Author: Linda

Chastise – June 14, 2024

  • Toulouse – Figeac to Toulouse
  • Distance: 90 miles / walk, bus, train, taxi
  • Weather: 60-85°/ blue sky with white clouds

I chastise myself for the hours spent walking the Camino listening to a book on tape when I should have been building a reservoir of silence. I’m accosted by the sounds of construction equipment, traffic, and people. My ears are ringing. Why is it I never noticed tinnitus on the Camino?

It seems as if all main pedestrian roads are being upgraded. This hasn’t deterred non-vehicle traffic. Bikes, scooters, skateboards, strollers galore.
First soldier…fully packed for “going cowboy” (expression from C. J. Box’s character Joe Pickett)
A cacophony of noise.
Rumble of the Metro.

Conclusion – June 13, 2024

  • Francès ~ Podiensis Camino – #31 Livinhac-le-Haut / Figeac
  • Distance: 16 miles / Total 409.3 miles
  • Ascent: 1,343’ / Descent: 1,378’
  • Time: 7 hours 30 minutes
  • Weather: 60-75°/ blue sky with white clouds

Today’s the less dramatic scenery serves as a calm conclusion for my Camino.

Never enough cows at their 10:00am repose.
The Camino, the Way.
Less drama in the scenery. Walking through miles of wheat with a backdrop of low mountains.
Returning of the Lot River to cross into Figeac.
What a brilliant way to end a way. Crossing the bridge into Figeac I hear my name called. The two French students in medicine and law have shared the walk and many Gîtes with me. They too have come to the end of their Camino.

Lakes – June 13, 2024

  • Francès ~ Podiensis Camino – #31 Livinhac-le-Haut / Figeac
  • Distance: 16 miles / Total 409.3 miles
  • Ascent: 1,343’ / Descent: 1,378’
  • Time: 7 hours 30 minutes
  • Weather: 60-75°/ blue sky with white clouds

The trail narrowed dividing a lake in two sections. With water on the left and right, it was like walking on water.

Lake.
Lake. Water so still.
Fisherman.
I can’t get enough of blue skies.

Wind – June 12, 2024

  • Francès ~ Podiensis Camino – #30 Conques / Livinhac-le-Haut
  • Distance: 14.9 miles / Total 393.3 miles
  • Ascent: 2,273’ / Descent: 2.567’
  • Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
  • Weather: 60-70°/ blue sky with white clouds

May the wind always be at your back…an Irish blessings.

Photographer Sakam Shiro.
Like clockwork, the cows recline at 10am.
Daisies in the wind.
Photographer Sakam Shiro.

Lines – June 12, 2024

  • Francès ~ Podiensis Camino – #30 Conques / Livinhac-le-Haut
  • Distance: 14.9 miles / Total 393.3 miles
  • Ascent: 2,273’ / Descent: 2.567’
  • Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
  • Weather: 60-70°/ blue sky with white clouds

Lines made by pilgrims.

Line of pilgrims reading same mass passage in Italian, English, French, Swiss German, and Japanese at Abbaye de Sainte-Foy.
Line of walking poles at Abbaye de Sainte-Foy.
Line of pilgrims shoes at Abbaye de Sainte-Foy.
Sitting in line with coffee and shoes off.

Bits – June 12, 2024

  • Francès ~ Podiensis Camino – #30 Conques / Livinhac-le-Haut
  • Distance: 14.9 miles / Total 393.3 miles
  • Ascent: 2,273’ / Descent: 2.567’ Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
  • Weather: 60-70°/ blue sky with white clouds

Bits of the day. Close to the last bits of the walk.

Vibrant.
Everywhere memorials to WWI which tour over WWII memorials. More deaths in WWI.
Memorial to pilgrims…clothes line.
Today’s Gîte captured the Camino spirit… welcoming flavored water with conversation (when all I want is a shower), group pre-dinner wine social, group dinner featuring everyone’s prior Caminos, finished with highlights of tomorrow’s walk.j. The host personally said, “Bon chemin” to each pilgrim as we departed.

Joanna – June 11, 2024

  • Francès ~ Podiensis Camino – #29 Golinhac / Conques
  • Distance: 13.7 miles / Total 378.4 miles
  • Ascent: 1,070’/ Descent: 2.316’
  • Time: 6 hours 30 minutes
  • Weather: 60-65°/ overcast

Londoner Joanna met me in Conques for a week’s walk in 2014. We were two starry eyed women on the Camino.

Abbaye de Sainte-Foy, accommodation then and now.
Pilgrims arriving at Abbaye. Here is exactly where Joanna and I rendezvous❤️
Église Sainte-Foy, one of the oldest Romanesque pilgrimage churches on the Camino.
Église Sainte-Foy