Another steep climb to get us out of town and up on a ridge but this morning we faced thick fog. The visibility wasn't great but we saw lots of large and intricate spiderwebs along the path. We had never seen spiderwebs like these before - they were like delicately-woven hanging baskets.
We walked through farms for much of the way and from time to time we went through small towns that did not appear to have much life for this Saturday morning.
We stopped to buy a large, strong coffee which left us zinging and later we had a wonderful picnic lunch on a table underneath some sycamore trees and with a great view of the village church and a lake.
We passed and patted many farm animals, saw a good few stately homes as well as others in need of major renovation. We also saw on display a rock cross dating back to the 17th century.
This springtime there is plenty of colour, especially roses which are a pleasure to see and smell.
On arriving at Figeac we walked beside a large flowing river, Le Cele, which further down joins the River Lot.
We arrived at our residence just before opening time at 3.30pm. The young proprietor, Frederique, welcomed us with some mint water, after which we registered, paid up (it is 32 euros each which includes a bed, dinner and breakfast), had a shower, washed our clothes and hung them on the line, scrubbed our boots and did some buying of food at the supermarket - the usual arrival routine.
As people have been arriving we have recognised several. A mother and daughter got in late and very sunburnt. They had lost their way and this had added another 7 kms to their walk.
Dinner tonight was around a very large table with 12 of us - all French except for us. The food was scrumptious - sausage again, but this time as a rich, herb-filled casserole served on rice. We have noticed that the desserts are served straight - not accompanied by any cream or ice cream. One of the women sitting next to us wanted to practice her English, so we ended up speaking more than broken French tonight.
When we weren't slopping through mud today, we started reflecting on all the things in our 39 years together that we had earnestly wanted/longed for/prayed for/applied for, even grasped at that hadn't come off - we counted up 13 major possibilities. Looking back, it's just as well they didn't come to pass. Be careful what you long for seemed to be a theme of today.
C'est la Vie
Geoff and Lyn Pound
No comments:
Post a Comment