Thirty Minutes

Canal Lateral de Garonne - Serignac (3/5)

Last night we moored against the bank near Pommevic, and had a lovely dinner on the deck. This morning J and I are up early to cycle into Pommevic to get bread. 

The sun is just rising

and we head off.  No bread though, as once again the baker has had a better offer elsewhere and the boulangerie has a For Lease sign on it.  I head back to the boat and J goes onwards to Valence to the boulangerie there (it's only about 3km down the path).

All is quiet back on the boat, as everyone is still in bed

But its lovely and tranquil on the river.  J comes back with bread and after breakfast (using up leftovers!) we head back to Valence d'Agenais.  Some of us have to use the wi-fi at the hotel where we had dinner a few nights ago, and others want to use the showers at the public abbatoir wash-house.

This lovely building has been completely transformed from its former use.

I think the transformation is fairly recent because it's so clean and fresh.  Inside, the processing area has been transformed into a picnic area. 

though you can still see the hooks and weighing machines. There is a kitchen off to the left of this room, with sinks, stoves and microwaves.  A door to the right leads to the toilets and showers.  Another room off here has hammocks and a mattress, though a sign warns that you can't sleep here overnight.  Anyway, it's a great place for a free shower in a clean location. It is opened each morning at 8am and closed at night at 7.30pm.

After we have showered and the business-minded amongst us have caught up with the outside world, it's back down the canal towards Agen.  We want to take a look at the town because we missed it on our first pass up the canal, on account of the rain.  And the men are cooking tonight and they want to go shopping to buy - steaks!

It's a really warm day again, sunshine everywhere, and rather hot.  J has to put lots of sunblock on as he's getting a burned nose. I'm developing quite a tan.

I don't think I've mentioned that Valence is a site of one of France's many nuclear reactors - over 85% of France's power is nuclear - and we pass one as we leave.  I liked this juxtaposition of old and new together...

A lock filling with water

Oh, I haven't explained how we solved the problem of landing someone before the lock!  Now that we are heading down-canal it isn't a problem, as we just sail into the open lock and someone steps off onto the lockside and does the ropes, pushes the button to open the gates, etc.  But when we were going up-river, it was a problem trying to land someone on the small concrete platform directly in front of the lock gates.

Well, we had noticed that there were wooden platforms for temporary mooring if one has to wait at a lock for it to be ready for an incoming boat.  We had seen other boats using these when more than one boat was ready, and had done so ourselves - and it was then that we had the bright idea (doh!!) of coming in close enough to drop the person off and let them walk the 200 metres to the lock ready for the ropes.  If the boat was waiting outside the lock for it to be ready, they actually have plenty of time to saunter along to the lock and point out all the things the captain is doing wrong to get in.

Here's one..  in this photo we are on the other side of the canal to the dock, but if you were on the correct side you'd land the person, then slowly motor on up to the yellow stick, which is the handle you twist to alert the lock that you are coming, twist it and hover as you wait for the signal lights to change.

The lights are red before you get there, red and orange flashing to let you know the lock has received your signal, red and green when it is preparing to take you in (releasing water and / or opening the lock gates) and green when you can motor on in.

Anyway, it's **much** easier to come alongside the dock, which is about 2 boat lengths long, and slow down enough for someone to jump off, than to try and do it on a 1foot square of concrete as you are trying to manoeuvre into the lock!  (I think we discovered this on Tuesday, so at least we had a day or 2 to try it!)

Anyway, we come into Agen, and our first task it to buy tickets for the train trip from Marmande to Bordeaux.  We'll be taking this train after we turn in the boat at Le Mas d'Agenais.  J and I do that, then we head off into town to explore.

Agen has a pretty church

 

and of course we go in for a look.  The walls are painted here too, as is the ceiling!

and there is a wonderful organ and choir stalls on the east wall (which is a little strange as usually the choir stalls are in the precept)

but maybe because there's so much decoration in the precept there's no room for choir stalls ;-)

We leave the church and go looking for ice cream, as its so hot, but have to settle for perrier and mint.  Agen has a lovely shopping precinct, closed to traffic, and a great bookstore, and lots of food shops. The boys are able to buy their supplies and we all meet back on the boat at 2.30 ready to head down to Serignac for the night.

