Limoges

We have made it to Limoges, half way to the Pyrenees our book says! It was a 22.5 km walk, and a bit difficult entering the city, but not too bad, and here we are at a very beautiful and very well situated chambres d’hôtes, 5 minutes walk from the cathedral.

But I haven’t done justice to St Léonard yesterday, as it is such a lovely and historic town. It rained yesterday afternoon and we didn’t see lots, except of course the enormous collégiale church….and didn’t take many photos. The collégiale bells chimed every quarter of an hour during the night Amr tells me, but for once I heard nothing and slept like a baby and he was the one disturbed!! A first I think. I did have the help of phenergan that I had taken for very itchy legs (not bedbugs! Think I brushed against some foliage or some insect nipped me…and I’d wake with itch in the night)…

And I keep remembering small funny things that I meant to mention…during the animated conversation with Wolfgang he asked how we had enjoyed dinner at Les Remparts the night before. That was the hotel run by 2 gay guys with the 4 poster bed. We said it was fine, but not the usual French meal…and he laughed and told us that François and Daniel used to run a small eatery, quite popular for a cheap meal (and the spareribs was one of the specialties) and then bought the building in Bénévent, which used to be an old people’s home, for €1 as the government wanted to offload it, and turned it into a hotel! Fun to hear this background, and explains why they were a little disorganised!

I also didn’t hear all the artists come back to the “hotel” last night after their night on the town! I say hotel because it essentially was - a beautiful old stone building - and we came and went, with a code for the front door - and it was extremely luxurious. Our breakfast this morning was a special table just for us, separate from the artistes who had not risen by 7.30, with beautiful setting and freshly squeezed orange juice!! One way to our hearts.

We left at 8.30 and it wasn’t raining, though did look as if it could some time soon, and our ponchos were easy to reach in our packs. And it was cold!!! About 12° I think, and I wore a jacket walking all day! A week ago I was complaining of heat. But I’m not complaining now, it was perfect walking weather. And the rain held off for most of the walking time. We headed out along the Vienne river, very pretty with old timbered houses, then headed gently but steadily uphill until we were way up from the valley, and walked on well signed paths. Not many photos as the distance was mostly misty. Had lunch at a small village, and the mayor walked by, introduced himself and wished us bon appétit, and an elderly couple also talked to us and we had quite a conversation. They lived in a nearby village that we had to walk through and asked us to have coffee there with them, so nice, but we said we needed to walk on to Limoges. We were joined there by a Dutch woman who we had met last night. In fact we met a few people last night for a drink before dinner. We had run into Leon, the lone German, and arranged to meet him, and then other odd walkers arrived - it was probably the only bar open - and we had quite a social time. Anyway, we saw the Dutch woman on and off today as we found our way into the city.

It was a lovely entry, after negotiating the outer suburbs and industrial area, over an old bridge over the Vienne which runs through the city, and leads straight up to the cathedral. Our accommodation is just near the bridge and cathedral, and we have a fabulous room - light, airy and colourful. The husband is an artist and there are artworks around done by him. A great place to be for 2 nights. Our hostess has taken a big bag of washing for us and things are good. Except since arriving it has been really raining. Not the odd drops we had while walking. So we went out for a small explore, went into the magnificent St Étienne cathedral where we lit a candle for Ira, and had a drink, but it wasn’t weather for enjoying a walk of discovery, so we came back to relax and will do our exploring tomorrow. Our hostess booked us into the Crêperie near the cathedral for dinner (we fend for ourselves here, but she recommended it).Read more