Our Moveable Feats

September 20, 2024

Conques -> Livinhac-le-Haut

Well, they can’t all be winners! After the immersive charm of this past week, the return to normale was not only inevitable, but welcome?

There’s a brutal ‘all-fours’ climb out of Conques, so treacherous that pilgrims would ring a chapel bell to notify the town that they’d made it safely – that was fun!

It was easy-ish going from there, pausing for cafés au lait and a madeleine in yet another picturesque village, Noailhac.

Then it was along a ridge with typical expansive views of patchwork greenery, accompanied by the occasional cow or tractor. We were travelling light today, with both bags being transported onwards. When the skies turned leaden and a spritz of rain caught us, we realized that all our wet-weather gear was in them! The pace quickened.

Our second deviation from the true pilgrim path was boring but helped us avoid the dreaded Decazeville, supposedly a killjoy city of industrial blight. Then back down to our lazy old river friend, the Lot, across the one good bridge, and into Livinhac, which is choc-a-bloc with gîtes and wanderers.

Our gîte is lively with French folks, but not with towels. C’est la vie!