Remember that the canal at Agen runs in a large acquaduct, in order to cross the Garonne?  Well this time it was good weather so lots of photos!

Coming towards the acquaduct

Crossing the Garonne in the acquaduct

the lock that waits for us at the other end.  It is green, as we have the right of way at the moment - a boat in the acquaduct must exit before anyone else can enter.

Now we go back through the 4-lock system known as Le Passage

in beautiful sunny weather - unlike last time!!

We come into Serignac once again, but cannot moor on the side with power (there are only 5 berths there and we are a bit late arriving), so we moor against the opposite bank. We can easily get into town as there is a bridge across the canal.

The men prepare dinner, while we ladies sip rose and champagne (early Ozzie Mother's Day!).  And what a feast it is - fillet steaks wrapped in lardo, red wine and muchroom sauce, salad, baked potatoes, and to finish up a tarte tatin that they bought in Agen.  A wonderful end to a lovely day.

A calm and tranquil evening at rest in Serignac

 

 

 

Canal Lateral de Garonne - Along the canal (2/5)

Valence d'Agenais has a public abbatoir which has been turned into a free washhouse.  The local council have cleaned it up and provided free showers and toilets, a well equipped kitchen, hammocks and beds for resting, though you can't stay overnight, and picnic areas.  It's all in the most fabulous condition!  We availed ourselves of hot showers this morning before we left for Moissac.

Again a beautiful day - this rumour about spring arriving on the first of May must be true!

The canal here is absolutely beautiful, trees alongside and every now and then a country estate or a small village. So relaxing and tranquil.  We've decided to come back and moor somewhere along the bank when we leave Moissac.

We are travelling longside a railway line, and every now and then the TGV or an Intercity goes by.  We will make sure we moor well away from this part of the canal tonight!

The canal is parallel with the Garonne river - they will meet at Moissac, where the Tarn river also meets the Garonne - and from there it is possible to lock down onto the Tarn river.  In this photo you can see the bridge across the Garonne in the background.

We come into Moissac.  A really interesting thing is that the canal goes through the town!! This is really surprising, because the canal is not very old and the town is.  I can only surmise that there was a river running through the town and the canal builders incorporated it into the canal, because the town certainly has not grown up around the canal!

The canal through the town is rather narrow, one boat only, though at a pinch one could hug the wall and pass another - though not if it was a full size barge like the one ahead of us!  There is a swing-bridge to pass up to the basin, and a human lockkeeper stops the pedestrians when the bridge is going to open.

Moissac is a really lovely town.  We met a lady from Brisbane here - she and her husband have been living on a boat for about 18 months, going along the canals.  They have been in Moissac for 10 days but love it so much they are staying another week.  She says the canal is such a social life, full of Canadians and Brits and Aussies and New Zealanders all living on boats and travelling around!

We go into the town to explore.  We only have about 2 hours here as we have to get back closer to Valence - it is already Wednesday and the boat has to be back at le Mas by 9am Saturday.

There is an amazingly lovely church here

but despite the lovely door and tympanum, one actually enters around the left corner.

Inside the whole church is painted

and here is our friend again

this view is looking up at the ceiling and the first floor gallery

We leave the church as we are going to see the cloisters. These are reputed to be the most beautiful cloisters in the world, and they are certainly lovely.

Each of the pillars has a different carving on each side.  Amazingly beautiful!

One corner of the cloisters has a spiral stairway up to the gallery we saw in the church - this is a 10th C bell tower, of which the first floor was the only one completed.  Up we go!

We are in the vaulted roof space where the bell used to hang

hard to believe those blocks of stone were carved in the 10thC, isn't it?  Those old masons sure knew a bit about smoothing stone!

From here we can look down into the church (apologies for the poor quality - there was a perspex wall between me and the church)

Back we go into the cloisters

and another round of photos of the capitals.  Then we left the church to find the others and do some shopping.

J and I decide to go to see the Tarn river and the locking system. It is a huge river, bigger than the Garonne at this point

 

and on the right hand side of the photo you can just see the little lock that a boat would use to pass the weir on the river.

