Pilgrims on the Way

As one would expect, the Camino passes next to the cathedral in Cahors. We’ll explore it in some detail in the coming days, but first, I would have to find the Tourist Office and secure a gîte for the night. I will say, it was a little odd approaching the cathedral from the back; I feel like the Camino somehow […]

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As I crossed this very modern bridge over the River Lot into the medieval city of Cahors, the church bells were ringing out the hour of noon. I was dying for lunch, but my first stop would be the Tourist Office to see if they could find me a gîte for the night. That, of course, meant finding the Tourist […]

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As I walked the river path, the forest became farmland, which soon transformed into suburbia. Within just a few minutes, the suburban became very urban indeed. Even though I was walking on the sidewalk by this point, traffic would slow down as they passed me. I presume they were trying to get a better look at my crazy umbrella. The […]

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It probably would have been faster and easier to get to Cahors by simply walking the main road from Vers. Nevertheless, I finally found the way to the river and followed a lovely trail through occasionally dense tree cover. Parts of the trail were not particularly well-maintained (or marked), but it was beautiful throughout. One memorable moment included a downed […]

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The Way from Vers to Cahors was excruciating. It’s not that it wasn’t beautiful, because it surely was. No, the issue was that Cahors is a major city, and it’s surrounded by a spaghetti of hiking trails wending their way through the surrounding hills. The Camino route wound its way through these. At one point, it had taken me something […]

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After going up the valley, the path descended again. And then pretty soon it was uphill again. It was a slow, difficult slog uphill over stones mostly almost the size of my fist, irregular, slippery, and potentially ankle-twisting. The thing that gets me about this is that the stones were obviously placed here on purpose. The people who made the […]

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The Way climbed high above the river. From the vantage point near the top, I could see farms and gardens spreading out from the banks, so it appears this rough route was designed to avoid the farmers’ property. I was already dripping with sweat, and the forest was warm and humid. It was only when I came to a bit of […]

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After a lovely breakfast with Tony, the gîte owner, and Constance, the injured pilgrim from Brazil, I left about 7:40 into a cool, clear morning. The Camino began practically at the gîte’s front door and proceeded on a long bridge over the Lot River. I had left the Lot River Valley days ago in Figeac, and this far downstream the […]

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After Bruno and Anne left, I eventually checked into my gîte, which proved to be charming and lovely. Then I found the local church to pray Vespers. It turned out to be an absolutely luminous place. I prayed with a statue of Saint Joan of Arc – one of Francine’s favourite saints – at my elbow. Date: 03 September 2023 […]

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I often say, “always try the local”. In France, I had assumed that in addition to the local cuisine, I’d be drinking the local wine. The fact is, the regions I was walking through were more likely to have a local beer than a local wine. I suspect that will change on the Via Lemovicensis, though. In the area around […]

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