Day 11- ConquesLast night at Le Soulier we experienced the most wonderful of nights with our hosts Michael and Vivian. They had Vivian’s mother from Belgium and her friend (Christine) with them, the mother is nameless as she insisted we call her Mum. The friend volunteering was Jasmine and her young son 8, was Max. Jasmine is an actress in Brussels and also lectures at the University in drama, Max… would,
like to be a cowboy. We had several shoot outs. After dinner we sat around the table singing the pilgrim song Ultreia. "Tous les matins nous prenons le chemin, Tous les matins nous allons plus loin. Jour apres jour, St Jacques nous appelle C’est la voix de Compostelle. Ultreia! Ultreia! E sus eia Deus adjuva nos! " There are more verses; naturally. This morning a good sleep was followed by an equally delightful breakfast which started around 7 and resulted in us not leaving until 9am; despite our best attempts each day to be on the road by 7:30. As eventually we headed down the road they sang us Ultreia until we were out of sight. (In France so far the choice of road is either down or up) The pilgrim refuge is called Accueil Chretien du Soulie de Saint Jacques. It is situated on the GR65 2km before Espeyrac. Or 1km after the intersection of the GR65 and the GR6. Now out of the Central Massif for the past couple of days, the weather has turned into summer. The forecast is for more days like this. Should this continue Europe is in for a scorcher of a summer. I am glad we am not walking the Camino Frances in August. Hopefully by October when some of our friends start it may be more mild. We have advised Ce who starts later in April to bring plenty of sunblock for Spain. We have added three more names to our prayer list: Betty Anderson, Kelvin Quill and Frank Burgess (recently deceased). Should you wish a name to be added email me on [email protected] We have changed our walking strategy a little, using the roads when it seems purposeless to go up some of the hills of the GR65. The way the GR65 wanders around is a common source of complaint and we are not the only pilgrims avoiding completely unnecessary hills. Enda is always looking for short cuts and frequently would select the incorrect path if left to her own devices. I do think she is starting to appreciate the fundamental camino lesson of “Don’t walk on your own Enda”. We are in the Abbey St Foy in Conques tonight. We are back in the deep gorge of the river Lot. Yesterday we waked away from it over some hills but today it is once again our friend. Tomorrow morning that status may change with a climb of 280m to start before breakfast has time to digest. There is no easy way tomorrow, a day of only 20km (sounds easy) but is graded as one of the 3 toughest days of this camino.
1 Comment
ED Marsh
9/4/2017 07:43:46 am
I am with you Enda, I think looking for short cuts a good Idea.
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