But to get onto (or off) the river you must use the double locks from the canal basin

It was time to leave Moissac so we motored down the canal towards the swing bridge

and through.

Another quiet and tranquil journey through the warm afternoon.  As we are now going down the river we have the locks in our favour, and usually just have to wait for the gates to open and motor on in.  Going upriver we had to wait for the locks to empty before we could go in.

 

We find the special spot we are looking for

and moor against the bank for the night.

We eat on deck, a wonderful feast of white and green asparagus with hollandaise sauce and poached eggs, all made downstairs in the galley kitchen, followed by roquefort salad with walnuts and spinach leaves with a hazelnut oil dressing.  Wonderful!! Couldn't eat better in a michelin-starred restaurant!

A last photo of the evening

and off to bed.

Canal Lateral de Garonne - Valence d'Agenais (1/5)

We were advised by Phil, the base manager at le Mas d'Agenais, to get to Valence by Monday night because Tuesday 1 May is a public holiday in France ( indeed, in most of Europe!) and the locks are closed all day.  To ensure there is no traffic on the canals and rivers the lockkeepers turn off the electricity so the locks don't work at all.

The other reason was that Valence has a market day on Tuesday.  And what a market it is!!! Be prepared... ;-))

We woke to a deep morning mist

which dissipated soon and the early birds amongst us (me!!) were soon off to the market in town.  It was held in the old market square opposite the restaurant and it was in full swing as I came up the hill at 7.30am!

It was a fantastic market, with loads and loads of fresh produce,

bread,

fresh and cured meats,

olives,

cheese, fish,

and not just one or two, but at least 7 people selling white and green asparagus, about 10 lettuce sellers, fresh yoghurt, 2 huge fish vans, 5 or 6 cheese sellers, 2 very large bread stalls, on and on.  So much food, and so many stalls, and this is set up every Tuesday.  And all sold. Specialty teas, vanilla, coffee, dried fruit, pre-pared food - everything one could think of in the food line. It really illustrates the depth length and breadth that food plays in French culture.  Here, we think we are foodies but in reality it's just a few dilettantes at one end of the spectrum.  In France food is embedded in the culture, and really fresh food where the producer is known, has always played a tremendous part.

We went up an alley and found a whole new part of the market!!

Umbrellas

vanilla products

Clothes, kitchenware, and huge paella dishes of food - mussels, paella, chicken and vegetables with couscous, potatoes with cream and bacon

we bought some for lunch and had it back on the boat - scrumptious!!

Because there is no traffic on the canal we had to stay where we were for the day and night.  A lady came from the Harbour authority and re-set our power box so we could get power, and we borrowed a water connection from and englishwoman a few boats up so we could replenish our water supply.

We called Phil at the base and he advised that the River Baise was still closed to traffic so we should stay on the canal and go up to Moissac.

After our market lunch we set off to the old town of Auvillar, about 6kms away across the Garonne.  4 of us walked and the other 3 took bicycles. One stayed aboard to read and rest ;-)

It was a beautiful sunny day and just right for walking

the road we walked along

the product of this area - this is the new crop everywhere - plums.  Agen is the great prune capital of France, and you have to grow plums to get prunes

it is interesting to see how they are trained - they are espaliered and grow on wire frames like vines.  I guess this makes it easier for them to be picked by a machine.

Auvillar is one of the oldest villages in France, as well as being one of 'Les plus belles villages de France'.  It is set high on a hill above the Garonne and the views from the walls are spectacular (we crossed this bridge to get here, and climbed this hill!)

It has a lovely grain hall,

where villagers would bring their grain to be weighed and threshed and stored. Each of the areas between the pillars is marked for a different type of grain - maise, wheat, barley, oats etc

It has a lovely church some of which is really old

and some old houses and other buildings. 

Inside the church is a statue of our old friend St James, as Auvillar is on the GR 65, the Chemin St Jacques (it goes to Moissac from here).

On the terrace above the walls we had the best ice-cream ever, from a tiny tea shop. It was very hot!!

I cycled back to the boat with P&F, leaving G to accompany the other walkers.

Dinner that night was a veal blanquette with salad and lots of wine! And a fabulous cheese plate from the market!

