Figeac (continued)

It rained all day today here so I stayed in Figeac.

I visited the Musee Champollion. This is based on the work of Jean-Francois Champollion, who used Rosetta Stone to decode the written languages of several ancient peoples. In fact the scope of the museum is wider, covering the development of written languages all over the world, including the Middle East, the Mediterranean, China, the Mayans etc. Fascinating stuff. Is it true that ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics were still being used in the time of the Roman Emperor Theododius?

Having said that, I admit to having a beer and a few apple aperitif in the Cafe Champollion opposite the museum, with FX and Artur from Brittany.

Later went to 6.30pm Mass at Notre Dame de Puy and received pilgrim blessing from Fr Christian. This was not a special pilgrim Mass, it was with the local community group.

Figeac

Today I saw the first grapevine. I think this means we are approaching the wine region of Cahors:

I am now in the busy town of Figeac. 

It is a change to be in a town again. Even Conques was small and is a historical monument rather than a real town. Many of the villages I have passed through have been very quiet with very few people around. I think there have been more cows than people in my photos so far.

Figeac is the home town of the person who deciphered the Rosetta Stone and there is a large museum here devoted to that. I'm staying here tomorrow instead of walking, so I might go to that museum, as well as looking at the Saturday market here.

Soon I have to decide how far I can get in the remaining time. It will be either Cahors or Moissac.

In the meantime, I have seen that Chateau Cardboard is alive and well here:

Saint Roch

In a small gite near Decasville. A vegetarian meal last night.

Singing to Conques

I haven't had good Internet access, so this is the first post for a couple of days.

The weather has been good and the tracks have been mostly smooth, so the walking has been easier.

I have been in sync with the same group of about a dozen people and we have been staying at the same gites for the past 3 days. The gites all describe themselves as Christian and the connections are slightly different. One was a "hospitalier", which means it is owned by the local parish, one was private, and now I am in the Abbey in Conques.

This is a photo of the small private one:

Each night they have some form of sing vespers and most of the pilgrims come along. I'm impressed by the musical knowledge of the group of young men from Brittany. One of them sings in a Gregorian choir, but apparently the others picked up hymns, chants and canons from their local churches.

Andra, a German woman is keen on the acoustics of singing in large churches and this evening she was given the chance to sing in Conques cathedral.

Father Jean Daniel played the organ in Conques cathedral tonight and he told me he knows Pastor de la Sala from Sacred Heart Mosman parish well from his visits here.

The low, flat road to Estaing

I stayed at the convent this morning for 10 am Mass:

I was worried that this would make it difficult to get to Estaing, where I had booked a gite for Sunday night.

When I left town, I took a wrong turn and found myself walking beside the D-987 main road instead of the Camino. It happens that this is one of the few places where the Camino and the main road run in parrallel, so I was walking on a flat road instead of the climbs and descents of the Camino. And it is 4km shorter. Is this providence, or what?

I am now completing my lazy Sunday at the Cafe du Lac in Estaing, working my way through their menu of beer, red wine and hot chocolate.

St Come

After the rain yesterday, it was a relief to set out in the dry. There were still clouds and the rain started again for an hour, but it cleared and we were rewarded with the most spectacular views so far:

It was still a long descent to St Come, but much easier without the rain. On the way we met a group of very young Frenchmen walking along to music. One of them told me his name is Sylvain de Fleurieu, and one of his ancestors organised the expedition of La Perouse to Australia. There is apparently a Fleurieu peninsula near Adelaide. He has a website recording his family history:

http://s.claretdefleurieu.free.fr/

I am staying at an Ursuline convent at Malet, near St Come.

 It was good to go to the vespers tonight and meet again the 

Italian boys Diego and Eric, 

as well as Connie, Jennifer and Eden. Andra was there and 

ended up singing in the chapel after dinner here.

Saint-Chely

Today was a tough day. In the morning there was a thick mist as well a a strong wind over the top of the plateau:

I had a few close encounters with the many cows;

Fortunately, the marking of the path is very clear, so there was no chance of getting lost in the mist.

I stopped for lunch at Aubrac:

This was a very chic cafe, although it is used mostly by walkers, including pilgrims. I had a very tasty thick soup of vegetables and cheese, followed by a tart and a hot chocolate.

The woman serving me displayed great savoir faire by ignoring the cow poo on my boots and the fact that I smelled like I had just crawled out of a bog.

After lunch I passed a cross where people had written intentions for their pilgrimage:

Unfortunately, just after this I had my first rain, a heavy downpour for the last 6 km until the gite where I am staying now. This was also a long descent of 500 m over loose rocks, so I was very glad to arrive at the gite.

I could get my clothes washed and dried here and the 6 of us staying here had another excellent meal of soup, a duck gratin and "île flottant" (beaten egg white on a custard and caramel)

I emailed ahead to the convent in St Come that was recommended to me and I now have a booking there. Unfortunately, the weather forecast for tomorrow is not good and it is another 500m descent to the river Lot. However the gite owner tells me the path is better than the one today. We shall see what tomorrow brings.

The gite here has some good magazines about the district and there was a story about a village coming up called Estaing. Apparently a castle there was bought by former French President Valerie Giscard d'Estaing. The gite owner said it was a complicated story: his name was always Estaing, but he bought the castle and the right to add "d'" to his name. He has since sold the castle, but not the name.

After all this trekking over the plateau, it sounds good that we will be walking for a  few days near the river Lot, before climbing up to Conques.