Well if you want a village steeped in history and beauty and HILLS and cobblestones make sure you put Conques on your itinerary. Such an extraordinary place.

We stayed in the abbey, which was lovely. We had a family style dinner with other pilgrims and volunteers. We had soup and fish and quinoa and leftover risotto. At that point I was full. Then came the cheese plate and after that dessert. ughhhh so full!!

Afterwards there was a service which concluded with a blessing of pilgrims. It was really emotionally beautiful. This morning after breakfast and saying goodbye to some pilgrims we walked to the cathedral and lit a candle and left a prayer request for our journey.

We still had a long way to go down and then a long way to go up. The trail was up the side of a mountain with lots of rocks. After about 500 meters straight up we reached the road again. There was more up through the forest. After a healthy discussion Noël went up through the forest and I stayed on the road.

We both played to our strengths. Noël, aka the mountain goat goes up and down steep, rocky inclines/declines with ease and speed. I, on the other hand am an asphalt, flat road girl. I can go up this with ease and speed, also down but don’t enjoy it as much. Funny thing is that I ended up with more distance and height meters than Noël and though his was a “shortcut” I finished faster. I know!!! IT’S NOT A RACE!!! But we always talk about the shortcut, and well sometimes it’s not.

Interestingly we both got photos and experiences we wanted. And the time apart was invigorating because when we reunited we were buzzing with conversations!! As we walked along the road a car came up next to us and slowed down to tell us there was a small path so we didn’t have to walk the road. Noël said yes but it’s only 25 cms/10 inches. After a couple of cars past fast we decided to use it.

We came into Noailhac and found the cafe open. The same woman who had encouraged us to walk the path is the owner. She let us know that the farmers gave the path to the pilgrims that’s super cool!! They were open but not for food. But she would make us sandwiches. Awesome. The sandwiches will last until tomorrow, big sandwiches.

The last bit of the trip was super enjoyable until the last 5 kms. Our feet suddenly hurt. For the last 5 kms we struggled all the way down into Decazeville.

But we made it again.

We had a lovely walk from Golhinac to Conques. Conques is a beautiful medieval town. Incredible!!

We had a lot of ups and downs today. We saw beautiful sights and met some new pilgrims as well as connecting with some we had already met. We also said goodbye to several who were only going as far as Conques.

The bees were buzzing, the butterflies were fluttering, flowers blooming, donkeys braying…we ended up walking in shorts and t shirts today. Oh and we had another dog follow us and we reunited it with its owner. Also saw a muskrat family. It was a great day.

We hope you had one too.

Today as we started out of Espalion we passed by the restaurant where our accommodation host is the head chef. He came out and greeted us and wished us well. That was nice.

We had to take a different path because of the flooding of the Lot River. It took us on asphalt having to dodge traffic, then on to a forest path and straight up. We went up 150 meters/492 feet in 1km/.6 miles. It was tough. But we did it. Bonus was that we got to see a St Jacques Chapel.

We got back on to asphalt and then went to gravel, rocks, up and down, narrow paths, walking through water and rivers, climbing over trees on the path. it was an exciting and challenging day! We walked 28 kms/17 miles and climbed 800 metered/2624 feet.

This got me to thinking about all the paths we find ourselves on…some smooth, some with twists and turns, some roads are a bit bumpy, some that get us stuck in snow or mud where we spin our tires, some where we are walking a fine line…please feel free to add other paths we find ourselves on.

I want to encourage you whatever road you find yourself on to check your strength and resources; if you need to slow down or take a time out do so; if you can keep going, keep going!!! but always be aware of your surroundings and your strength.

There’s something about pilgrim life that changes you. For example sleeping in seems to be non existent. Even when you want to sleep in a bit the body starts getting restless at 5:30, 6:00 am. That’s what happened this morning on our rest day.

We spent the morning repacking and finding items that we could send back home, mostly gifts that we bought. Then head to the post office where we crossed the bridge over the Lot River and noticed it was even higher than yesterday.

Coming back from the post office we found the official camino route goes right by the river and it is closed due to flooding. So we asked a local and when getting our stamp from the Mairie asked again about how to travel tomorrow. Then upon getting back to our lodging we began to plot our route, well Noël did. We think we have it figured out.

We also finally found an open gite. It’s 25 kms away, which could mean more. Our intention was to go to the pilgrim mass at 9 am but reflecting on it we decided that was too late to start with the distance and the climbs we have. So we headed back to the cathedral and went into the chapel of St Jacques and read the pilgrim blessing to each other and lit a few candles.

I had a coaching session, showered, Noël massaged my calves and we will have a quiet, simple dinner of soup and salad.

It’s raining so the conditions might be getting worse.

Oh well tomorrow is another day, another adventure, and another opportunity to adapt, adjust and move forward!!