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!
No pics today as we’re were in a cloud all morning. No rain but super high humidity. I had to change my tee 3 times. I am now relaxing with a good friend of mine.
It hit 34 today. 10 days straight with 30 plus temps and super high humidity. Good time to cover some things:
It has been a tough slog…every day brings a new challenge,
Scenery is beautiful. One day you are on a natural high and the next, in absolute physical torture. At the start of the day? Major hill to climb. At the end of the day? Another major hill to climb. I should be dead. Heaven only knows why I am not.
80 percent of the Pilgrims are women.
Lots of pretend pilgrims. They book all the gites. That pisses me off. Sometimes you do not know where or if you are going to sleep. It always works out though.
There is nothing existential about doing the Camino…any Camino. It is just a walk and a great way to lose weight bai.
Very crowded now and getting expensive.
A tube of toothpaste cost 10 dollars Cdn.
Don’t try to order pizza here. It just doesn’t work
Burgers are fantastic. Steak is tough as a nail. French beer sucks. Always order German or Belgian beer. Delicious and refreshing. Water here is bland and semi tepid. You need it but it is not refreshing.
Have covered almost 300 kilometers now. Older French people are rude and extremely hostile to foreigners. Younger French people are super friendly and I have made many girlfriends. They like me because I am an old fart.
I take it one day at a time. You cannot think of the days after the present otherwise you will go nuts.
A couple just passed me. The man was walking about 10 paces in front of his woman. I figure that they have been married 20 years!
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.