 

Canal Lateral de Garonne - Valence d'Agenais (30/4)

The day starts off cool, so C and I decide to walk the 9kms to the next lock.This is quite an overgrown section of the canal, which is quite unusual.  The trees and bushes grow out low over the water and it is as if one sails down a green tunnel.

We are on the tarmac path which runs beside the canal. 

It begins to rain very soon, and we arrive at the boat, about one and a half hours later, very wet indeed.  The boat has entered the 4 lock system (Le Passage) before the aqueduct at Agen,

so we are in time to help the boat through the locks, see earlier entry for the trouble we are having. No need to land anyone as C and I run between the locks (as we are already dripping wet) and are able to get the ropes from those on board.

The aqueduct at Agen is very long (perhaps you can see it in the centre of the above photo) because it is built to cross the Garonne, which is a very big river.  We come close and move away from this river most of our time on the canal. And don't worry, when we come back down river it is a glorious day so there are many more photos of this interesting feature to come ;-)

We take lessons from another boat going through the lock with us, and, reading the Aquitaine waterways guide, we see that boats going up river should hold in the lock at the back to avoid the wash from the incoming water, whereas boats going down should hold at the front to avoid the outrush when the water leaves the lock.  Great news, and this certainly helps our lock experiences. (This solves problem 2 if you have been counting.)

We glide along the aquaduct

and into port at Agen.  It is so wet that we stay indoors, all we want is shore power so we can put on the heaters, change into dry clothes and warm up (and dry the wet ones!).  P & F head off into town to find bread (our daily chore!) and the rest of us eat soup and warm up.

2 hours later we leave Agen and head up the canal towards Valence. It is wet on and off for the rest of the day, and we are hanging out for May 1, when we are told the rain will stop and spring will come.  Roll on tomorrow!!

We moor at Valence, next to some English people, but have no power as for some reason the power box isn't working.  We put in a call to the Harbour authority and are told they will come tomorrow to look at it.  A lovely dinner on shore at a hotel the 'She'll be right'  - La Tout Va Bien ( actually 'everything is fine') where we have 3 very traditional local - Aveyron - courses each, including wine, for about 20 euro each.  Then back to the cold boat and snuggle up into bed.  Winter PJ's!!!

 

Canal Lateral de Garonne - Serignac (29/4)

I am up early and the day is lovely and clear.


We manage to leave the mooring by 8.30 and head to Buzet where there are a couple of good restaurants and a big co-operative where the locals pool their wines for sale.

The canal is superb.  In many ways it is lovelier than the Midi Canal, as there are more trees on both sides and the pastoral scenes are just exquisite.


There are dark clouds ahead, but for the moment it is clear. 

We are having a bit of trouble at the locks - we are going up the river so we have to pull the handle to let the lock know we are there, it empties of water, we manoeuvre towards the concrete platform just before the lock so someone can jump off and catch the ropes thrown up from the boat.  If we miss the small patform then there is backing and filling (thank heavens for bow thrusters) to get at the right distance to allow the person to jump onto the platform.

Red, green and yellow flashing lights let us know when we can advance or not.

The other problem we have is that we are holding at the front of the lock as it fills with water, and the thrust and movement of the water pushes the boat so strongly that the men are having trouble holding the boat still.

(We do learn to solve both problems - landing someone and holding the boat against the water, in a day or so - after we lose the bow thrusters!)

The weather is really lovely, clear and sunny.  I go a little overboard (sorry!!) and take about 1000 photos of the tranquillity.  Here we are leaving a lock

calm water

some traffic

beautiful canal

We get to Buzet

and the wine co-operative is closed on Sundays.  The two recommended restaurants are full, so we go back to the harbour and find a little cafe run by an English couple where we have salads and rose.  The sun has been out for some time and it is very warm. (BTW, picture of the year here!!)

Off we go again, and finally get to Serignac-sur-Garonne, where we moor for the night with help from some Frenchmen.  We go up into the village as it begins to rain, but everything is shut.  The epicerie will open at 7.30 in the morning so we can get bread then.

Serignac is an old town,


and strangely enough, the church here has a twisted spire!! We walked 100kms to see the last one, and here is another on our doorstep!!

