Walking Across Italy

As you read in yesterday’s post, we took a taxi to a different end point in order to find good accommodations. As a result, this morning, we hired the same taxi driver to take us back to yesterday’s end point, the town of Golinhac.

We hiked 13 miles today in just under 5 hours. This was a brisk pace because the sky was threatening rain and we wanted to get to our destination before it poured. The temperature was in the low 50s all day and . This was a big climbing day, the rolling hills of France have now turned into sharp peaks and deep valleys. My Apple watch says that I took over 30,500 steps and climbed the equivalent of 74 flights of stairs. Today, we also passed the 200 km mark. (About 4/5 of our total journey with 2 days left to go.) Not bad for some old guys.

The trail was a bit muddy in places due to the on-and-off showers this week. But, luckily the ground wasn’t slippery.

We had a natural encounter on the trail when Stephen stopped suddenly and gave us a signal to be quiet. There was a pheasant on the trail try to find his way off.

When we made it back to Conque ( pronounced “konk”), I was exhausted. So I took a quick nap standing up against a building. (My father-in-law used to sleep this way at his butcher store when no one was around.)

Conque is a mid-evil town with a large Abbey. Over the abbey entrance is a well preserved timpanum. It told a story about how to get to heaven. The good folks were on the left, and the greedy sinners were on the right. Guess who makes it into the pearly gates?

Given our speedy trip today, we rewarded ourselves with a lunch of gallets and dessert.

With only 2 more days of hiking, we are already starting to talk about next year. Stephen has suggested that we continue on the French camino.

I’m off to dreamland now.

Good night