Figeac

Today was one of the long days - somehwere between 28 and 31 km, depending on which source you believed. We took our bags downstairs, had breakfast (serve your own coffee , which was a good change after 2 days, but jam and bread) and left around 8:10. There was a lot of fog, but it wasn't raining, and a farmer we walked past early on assured us that there would not be any rain.

A long hill out, then forests and a little too much mud until we went down to a small town on a swollen river. After that there was a good 10km of roads and dry paths through fields and woods. When we crossed the river again we met a NZ couple, who walked at around our pace and therefore spent most of the day with us. They were carrying their own gear, and are hardened hikers. Canterbury to Rome - the Via Francigena? No worries, done that.

After a little village called St Michel we headed on while others stopped...and hit a little more mire. It was mostly on long, flattish sections, often beside fields. To balance it out, there were grand panoramas as the fog lifted, and often blue skies.

We stopped for lunch at a little church in a village called St Felix, which was about 21km along the way. After the break we met the NZers again (they had taken the road) and walked with them pretty much to Figeac. There was a heavy shower about 30 mins out, but then we were dry when we arrived, and our hotel was right at the short bridge at the old entrance to the town.

We might have been very lucky with the choice of hotel (the trip organiser's) and the decision to spend two nights here (ours). Figeac looks amazing! It has a very old, almost medieval village surrounded by the rest of the town, with two large churches and lots of alleys and narrow, cobbled streets. We arrived at the hotel around 3:15, feeling pretty good: there have been shorter days in worse weather that felt much harder - and the hotel is excellent. We beat the luggage, but started off by washing muddy clothes, and then planning a trip to a laundromat once the bags and dirty clothes came (which was around 4:15).

The laundromat was a short walk into the old city, and while things were being washed we wandered through some of the old streets and one of the enormous churches. It really is a great town: Conques might be more spectacular, but Figeac has more, and far more character. That might be for tomorrow.

We are having dinner with 5 American women tonight, plus a few add-ons. The five have been doing the walk as a group, and had been in the hotel in Le Puy with us on the first day. The youngest is probably 70, the oldest close to 80, and they all get along art their own pace, although most days we are at the hotel several hours earlier than the first of them. They have been at the same hotels most nights for the last 10 days (same tour organiser). They are an interesting lot. They have their own mini-dramas because of the weather (not what they expected), the disparate group (they all knew someone in common, but not necessarily each other) and the different walking speeds. Some of them are fun, but some are also a bit depressed that they have come to France for some unspectacular weather and rough trails. Let's see if today cheered them up.

Hotel (Pont d'Or) scores extremely well. 1. Great wifi. 2 Tea and coffee in room. 3. Temperature controllable (sort of). 4. Good size room with shelves. 5. Great bed. 6 Great breakfast. 7. Good dinners. 8 A boot-cleaner. 9. Lift

42,408 steps, 34 km, 115 flightsRead more