(I looked up French Wikipedia to learn more about these.  There are about 100 in Europe, of which 66 are in France.  Some say that they are built this way as an architectural show-off, others that they became this way when the wood on which they were constructed twisted as it was improperly dried.  The latter theory is dimissed as the twist is mathematically the same on the one tower.  Nowadays it is a test given to apprentice carpenters in France to build a twisted tower.)

Evening on the canal

Note the grain silo.  We saw a lot of these down the canal, which was built in 1849, so it is relatively new.  The silos appear to be unused these days, and the main crop we saw - if any - was rapeseed. It shows the reduction in agriculture in this part of the country.

Dinner is a great stew of chickpeas and vegetables, thanks to Catherine, and lots of wine.  Then to bed.  Offshore power again tonight, charge up the laptops, the ipads, the iphones, the androids, the camera batteries - and the heaters!!

 

Canal Lateral de Garonne - Le Mas d'Agenais

Today we packed up our bags in Conques and went out for a last few photos...

the church again - see the grey glass windows

and the town

then we got into our taxi which was going to take us to Le Mas d'Agenais, about 287kms from Conques. It seemed the easiest way as otherwise there were 3 train changes and a taxi at the other end.  Herding 8 people around has a likeness to cats....

We played the game Spotto in the car, and I am sure the taxi driver (it is a people mover with 6 in the back and 3 in the front, plus all our luggage!) was laughing at our antics.  We stopped at a supermarket and had quite a big shop ready for the boat.

It was raining by the time we reached the base, and our boat would not be ready for an hour.  We had a picnic inside the base, then headed off into town for fresh bread and milk and some last minute purchases.

Le Mas is a pretty little town, and while we are waiting for the shops to re-open after lunch we go into the local church

which has a Goya painting.


There is also a lovely Lavoir (an old communal washhouse) in the village


We have a coffee at a cafe with a very friendly owner.  He lets us taste some wine of the area and we buy 3 roses and 3 reds to take with us on the boat.

Then we head back to the base and get our boat.  M and I talk to Phil, the New Zealand base manager, and the others take the boat down to a lock and back as the practice run.

Then we all hop on board and head off down the canal.  At the moment the Baise River is closed because of the rain, and Phil the base manager advises us to head down the canal to Valence d'Agenais for Monday night, and call him on Tuesday when he will update us on the state of the river.  One has to go to Buzet-sur-Baise in order to lock down onto the river from the canal, and that's not too far from Valence d'Agenais.

We are wet and cold, and the boat heater running off the engine doesn't work.  They have left two heaters on the boat for our use but they only work on shore power.  We call Phil who advises us to pull into a restaurant mooring at Lagruere which has power, and we do so.  We plug in the heaters and the sun comes out!! 

Lovely dinner of coq au vin - thanks Mim!! Then to bed on the canal, plugged in to shore power, nice and warm!!

A free day in Conques

A whole day in Conques!!

J and I are straight off to the wash-house before breakfast, to get our washing into the machine. After breakfast we spend a little time on the internet and facebook, then we are out to explore and shop, while the others do their washing too.

C had found a fabulous umbrella shop so we are there buying umbrellas first thing. Handbags, wallets, jewellery, then it is time for lunch in the same place we have been doing our washing!!

Roast chicken, salads, onion soup, and a fabulous dip for bread made of garlic, tomatoes, oil, cumin, onions, parsley and coriander and a little vinegar.

More photos of lovely Conques...

And the abbey church

Hopefully you can see the interesting stained glass windows in the abbey church - they are panels of grey glass.  Apparently they are supposed to gleam when the sun strikes them, but we did not see that ourselves.

The town of Conques was a walled city, and there are some old gates into the city. Here is the Porte du Barry

The Porte de Fer with its gable shaped lintel and iron gate

The old walls

We go into the Abbey, and see our old friend St James.  There has been one of these in almost every church we visited, though the one in Saint-Marcel was recently stolen

but are unable to get up onto the first floor, as the stairs have just been barred


We visit the Treasury, where the gold and jewel encrusted statue of St Foy is kept behind glass.  There are old peices of tapestry, and many jewelled reliquaries and prayer-book covers here as well. The Treasury is housed in the cloisters

The other side of the cloisters


We walk down the steep stairs to the bottom of town


and up into the Chapelle of Ste Roche.  This is closed, but has the most spectacular views back to the town.

