Conques to Livinhac. The day of the knees.

Well Conques was such a magical place – it really felt so medieval and there was a lovely pilgrims’ blessing on Saturday night, as well as a talk from the priest and then a light show on the incredible 140 character tympanium over the Abbey doors. Gruesome if you zoom in! Some small (if lighthearted) pressure to convert to avoid the devilish side of the panel…

Met a lovely couple from Seattle at my solo dinner, and it was nice to get more than a few words out without forgetting a tense or an article or, let’s face it, an actual word (more thamn usual).

Woke up super early, as I was weirdly anxious about my first day’s walk – I kept reading how hard it was! And also the lack of services en route i.e. places to get cold drinks – just in case. But I must say there have been lots of public taps and “dry toilets” (which I have not needed to use of course, because I am me) along the way. I took a sandwich and some emergency madeleines and muesli bars just in case, but all was good. A couple of hours in (after a massive very steep climb up out of Conques) I stopped in Noailhac for a couple of long blacks and a muffin at a beautiful brocant store. And that, plus my roquefort baguatte sandwich and some water, was it til 730pm.

The 7 hours-ish walk started for me at 0730 and I arrived at my accommodation in Livinhac Le Haut at 5pm (check in time is typically very late here), after trying to get a bus or train or an Uber for the last 5 kms. It was not to be. My knees were so sore after a massive descent into Decazville, but in the end I made it all the way, at my special end-of-walk pace. Phew. So enjoyed my ‘pilgrims dinner’ at the local bar – the only place open. Slept well that night!

I made a decision to save my knees and get alternative transport to Figeac on Monday. This still meant walking 5 ish kms back into Decazville to get a bus and a couple of trains, but it was worth it. I met a nice older couple from Ohio on the way up the hill and we agreed it is always a balance between taking the GR65 exactly as marked, and being able to keep going another day. We all chose to keep going another day. How lucky we are.