We skipped Figeac and went straight to La Cassignol which is just to the south and proved to be an excellent decision as the gite we stayed at (the Relais St Jacaues) was the best so far - not counting the abbey at Conques.
Our jovial host greeted the news that we were australians with “Advance […]

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The hills of Conques may be beautiful but they are a real mongrel to climb, this morning was our hardest ascent so far, there was a lovely little chapel half way up the hill - a pilgrim was ringing the bell just as we got near it.
The day was cold wand wet but later that […]

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Conques is stunning, the whole town has been restored (or preserved) in it’s medieval appearance and it was wonderful to walk down the cobble streets with barely a car in sight. We stayed in an 11th century abbey which can hold 95 pîlgrims, when we checked in and said we didn’t have a reservation the […]

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Hids bought some new shoes from the pilgrim shop this morning as the sole had nearly completely fallen off her other ones - there is a shoemaker in town but tomorrow (tuesday) is a public holiday and in france that means you take the week off. Though in fairness he was going to be open […]

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A beautiful sunny day, we took a 2km detour at the end (intended) to view the madonna statue overlooking the city, hard work but worth it - more from the sense of accomplishment than the actual view.
The pilgrim trade is booming in Espallion - the first gite we tried was full and they sent us […]

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A very easy day’s walk, I was late getting up and little sister was most tolerant while waiting.
There was a light fog for most of the day and the other side of the valley was barely visible. In the afternoon we came across a stone hill maybe 30m high with a ruined stone tower on […]

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Somewhere around day 3 to 5 I asked a french pilgrim if he knew any marching songs - his wife rolled her eyes and started to fall behind so I guess he knew a fair few and he was kind enough to teach me one. I forget the french lyrics but the translation was something […]

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We got a little lost on the trail today and ended up detouring through Prinsuejols which added another 3km or so to our journey.
I’m posting this from a tiny pub in nasbinals whose sole customer is a chain smoking farmer who drove in on a tractor, there are french rock videos from the 80s […]

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Nice easy day after yestrerdays push which was pretty much the limit of our strength. Our conditioning is improving however and we recovered quite well this morning. Once we have our water and food for the day we are generally carrying around 13 kg each.
Dinner started out with a beautiful salad but the main was […]

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Big day today, we were absolutely knackered at the end of it and crashed on our beds once we checked into the gite. Meal was absolutely stunning, with mushroom soup, fish, cheese and some sort of pudding - we’re eating as much as we can at every meal but I think i’m still loosing weight.
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