Well I’m limiting my posts to keep you all up to date at this stage. I have been managing the heat well by limiting the walking! Yet I am still managing to view some of the most beautiful places in France! Before leaving today however the wild man from Byron passed by Le Colonie just as we were leaving – a fortuitous event! Madame F was heading back to Paris today and I was jumping forward again to make the eventual rendezvous in Conques!

It was also time to say goodbye to the Mermaids from the Ecologique pool in Saugues. All in all it was a morning of farewells!

Today the bus dropped me and my pack at the entry to St Come which is a lovely village set on the lot River at a much lower altitude that the Aubrac Plateau. Therefore it was getting even hotter!

I visited the tourist office and was directed out of town to a picnic area the other side of the river. There I could swim and eat my fruit and cheese and, of course, my pastries whilst awaiting for the Gite to open.

As luck would have it another smart young French lady from the North who I had been constantly bumping into, stopped to say hello and practice English while I practised french. We had a nice picnic and exchanged stories and contacts before she headed off to the next village.

I did have a quick swim in the river to cool off but was traumatised by none other than a river monster! I kid you not it was a trout not much shy of a metre in length! No-one else in the river seemed bothered by it but I had watched river monsters far too many times to take any chances. That was it for me – I did not enjoy the paid experience of having fish nibble my toes so I was not overly keen to have a giant trout tickle my tootsies!

I wandered back up the hill through the gorgeous village and marvelled at the architecture and finally located my accommodation complete with swimming pool where my aching legs could relax in peace!

It’s hard work this walking business!