Author: Thom

The day started off rough. I accidentally left my clothes on the line outside last night, and it rained. Still, are you really a pilgrim if you haven’t walked with clothes clipped to the outside of your backpack as you walked? Breakfast was leisurely, and I only finally left the gîte at about 8 AM. It was cool enough that […]

This was my dinner view: the central portion of Lacapelle-Marival, complete with château. Despite the well-known French proclivity for wine, many of the regions I passed through had good, solid local beers. They tended to be a little on the light side, but quite tasty nonetheless. Date: 30 August 2023 Place: Lacapelle-Marival, Lot Département, Region of Occitanie, France Maps! The […]

As I mentioned yesterday, just as I was finishing Vespers in the grandeur of l’Église de l’Assomption-de-la-Sainte-Vierge de Lacapelle-Marival, a Mass broke out. Weirdly, it wasn’t in the main sanctuary of the church. It wasn’t even in one of the well-appointed side chapels. No, it was in a weird little room at the back, built of rods and curtains and […]

Next we stopped in the Church of the Assumption in Lacapelle-Marival. This little Gothic jewel only dates to 1575, when it was built on the site of an earlier Romanesque chapel, dating probably to the 12th century. The church was extensively remodelled in the 19th century. I think the stained glass dates from that time. Just as I was finishing […]

The château interior was a grand mixture of early modern art and architecture with an exhibition by contemporary local artists. Quite eclectic! Here’s a selection of my favourites. Date: 30 August 2023 Place: Lacapelle-Marival, Lot Département, Region of Occitanie, France Maps! The site I’ve been using for my daily maps, Gronze.com, while otherwise great, unfortunately doesn’t have maps for this […]

As we entered the château in Lacapelle-Marival to check out the art exhibition, we were greeted by this fellow. I absolutely couldn’t tell you if the armour is authentic, but it certainly made an impression! There was a plaque on the plinth, but it was blank. I remember thinking at the time that it was likely part of the art […]

We crossed the street into this plaza/carpark. Both our gîte and a local bar/restaurant faced onto the plaza, with a beautiful view of the château and church across the street. Somehow, I managed to get a photo of neither the gîte nor the bar, but they were in buildings very much like this, just out of frame to the right. […]

At about 3:40 PM, we walked into the village of Lacapelle-Marival, our stop for the night. It’s a fairly substantial village of almost 1,300 people that may owe its name to an 8th-century martyr known as Marie del Val. To the left, you can see the château, as well as the Église de l’Assomption-de-la-Sainte-Vierge, both of which date back to […]

We passed this fellow sitting on a wall next to a house several kilometers before Lacapelle-Marival. He appears to be constructed mostly of logs and sticks, perhaps firewood. He very much reminded me of the whimsical art I saw in the village of Estaing, five days before. Date: 30 August 2023 Place: Somewhere past the village of Bressou (between Figeac […]

The thing about walking with people whose legs are longer than yours is that you tend to fall behind them. Unless, of course, you’re remarkably speedy. Here we see Ávila and Bruno ahead of me. Darn their long legs! This was one of Francine’s big issues on our first Camino – she told me that, as lovely as she found […]