through the place but about one foot off the ground. Reassuring but the mosquitos were still there. They were letting the place go for shyte but they did not care. Opposites attract I guess. So the magnetic story goes. Reminded me of the 60s.
Got underway early and it was not raining. We have had 4 days straight with rain. Brutal as everything is damp. But soldier on or sail on as we say. Landscape is changing. Flattening out. That is not to say the hills have gone away. They are not as steep but long and hard. But I can do them as my legs are as hard as stone. It is my cardio that is a problem.
The French are very religious and proud of their history. They lost over a million young men during WW 1. Compare that to Canada where just over 60,000 were killed or missing. In France a whole generation was lost. Women lost a chance of marriage.
They have some weird names for towns here. Today I crossed a town called Montcoq. It is pronounced Mont-cock. I kid you not. We will be coming to another town in a few days that you will not believe the name of. I will not give it away. It will become obvious though. Have a nice day.
Cohors is a beautiful Medieval city. Today it is about 50,000 people. I spent a day here to help Paul and to get a new phone plan. Took a boat tour and a mini train tour of the city. It is like living in a history book. Roman times with its spring waters. 100 years war and Henry the fourth. Pope John the 22nd, old town and the picturesque Lot River
The town is situated in a bowl surrounded by lush green hills and ardent valleys. I know tomorrow I will have to climb out of the valley of Cohor to the plateau above. But that is tomorrow, not today. Today I enjoy my rest.
Started out well with a hard climb but soon leveled out. Then the rain started and that is when my troubles started. Made it to Lomogne in good time and found a nice cafe. Many pilgrims were about and that spells trouble. Sure enough all the Gites were fill. When I tried to find another on my phone,the phone was dead. Really dead. Turns out some moisture got into a hairline crack on the face of it and voila: toast!
So I had to move on to the next town, which was 10 kilometers. I walked 6 and some family picked me up and drove me into a dead town called Vierre. There I found a bed and met the 3 french stooges and Blondin. She let me use her phone to call home and let everyone know that I no longer had communications. By the way the church in Limogne was beautiful and had vety indpirational statues inside. It was vetu emotionsl but reassuring for me given I had lost all my photos, contacts and apps. I shoild be cryinh biy I am not because I have company.
A fabourite of out and Sadie;
04 September:
It may be a tought slog at times but the beauty and culture here make up for it.
All I can say about this trek is that it was wet, very very wet. Went from Vierre to Cahor. 35 kilometers. I had to get to Cahors to address my phone issues. Started out well as the terrain was generally flat. But I had to put up with the French 3 stooges. 2 men and a woman who just would not stop talking or should I say yapping like a duck in heat. Finally I had had enough and I let them get a long way ahead.
I also ran into, or walked into, two Americ gents. One was from Minnisota and the other from Buford South Carolina. Wow. We were just there last March. These guys were lost and going the wrong way. I tried to help them but they were very ill prepared. They has no clue even though they could understand me they would not take my advice. Cest la vie. Hey, I can speak French.
The next part made me very emotional. I covered off 20 kilometers over 4.5 hours. I took a 30 minute break. Then this man appeared. We said hello. He told me he was tired so I told him to rest with me. He was about 40 and was from Paris. He spoke pretty good English. We sat for about 30 minutes and then it began to rain. I asked him if he wanted to walk with me. He said yes so we walked bit very slowly. It was raining bery hard now. I asked him if he can walk faster and he told.me no that he was disabled. Turns out he was born with only one ventrical. Holy shyte I thought. As others passed us by I thought that in this weather I must stay with him so I did. It took us 5 hours to cover the last 10 kilometers. Got into Cahors at 6pm. But I felt good about it considering this guy was walking by himself without any company. His name was Paul so you know I could not leave him. Saint Paul I thought!
