33 km, sunny with clouds, 20°
Small Adjustments
When we arrived at our accommodation last night, an older house, our elderly host showed us a booklet that indicated two restaurants would be open. We looked the first one up and it was definitely closed. Ie., shut down permanently. We even tried phoning and a French recording said the number was no longer in service. So we went to the next option and Google Maps indicated that it would be open. So we pulled on our wet gear because it was raining outside and we walked across town to the one and only restaurant that was suppose to be open in the whole city. We arrived to find a sign in the window, as follows;
We had seen a kebab take away shop on our way over and decided to go there to get something and hopefully a beer to take back to our room. It was still pretty wet out. On the way back to the kebab shop we found a pizza place that only catered to take away.
We discovered that it got a wonderful rating on Google maps so we decided that this would be much better than a take away kebab. We went in and were greeted by the young owner who as it happened spoke a little English.
He was a really nice guy, and he tried to help us with our pizza selection, particularly encouraging us to buy a pizza that would be extremely unique to this area. It was his own creation with black garlic. We thanked him for his suggestion and ordered two other pizzas, but he insisted that he make one of his special pizzas for us so that we could taste just how good it was. No charge! After a really pleasant discussion, we took our various pizzas and two nice bottles of beer back to our kind of odd accommodation.
I thought that both pizzas were very good, though Annemarie was a little less excited about the special pizza. The pizzas were not huge so we were able to make a good dent in them.
Last night we made a decision concerning Annemarie’s blisters and her walking today. We decided that she would take the train and travel to another town, have a visit there and then catch a train and meet me here at Sainte-Foy. We had planned a 27 km stage with a stay at a winery that’s also a refuge. However, with our change of plan we cancelled that reservation and booked a place about 6 km further on at Sainte-Foy.
While Annemarie got herself up and organized for her own adventures, I slipped out the door just after 7:30. Last night I again plotted a road route that also kept me on the prescribed chemin much of the day. I did start off on the highway because our pizza guy last night told me that the traffic wouldn’t be too heavy. He did, however, warn me that the traffic on that road typically travelled at very high speeds. He was spot on.
I knew Annemarie was very disappointed to not be joining me and I was aware that during the night her head went to some of the various ‘what if’ options that we might consider. As I left and started walking up the highway, I must admit that I was concerned about her. Then she sent me a text telling me that she’d had a fun adventure getting a stamp in her credential.
No longer concerned about Annemarie. I found my flow again and settled into a beautiful walk following loads of small backcountry roads and once again on the chemin.
Walking in the sun
Flowing with peace along trails
A joy to behold
I passed this property that had a no trespassing sign on the gate. I wondered why anyone would want to enter. There were frogs and tadpoles and small fish swimming around right beside where I was standing. Perhaps there was a lake here that had flooded with all the rain?
A couple of observations from today’s stage. Vineyards started to show up in ever increasing numbers. There was considerably more wild boar sign along the sides of the roads. After my experience last year in Italy, I was kind of looking forward to seeing more of them, but that wasn’t to happen today. The route signage for the chemin was better on this stage, at least I thought it was. There were no little cafés or stores in any of the villages I walk through. Annemarie would’ve been distressed!
I met three other pilgrims today, each with interesting stories. The first was the fellow in the next photo. He started this past January walking from Paris. He made it as far as Logronio on the Camino Francis before turning around in disgust at the number of pilgrims and their general behaviour. He was an experienced walker and he had all his camping gear with him. Hence the big pack. We stopped for at least 15 minutes to discuss world affairs and other things. He told me that he takes six months off every five years to go on an adventure of some sort. He claims to have travelled much of the world, and he couldn’t wait until retirement to start these adventures. In my head I wondered why he stared in mid January when it’s so damn cold and snowy, and what took him so long to get to Spain? Clearly there have been some long stops along the way, and there’s more to this story than I was able to glean during our short conversation. He seemed like a nice guy, and we shook hands and went our separate directions.
The next two pilgrims I met were a nice couple who told me that they lived just 30 km from Vezelay. They too have their camping gear with them and they told me that they had been walking for 27 days. During that time they had only camped six times because of all the rain. The guy spoke pretty good English because he had worked for a couple years in Seattle. His wife’s knee seemed pretty messed up and they weren’t moving along very well. When I met them, they were looking for a place to pull off and have lunch, but everywhere they tried the ground was wet and muddy. Big surprise.🙄
And more.
And more again!
And then I dropped out of the hills, down to the Dordogne River valley where I passed through the town of Fleix which has been situated on the river for centuries and a centre of trade for just as long. Ships would depart from here carrying wine (of course), wood and cannons while spices and salt would arrive. The arriving ships would be towed up the river using horses large ropes.
This river is also very high.
You can see the loading docs in front of the town which I understand were built in their present form during Napoleons time. The town looks almost like it must’ve looked way back in the day.
After I cross the bridge, the walk into town was about 5 km along a fairly busy road, but not too busy.
Annemarie and I had been texting all day and she walked out about a kilometre to meet me as I came into town, which was nice.
Were their flowers today? Of course!
Sainte-Foy is a beautiful mediaeval town with lots of the old building still in place. However, I’m not gonna show you any of those until tomorrow’s post because it’s late here and I’ve already made this post too long!😅
I did enjoy a very large beer when I arrived today. It was perfect.
Bon Chemin!
Geoff☀️🍻 
Distance Walker - Wandering & Wondering! 