We cross over the Roman Bridge


then go back into the town up the steep paths.

Back home for a bath (!!!) then into our glad rags as we are dining at Herve Busset's restaurant, at his hotel le Moulin de Cambelong. It has one Michelin star. (I've just read several reviews on TripAdvisor to make sure of my facts re the star, and the general opinion is that this is a restaurant around which a hotel grew up. I'd concur.)

It is a beautiful building on the river, with a terrace on the river's edge

and a herb garden the length of the walk into the restaurant.  HB's philosophy is : Local produce, amazing wild or garden grown aromatic herbs, all put together in a delicate way to make the ingredient the star of the show, and not the chef himself.

We order champagne and have our aperitifs on the terrace, as the weather is clear if not sunny.

Fromage Frais with herbs


Carrot bavarois with fried soursade (??) and cheese sables

We were then ushered into a beautiful room with a table set for 8 over a billiard table, so it was a large room and a large table.

Lovely paintings on the walls, as there is an exhibition of poppy paintings whose theme is ephemerality. 

The menu echoes the beauty of these and uses many herbs in all courses. The table is beautifully laid with large glass plates and a unique tiny glass in front of each place.

We go exploring and find some hidden lounges and waiting rooms


Back for the first course (we have requested a 3 course dinner but in the end we will have 7 courses!)
Oh no, it's not the first course, it's another appetiser.  This time it is garden vegetables with beetroot drops, a vegetable aspic, and basil powder.


First course is a poached egg with asparagus


then comes another palate teaser, a nettle soup served in a large spoon shaped bowl, and the tiny glasses, which were taken away at the start of the meal, are returned with nettle powder, into which cold sake was poured.  One drank the soup then knocked back the sake chaser. Very clever.


The second course was lamb with gnocchi.  It was superb, beautifully cooked and flavoured.  The gnocchi were two sorts - plain and beetroot. A fine slice of pastry was laid across the lamb. This was my favourite of all the courses.


Two of our party had elected to have vegetarian food, and so far all the courses had been the same.  At this course, they had the same gnocchi but with asparagus, a carrot puree and balls of deep fried crumbed aligot.  Very tasty.


For the cheese course we were served wafer thin slices of a very old vintage Tomme,the local cheese and the same one which is used to make Aligot.  It was an enormous round


and the slices were very thin.  It was very like an aged Grana Padana. No bread is served with cheese in France, though there's usually some left from dinner that you can use.


For dessert we had all chosen something different from the extensive dessert menu.  Mine was a molten chocolate pudding with a melissa (lemon balm) sauce

but here is a selection of the others..

Next came coffee and petit fours - the black macaroons are in fact lemon flavoured - a real taste surprise, and the white slice was a delicate nougat.

The whole experience took aboout 4 hours, and we went into the kitchen to thank the chef.  He turned out to be quite young, about 30, so there are many years ahead of him to earn the extra Michelin stars he seems so keen to get.  The place is a member of the Chateax de France group.

We staggered back up the steep streets to our hotel and collapsed into bed.

Tomorrow we leave for le Mas d'Agenais and the boat!!

 

 

Conques

A not too early rising at Espeyrac, as we only have 13kms to go on this our last day of the walk.  We are dragging the chain a little as we don't really want to finish.

I am so surprised that even after the -for me- long day's walk, I am raring to go and the feet are holding up fabulously.

We leave after breakfast, and a last walk around the town.  We don't buy bread at the hotel (where there is a *great* selection) because the town of Senergues has a baker.  It is only 3.5km away so we will get food for a picnic there and either eat at the picnic shelter outside town or walk on to a nice section of the path.

