Time Departed: 12.15pm
Time Arrived: 2.00pm
Distance: 6kms
Cumulative Distance: 347 kms
Percentage Completed: 45% (588,800 steps)
Weather: Sunny
Accommodation: Domaine des Mathieux
Feelings: Neil - Rested, Henk - Terrific, Di - Relaxed
This was an easy day of six kilometres. We did this to restrict tomorrow’s walking to 25kms by reducing it by six kilometres and therefore by one and a half hours. Tomorrow’s walk would have been over thirty kilometres and whilst “doable” it’s not fun.
We spent the morning in Cahors and it was very different from yesterday’s holiday as all the shops were open, cars were buzzing around and there were people! Neil had the opportunity to finally get a data SIM card for his iPad from the Orange shop. Data is very cheap in France with 5Gb for 15 Euros.
We had an early lunch at the same cafe as yesterday on the Lot River. We are loving the local smoked meats and cheeses.
We decided to leave in the middle of the day and not later as rain and a possible storm were predicted at about three o’clock. When we left Cahors at first crossing the Valentre Bridge the walk took us immediately and steeply up the escarpment on high stone and concrete steps and through a small pine forest. The views over Cahors were excellent. We could see where we had walked down the steep road on the hill on the other side of the city.
After an hour of slow walking as we weren’t in any hurry we came across a Pause Cafe on the side of the road and with a little gentle persuasion Henk and Neil agreed to stop for a drink. We had ice cold drinks from the esky and coffee and tea were also on offer. There was a box for donations to cover the costs.
We arrived too early at our accommodation and we waited in very pleasant garden surroundings. The clouds built up as we waited. I wrote this blog and learned some Spanish and Neil had a rest on the garden furniture and listened to a podcast. Henk rechecked some routes with his GPS. We only waited for about an hour and our very friendly host met us with cool drinks. The accommodation which is both a Gite and a hotel is very focussed on the walk and is set in beautiful gardens overlooking dense woods which we will walk through tomorrow.
There are eleven (nine men and two women - all about our age) staying at the accommodation. We had dinner at seven o’clock at a communal table in the dining room. For starters we were given an aperitif followed by soup, sausages and potatoes and a Basque flan. It was all very basic but tasty and we were very hungry. All were French walkers but thankfully the French chap who sat next to us lives in the USA and spoke English. He is walking with his brother.
Tomorrow will get us back into our stride again with a longer distance.
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