Walking Across Italy

Today is the last day of our hike on the French Camino. We hiked 15.8 miles (33,000 steps) in 5.5 hours today, bringing our cumulative trip total to over 150 miles. The temperature was cool today, averaging 47 degrees. And the sky was cloudy for most of the day. Luckily, the trail was long but only moderately difficult, climbing only 35 flights of stairs today. However, there was a lot of walking on asphalt. (Not my favorite surface.)

We started the day leaving the town of Livinhac, after spending the night in a cold chateaux that had seen better days.

There was a chill in the air, as we hiked the through the rolling hills. Stephen complained that he did not have time for his second cup of coffee this morning, so we knew we needed to find something fast. (While normally jovial, Sir Squire can get a bit testy when there is less than a full caffeine fill-up.)

Sure enough, there was a small cafe which served Nespresso coffee and homemade sandwiches and salads. The boys ordered sandwiches and I opted for the salad with lettuce, cheese, ham, tiny tomatoes, and the sourest cornichon pickles. (Little bits of total pucker power!) Of course they gave me a hard time because I was going to eat salad for lunch. “That is not a manly meal”. “It is too cold to eat salad.” But I countered by telling them that my pants were a lot looser than when we started 12 days ago. (That shut them up.)

We had our lunch an hour later, sitting on some picnic tables outside an old church. The church had a small stone carving over the door, which I couldn’t make out, so Stephen explained to me.

And I quote, “It’s Adam and Eve! (You idiot) See, he has a beard. She has a breast. they are covering their privates with a fig leaves. And there’s a snake in the middle wrapped around an apple tree.” (Little did I know that my colleague and friend for over 30 years had such a talent for ancient art interpretation.)

The last 5 miles of our journey were mostly downhill and filled with interesting sights. For example, french farmers wrap their bales of hay in black or dark green plastic to preserve it for the winter. But we came upon a field where the bales were wrapped in pink plastic. (It reminded me of that Bulgarian artist Cristo who liked to wrap building in fabric or plastic and call it art.)

We also saw some signs of autumn, even though it was still September.

Finally, we reached the outskirts of Figeac, the city at the end of our journey. I suggested that we take a picture next to the sign, but JP said it was not “pretty enough” for his social media followers. I agreed to take another picture later, but here is the official end point.

We found our way through the town and found our hotel. Yes, it was a hotel this time. A very nice one too. Stephen rewarded our determination and drive by booking a 3.5-star hotel (slippers, but no bath robe).

Since it was only 2:30, our rooms were not ready, so we found a local cafe to have a celebratory drink. (This is how I’m getting my calories this week.) The cafe had outdoor tables, so they provided blankets given the low temperature.

That evening, we took another end of trip photo at the restaurant with (what Joe described) as the best kir on the trip! (I agreed). Over dinner we voted on the Best and Worst of the trip (Best/Wotst Lodging, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, View, Day on the Trail, and Best Bhurgher!)

Thanks for joining me on this adventure. I hope you got a taste of the Stephen’s Tours experience. It’s not fancy, but it is fabulous.