Day 17 September 12 Limogne-en-Quercy to Mas-de-Vers

 

26 km 326 ascent 380 descent 5:45 hr. 35⁰C

 

La Hulotte (a tawny owl) was a lovely place to stay. I really liked the artwork. There was a beautiful painting of swans, which I told the gite owner I really liked, along with just about every other piece of art in the place. He said the art was for sale and was done by a friend of his, but he didn’t want to sell the swan painting because he really liked it too. Later I went over to find out how much the various pieces were selling for. He wanted 4,000 euros for the swans (about $5,200 CAD). I would have paid that much for it, but thankfully we have nowhere to put it.  We already have more paintings than wall space. But it was really nice, and it would have been special because Kristine really loves the swans in Stratford.

 

There was never a moment in that gite that I even thought about bed bugs. It was very nicely furnished, in orange and red, very roomy, and very quiet. For the first night on the Camino I didn’t even get up and go to the bathroom (the duck sausages may have had something to do with that).

 

It was forecast to be very hot today, some were even saying 38⁰ C. The owner told us we could have breakfast whenever we wanted, but if before 8 we were on our own. We said we would do that.

 

It was a lovely breakfast and we were away at 7:30am.

 

There was no great climb today. Although you can see from the stats there was some ups and downs. But nothing ‘difficult’. As a result, there were no great scenic vistas. Most of the day was along paths through the woods, past farms.

 

On the Way so far we have seen rabbits, a dead fox, cows, horses, sheep, a blue heron, birds of prey, birds, and butterflies. Just about every day I see two or more of my favorite blue butterflies, who I consider to be my spirit guides. Today we saw pigs, and a deer. Lots more beehive huts, wells, and stone fences, including marble fences.

We also ran into just about all of our pilgrim friends. The lady doctor from Quebec is Dominique, and her walking companion, the judge, is Marie. The leader of the gang of French pilgrims that were lost near our gite yesterday is Jean-Phillippe. The Belgium’s from Livinhac are Phillippe and Seigfrid. We passed the pilgrims from Italy, and the lady (not wearing boots) and her companion. We also met today and walked with Jim from Belfast, Ireland. He is on a 6 month sabbatical from work. I asked if he was a professor and he said he was in IT, with Sony. Russell gave him a hard time, of course. We walked with him quite a bit and had a break with him at Bach, where we ran into all kinds of pilgrims. I noticed on the menu the bar had melon and prosciutto. I asked if I could just have the melon, and she said okay, then just about every other pilgrim there asked for the same thing! I told her, I started something.

 

I asked Philippe and Seigfrid what their word for today was, and she said it was Phillippe’s choice and it was time and eternity. I said I would meditate on that tomorrow, and she said ‘why tomorrow?’ I said I wanted more walking time to devote to it – today’s walk was almost done.

 

We also passed the Kiwi’s, Case and Guy. Case looked very red and hot. We walked with him for a while, and he said he was going to Iceland after he got to St. Jean Pied de Port. We told him we had been there, and talked about how wonderful that would be.

 

It seemed that just about everyone was going to Le Poudhally today, the Gite we are staying at, except Jim and the Kiwi’s are going to Labenque. It is a GR variant.

 

Nevertheless, everyone ended up at Le Poudhally for lunch. The place was swarming with pilgrims. The poor Gite manager was very busy getting drinks, and/or lunch, and taking pilgrims to their rooms.

 

Jim is going to Cahors tomorrow, and taking a day off like us, but the Kiwi’s are skipping Cahors and carrying on on the variant for a bit, then getting back on the GR65. I was wondering if it was a short cut, but they convinced me it was just an alternate route, and no shorter. Who would want to bypass Cahors? They said they are doing it because of a lack of places to stay around here. That does seem to be an issue, hence everyone is staying here. Anyway, I don’t expect to see the Kiwi’s any more. They will be ahead of us. We said our good-byes.

 

I didn’t really expect to see Dominique again, and was very happy when she showed up at the restaurant in Bach, with her walking companion. She is going to Cahors tomorrow, so I’m sure we’ll meet tomorrow again. They are leaving to go back to Canada on Wednesday.

 

That is the thing about the Camino, especially taking a day off. You tend to lose your companions. But we will make new friends along the Way.

 

Our room here is really nice. We are not in the main Gite but rather in a cottage all to ourselves. The stone walls are a good foot and a half thick so even though it is very hot outside, it is very cool in here. Without an air conditioner. He said it would be cold in here tonight. Believe me, being cold is not something I am remotely concerned about! Happily, although it is supposed to be very hot again tomorrow, it is forecast to be cooler on Wednesday, with 100% chance of rain. Wednesday is our day off.

 

Dinner was a communal affair at the Gite. A blended cauliflower salad, Beef cheeks, pureed carrots, and tortellini, followed by lavender panna cotta with apricot puree. It was all good, although I would have preferred not to know about the beef cheeks.

 

I told Dominique we had a cottage, and she asked if she could see it. We took her for a tour, and she said she didn’t really believe me. It sounds like all the people in the Gite share a bathroom, and she said she had to wait a long time to have a shower. We have our own private bathroom. Macs take very good care of us!

 

It was a good day.

 

---