With a weather forecast suggesting low 40s we resolved to catch a bus to Cajarc. Clearly this sort of heat required a bus, air con and a pool. (And maybe a cocktail). With buses and trains already planned for the transfer to Cahors and on to Bergerac why not chill a bit for another scorching…

So today my foot was particularly painful- henceforth I removed as much weight as possible to send on to our next stop. This time we had agreed on a hotel with air conditioning (and a pool of course) in the large village of Figeac – home to the Rosetta Stone (or at least a copy…

It was a beautiful morning to start. I would even suggest it was quite mild. The clouds had rolled in across the valley below and the country looked almost green which was a welcome change from the last two weeks. We knew we were in for a hot day again and noted a river pool…

So I did mention we thought we had dodged a bullet by catching a bus up and out of Conques?. That may well be true – but there was one rather large bullet to come. Zebra from Najera had warned me. i thought it would be short and sharp. But she was right! heading out…

Well my pickup from Estaing was unusual as I had a chauffeur prive! A private driver who spoke very little English which complemented my very little French! This was a longer drive than previously through some challenging walking terrain. It wasn’t strictly mountainous but it wasn’t far off for the pilgrims I occasionally spotted panting…

Well it was still getting unbelievably hot so I was on full transfer to Estaing today. I started the day walking around st Come for a few last minute snaps and a coffee before waiting patiently outside the pharmacy for the bus. Years ago I’m sure the post office or the bank would be the…

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…

Well this day started well with me walking to the main road intersection to wait for the bus to catch forward to Nasbinals before walking about 10km for the day. Madame F was also going to catch the same bus so we would meet again for the day. I met a couple of nice people…

Well my Achilles was still not happy so I decided to bus forward again to limit the pain and still enjoy the chemin. Madame F also decided to participate due to numerous issues with feet including blisters and pain. And surprisingly our other Fromargerie friend with the sore knee was also heading forward to give…

Well today started well with a very quick bus ride To Le Estrets. It was still very hot and we needed to cut the kilometres in order to actually survive the day! We met up with another of our Fromargerie compatriots who was suffering from significant knee pain. In fact swelling was quite obvious so…

Well after all that up up up yesterday I wanted to sit down down down! As luck would have it one of my fromargerie friends had some difficulties walking and wanted to catch a bus to the next town and fix her feet. So we walked a few kilometres from Sauvauge to catch a bus….

Well I had grand plans today and left the comfort of the Gite to a grand farewell from both Jesus and Marie (yes you read that right) – In fact Marie even ran up the stairs to kiss me goodbye. Whilst I felt much better after a two night stay I was not able to…

So there are two ways to look at this. One is I may have missed out on a great challenge for the start of this Camino, or, the second way is that I may actually get to continue and even enjoy this visit to France. We will all have plenty of challenges in life so…

Well I’m sure I have said this already but it was hot, really hot , too flipping hot. I attended the pilgrimage mass and headed back to my accommodation to partake in the breakfast and take a leisurely stroll through the town. I had actually planned to take a taxi the first few kilometres because,…