There is a lovely old church here in Espeyrac so we duck in for a visit.

then a great shot of the town as we leave

The weather is fine and the path to Senergues is lovely


and it is indeed a pretty little town, with 3 public toilets!!! (You can tell how much this means to us!! The Way is very badly served in this regard, though we did find one in Golinhac yesterday.  There are also very few camping/travel shops, and the 3 that we did find (2 in Espalion) didn't sell waterproof gloves.  The danish walker we met in St Come says that the Way is much better set up for walkers in Spain, and that France offers relatively few amenities and services for the walkers. We've been told that the people who live along the way don't like the Pelerins either, and this is probably just more of the French reluctance to embrace new things.)

Photos of Senergues....

One interesting thing about the church in Senergues is the modern stained glass windows.  It is interesting in a country where there is a state religion, and where the people are reluctant - as a whole - to change, to find old churches with very modern stained glass.  They are lovely, and certainly not the first we have seen - the church in Aumont-Aubrac was similarly adorned, as is the Abbey in Conques as we shall see when we get there.

It turns out that the baker in Sernergues has moved on to greener pastures and the boulangerie is up for sale, so we should have bought bread at Espeyrac!! We find some loaves at the supermarket, and get some more cheese.  There's a lovely charcuterie there so we get some pate campagne.  We leave the town and find the picnic spot, well set up with another toilet (4th one!!!) and drinking water, tables and chairs under shelter. This is the best, and only the 2nd, we ever found on the walk.  But it's far too early for lunch so on we go.

Onwards....more mud,


a lovely wooded path


and back on the road along the ridgeline.  Beautiful views across the countryside yet again.


Picnic time!!!


Back on the road, and through Saint-Marcel, where we again stop the see the church (we are pilgrims, after all!!) Lovely little town.

The next big adventure is that JR has an encounter with a donkey.  We stop to feed the donkey half of an apple we have with us, and after taking the half from John's flat hand, it goes for his fingers as a second snack.  P whacks it on the nose to make it let go, and then I have to feed it the second half for the photo opportunity!!!


Back on the ridgeline again, and we see eagles or falcons hanging on the wind.  Although you probably can'tsee it, there is one in this photo.


We are above Conques, although we can't see it, but these hills hold it.  I don't know why the earth appears to have been burned, the postcards that we will see later show these hillsides as green and lush.

Following the signs we turn onto the pilgrm path into Conques, which is only about 5 kms away.

It is deep, dry and walled to start with,


then becomes muddy and steep.

and we are rather glad when it is over.

In pilgrim fashion, I picked up a rock at Nasbinals, where I began my walk, and leave it now on the pilgrim cross at Conques.


Here is our victory photo arriving in Conques.


Conques is a lovely town, deserving of its place as one of the most beautiful villages in France.


The streets are cobbled, and it's easier to walk in the centre of the road because of the flatter draining stones.

There's a wonderful abbey here,


as this was one of the pilgrim centres for penitents sent on the pilgrimage as atonement for their part in the Albigensien heresy (that the Roman Catholic church was corrupt and venal.  The people of the Langedoc decided that they wanted no part of it.  The Pope  thus declared a crusade against them, and when he offered centuries off Purgatory and all the titles they conquered as their own, mercenaries like Simon de Montfort answered the call and decimated many towns in the Languedoc with unnecessary violence and bloody butchery.  The lords and leaders of the Languedoc and Provence were stripped of their lands and ordered to go on pilgrimage to Campostella in Spain.  Conques, Figeac and Rocamadour are some of the big abbey towns that they had to  visit on the way, usually on their knees).

The abbey also provides food and shelter to pilgrims - this is the building behind the church with the purple window frames

and it has a famous tympanum above the main doors

There is a blessing of the pilgrims in the square in front of the church each morning and evening.

We meet up with the other 2 in our party, who have been touring the Loire and enjoying wine tastings in Burgundy while we struggled through the sleet and snow and 2 star hotels.  A get together over a cup of tea and we are off exploring this lovely town.

In the photo above the path on the right leads down into the square in front of the church.

Dinner in the hotel restaurant - this is another of the Logis de France, so the food is regional and very good. Salmon brandade, sausages and aligot, cheese plate and dessert.  One could get very used to this.

At 9.30 each night the organ is played and the inside of the church is lit up in a sort of 'son et lumiere' show. It is pretty spectacular sitting in the cold church at night listening to the organist play pop songs while various galleries and arches are lit up in sequence

After that, it is time for a sleep.  We have a whole day in this town tomorrow, as we don't leave until Saturday for le Mas d'Agenais and the boat.

