Our Moveable Feats

June 17, 2026

Durfort-Lacapelette -> Moissac

We now had an accomplice for our final act, which was one of self-preservation: in exchange for sharing our dinner wine, she’d organize a ride for the three of us to partway along today’s route. With the forecast temp in the mid-30’s, we concluded that discretion was the better part of valour. It also meant that we could sleep in a bit longer!

In any event, our gîte owner drove us to Durfort-Lacapelette, providing a wealth of agricultural insight as we passed fields at breakneck speed (or so it seemed after a week of slow motions).

For the second day in a row, we thought we’d enjoy a ‘pilgrimage a trois‘ but our third elected to wait and stock up when the store opened while we were keen to put miles in before the heat of the day.

The forests got more familiar, with dried mud tracks and coniferous trees. Between these shady parts, there were orchards, with their trees draped in sheer netting – to protect from birds, hail and ironically, the sun!

Churches would figure prominently in todays’ journey, providing (non-holy) water and shade at several stops. One of them was decommissioned in the 1950’s after a local teenager’s visions were decreed ‘non-miraculous’. Our hallucinations were more earthly: just dreams of coolness and comfort.

Later, we crested a high ridge and viewed the wide, shockingly flat Tarn valley, which appeared flooded. As we drew nearer, we saw that the light-coloured valley floor was from vast plantations, and their netted reflections.

We got side-tracked again in suburbia but landed at a new boulangerie where we mustered for the final attack, sur Moissac!

S: Our guide book says you can bypass the long trudge through the outskirts of Moissac a.k.a.”the worst kilometre on the chemin” by taking this high ridge and you get an amazing view!!

T: (after we suffered an unexpected climb and ran a gauntlet of angry dogs): What’s amazing is that he thought anyone would f***ing care!!!

With our bags secured at the incredible pilgrim welcome centre (where we added our name to their world map), we felt a sudden and exquisite release, which required debriefing at the incredible pilgrim bar!

Our questions and burdens remain but there’s reward in the trying, that deeply human ability to voluntarily suffer.

The afternoon was scorching and pilgrims were arriving drenched, withered and fragrant. The coolest place in Moissac was its abbey, providing sanctuary to all since the 8th century. The cloister next door was mind-blowing, its perimeter containing some 80+ columns, each adorned with a unique, intricately carved crest. Monastic life was certainly not boring.

Thus endeth this portion of our chemin journey. We celebrated with a meal of gesiers salad (S) and le burger (finally, for T) in the shadow of the great abbey. Surrounded by french folk of all ages, we said oui to coffees to extend the moment, a delicious feeling of contentment and wistfulness.

Gros bisous à tous!