Tuesday, September 30, 2014

The last few days.....

Yesterday (Monday) morning we ate breakfast in Lascabanes with some of the other pilgrims, and we were all optimistic about the weather, as it had rained overnight but seemed to be finished. We set off at 8AM, and it was quite beautiful climbing out of Lascabanes, and looking back to see the little church steeple in the village. While walking I was noticing the slugs on the trail, and thinking that we hadn't seen snails for quite awhile (this is what you think about when walking!). Just after that we came upon some bushes that were covered with a variety of snails, all different colors and sizes. We spent about ten minutes taking photos of them! Other pilgrims breezed by and didn't even see them. We also enjoyed watching a lovely black horse galloping around his corral, and acting really playful. His owner was walking by, and he was reacting to her. We suspect he is a racehorse, as he was magnificent, and the ranch had high security gates, etc.

Gite in Lascabanes - early morning
View of Lascabanes as we left
The town of Montcuq was our rest stop, and even though it was Monday, there was a cafe open, and more importantly, a boulangerie! After a hot chocolate and some pizza, plus two quiches in the backpack for lunch, we headed out to do the last 7 km to Montlauzun, our destination for the night. The countryside was beautiful, a patchwork of fields, some corn, some grapes. We passed through a farmyard with a little table that had an urn of coffee on it for pilgrims. We have seen several of those in our travels here, and it's always very touching! The village of Montlauzun is visible from a distance, as it has a church steeple on top of a hill, so we knew we would be climbing at the end. When we got to the top we found our Chambre d'hôtes, the church, and the town hall, and that was it! We sat on a bench near the church and ate our lunch, and were joined by a German pilgrim who had stayed at our gite the night before. He was hoping to have a beer, but no luck! After visiting with us he carried on to the next town.

The place we are staying at is called Ancien Presbytere, run by a British couple, who are very friendly and are pilgrims themselves. It is a converted abbey, very close to the church, and has a tremendous view of the countryside. The building itself is very stately, and beautifully built, with walls about a metre thick. Our room was on the second floor, with a wonderful view, and our own bathroom across the hall. This is the Chambre d'hôtes section, but they also have beds upstairs in a dormitory, that is the gite section. Last night we ate dinner with another pilgrim, a French lady, and we had cantelope and thinly shaved ham for the appetizer, then roast duck confit, green beans and roasted potatoes for the main course, and apple tart for dessert. A nice red wine accompanied it.

View from our window in Montlauzun
Today, Tuesday, we woke up to rain and fog......I will finish this post later when we have wifi.

Later....what a morning! We put off leaving until 9:30am, hoping the rain would ease off. No luck, it absolutely poured, and before long we were mucking about on muddy slippery paths- the muck sticks to your boots like glue, which is not terrific, as your feet feel like lead! One part of the path soon after leaving Montlauzun, had ropes tied to the bushes to grab onto and hoist yourself up the hill! Thankfully we didn't need them. By the time we arrived in Lauzerte for a break, we were ready for it. No sooner had we gotten a table and we were joined by our Aussie friends that we had met in Cahors- they had cheated this morning and had taken a taxi for part of the walk, to escape the rain. She has a broken wrist, so they had a good excuse. They were staying in Lauzerte for the night, but we'll see them again in Moissac tomorrow.

Leaving Lauzerte
Lauzerte from a distance
Building for??
St. Sernin Church, on the way to Durfort-Lacapelette
We bought a clump of these grapes- really good!
We had to get some food in Lauzerte, and ended up having omelettes in a restaurant, but the service was so slow that we were there for about two hours by the time we finished eating. It made for a really long day, as we arrived at our gite in Dufort-Lacapelette at 4:45 pm. That is late for us! I am making pasta for supper, as there is nowhere to eat in this town, so should be fun. Russ has poured the wine, which was an important part of the meal :)

Photos are attached....we didn't take many today, due to the rain.

 

1 comment:

  1. It was the path after Lascabanes until just before Montcuq that I remember finding excruciatingly muddy. It was so hard to lift my feet that I thought I would never ever reach the day's destination. But I don't remember suffering with the mud quite so badly anywhere after Montcuq, so it must have been a dry night there when I walked.

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