 

Markers on the Way of St James - the French Camino

The GR 65 (Grande Randonee 65) is the official name of the Chemin de St Jacques de Campostelle, or the Way of St James of Campostella.  The GR 65 is a 736km route from Le Puy en Valee, passing through Conques, Figeac, Cahors, Moissac and other towns until it reaches the border town of St Jean Pied de Port, where it joins with the usual Spanish route going across Spain to Campostella.

The route is marked with red and white markers, which can appear on rocks

on signposts

fenceposts

houses

trees

bridges

 

trees

walls (here shown with the yellow GR 6 Tours de Montes route, as at this point they share the same route)

and here the marker is saying that this route is correct for the GR65 but this is not the way for the GR6 any longer

trees again

and again

The NO marker, ie don't go this way, is shown as the red and white lines crossed

and it usually occurs when there are 2 paths close together, one of which is the Chemin st Jacques and the other is not.

The GO RIGHT HERE marker is shown like this (here it is on a garbage bin)

and the GO LEFT HERE marker is similar

Except in the snow, they were pretty easy to spot.  Always at the beginning of the correct path, and usually on the next tree or two, they are quite visible.

 

 

 

Espeyrac

We made an early start from Estaing, even though I went out at 7am to take photos. 

The church

the bridge we came in by, and the houses on the other side of the river

We were on the road by 8.30, because we had a long way to go.

It's not raining, but we have our wet weather pants on as we expect it willl later on. We want to get the first 16km under our belt before we stop - this will be at Golinhac - so that we only have 8km to go to reach Espeyrac.

We walk a lot on the road today, instead of forest paths, which is hard on the feet but quick going.  There are many switchbacks on the road, but there is no rain!!!   The chemin has lots of switchbacks which cut off the corners of the road, but are very very steep. See the red and white sign telling us to take the left hand fork:

The path is a welcome release as it is easier on the feet, and we walk through some lovely pine forests.

The sound of the wind in the pines is lovely, as is the scent of pine resin.

We must be quite high because there are many varieties of pine and spruce. It has been quite windy and the wind picks up so that it is so strong it is pushing us on the road.  When we get below a hill side we feel the instant peace.

The sun comes out occasionally, which is lovely, and the path is very good indeed, not very much mud at all, and none of that red stuff!!

The roads and paths we are walking are called the GR65, the Grande Randonee 65.  It is also known as the Chemin St Jacques de Campostelle.  There are signs - occasionally!! - to let us know where we are going

but all the route has the small red and white markings that indicate the GR 65, the pilgrim way.  I've made a separate post explaining these, but you can see the marking on the signpost as well as on the telegraph pole on the right.

The wind increases as we walk, and as we are at times walking along the ridgeline, we can really feel it. Inside the spruce forests the trees are swaying very strongly and the sound is amazing, a great susurrus of wind in the branches.

We reach Golinhac, 16kms on from Estaing, in just 4 hours, which is a cracking pace, and stop for lunch in the town square, which has lovely views over the valley. It has a nice church, which we visit.



Then back onto the path, and it is muddy at times now, a multi-purpose path shared with the stream.




We come down the hill and though we can see the village within cooee, we are directed (by the pilgrim sign!) onto a path which leads around the hill.  Oh so close!! And we have already walked about 24kms, surely!

but finally, across a lovely stream and bridge, we come into Espeyrac

We arrive just before 4.30, so have done the 24kms in about 8 hours with an hour for lunch.



This is a small town of ony 251 people, and we are staying in the only hotel, although there is a Gite d'Etape.  This is a communal sleeping space, ánd there has been one in most towns on the route. The hotel is pretty basic, the rooms are small and we are very cold and don't seem to be able to warm up.  This could be because we are physically tired - certainly so in my case, but the others are really fit so it is more likely to be a cold hotel!! We all shower, get into warm clothes and have a rest under the extra blankets.  Dinner is not bad - soup and roast pork and a cheese plate or dessert.

Into bed as we are tired from the long walk.  Tomorrow is our last day.