I awoke this morning to the sounds of a city stirring which is actually quite enchanting. Lying in bed trying to guess what each of the new sounds are. The slow build up of traffic noise is the most obvious but then behind that are lots of layers of sound. There is the bee bee of lorries reversing in the distance, the brushing sound of a street cleaner and the clatter of waiters putting out tables ready for breakfast and the fast coffee for those on there way to work. I don’t think I would like it everyday but it was a pleasant change from the pigeon that sits on the vicarage roof and wakes me up most mornings.
After breakfast I headed up to the Cathedral. Le Puy is built in the cone of a volcanic bowel with several rock out crops. The oddity is that it always seems as if you’re going up hill. When I left my hotel I was going up hill and when I arrived back I was still going up hill. It reminded me of that famous optical illusion with monks seeming to be walking constantly up stairs.
The oldest part of the town, which is known as the Holy City was built back in 926BC after the Bishop of Le Puy made one of the first pilgrimages to Compostela. It consists of a maze of medieval streets and passageways and is very easy to become completely lost in. The Cathedral has a black Madonna and there are several references to the Camino. Though the place was not swarming with pilgrims I did see several walking around wearing the scallop shell and passed some of the refuges where pilgrims can stay the night. One in particular which was run by the Franciscans had quite a buzz about it.
After the cathedral I made my way to the Chapel of St Michael d’Aiguihe which is built on top of one of the rock out crops. When planning the trip I had seen it in one of my guide books and was determined to climb to the top. There are 250 step steps to the top and I am very pleased I have lost a lot of weight otherwise it could have been the end of the pilgrimage. The climb took me about 10 minutes and I was pleasantly surprised that I managed it with out getting breathless the little chapel is quite beautiful and the views of Le Puy spectacular. The decent was much quicker and I headed back to the hotel and was on the road by 11:30am
The driving today has been the most fun but also the hardest as it was a constant string of bends and steep climbs often following narrow roads so as to avoid motorways. This demanded all my concentration even though there was little else on most of the roads. The 7 was being driven hard but not particularly fast with all the climbs and for the first time I saw the temperature gauge rise above 80 but settle around 95, much to my relief as I have had nightmares about the car over heating on these mountain passes.
As I passed through small hill top villages I came across more pilgrims trudging the Camino. Many smiled as I passed in my little car with its scallop shell but there where a few who gave me looks of utter distain that I should be following this pilgrim path in such a contraption. I believe envy is one of the [7] deadly sins!!
Lunch today was a picnic of French bread with a small tin of Pate Champagne and a couple of mouth full’s of wine from my wine skin. This was eaten sitting next to a tiny pilgrim chapel by the road which intersected by the Camino path. The odd looks from fellow pilgrims soon turned to smiles when I offered them a slug of my wine flask to help them on their way but no one asked for lift. I will have to buy another bottle of wine tomorrow to replenish the wine skin for the Pyrenees.
The afternoons driving was even more intense than the mornings not helped by the fact that the French seem to have resurfaced every D road in this stretch of my journey leaving fine grit everywhere. This meant I had to go at a snails pace often for several miles to avoid sliding around and protect the paint work from chipping. When I undressed this evening I also had gravel and tar stuck to my neck and back which had been flicked into the car. The result was I arrived at Conques two hours later than intended at 5pm but it is regarded as one of Frances most spectacular medieval villages and abbeys so I felt I could not miss it. Traffic is not normally allowed in the village you have to park in either a top or bottom car park. This results in a ten minute walk to get to the village. Thankfully the young guy on the gate was so impressed with my car that he gave me a special sticker and let me drive into the village and told me to park right by the abbey. St James be praised!
The abbey is dedicated to St Foy a young girl who became an early Christian martyr her relics are at the abbey so it ensured that this became a stopping off point for pilgrims heading to Santiago. The abbey also has one of the finest collections of treasures from the 9th – 16th centaury. I could only spend about half and hour having a look round as my sat nav indicated it was another 2 hour drive to Cahors and I was suppose to be camping.
The final part of the drive was the toughest with more small roads and resurfacing. I arrived in Cahors just before 8pm. I decided I couldn’t cope with finding a camp site and putting a tent up. I had also not had time to by any provisions for an evening meal or breakfast so felt a motel was the best bet. Again the sat nav came up trumps and gave me a list of hotels with in a kilometre radius of the town centre. On the list I found a Formula 1 these are run by the same people that run Ibis but are very basic so I headed straight there. It was about 1km out of the town by the out of town shops. A room was available and only 30 Euros around £28.
Its very basic a bed in a square room, wash basin, chair and TV and the décor is not up to much but I was very tired and it did exactly what it said on the tin ‘room for the night’. Finding something to eat was a little more problematic as there was no food outlet near the hotel so I drove into town. Cahors is very disappointing apart from the amazing fortified bridge across the river there was no main square and I drove round and round hoping to find an area of bars and cafes but with no luck. By now I was so tired I felt like just going back to the hotel but then I passed a Kebab shop so it was a donner and chips. This admittedly is a disgrace in France but needs must. I was very pleased to get into bed and very quickly fell asleep.
After breakfast I headed up to the Cathedral. Le Puy is built in the cone of a volcanic bowel with several rock out crops. The oddity is that it always seems as if you’re going up hill. When I left my hotel I was going up hill and when I arrived back I was still going up hill. It reminded me of that famous optical illusion with monks seeming to be walking constantly up stairs.
The oldest part of the town, which is known as the Holy City was built back in 926BC after the Bishop of Le Puy made one of the first pilgrimages to Compostela. It consists of a maze of medieval streets and passageways and is very easy to become completely lost in. The Cathedral has a black Madonna and there are several references to the Camino. Though the place was not swarming with pilgrims I did see several walking around wearing the scallop shell and passed some of the refuges where pilgrims can stay the night. One in particular which was run by the Franciscans had quite a buzz about it.
After the cathedral I made my way to the Chapel of St Michael d’Aiguihe which is built on top of one of the rock out crops. When planning the trip I had seen it in one of my guide books and was determined to climb to the top. There are 250 step steps to the top and I am very pleased I have lost a lot of weight otherwise it could have been the end of the pilgrimage. The climb took me about 10 minutes and I was pleasantly surprised that I managed it with out getting breathless the little chapel is quite beautiful and the views of Le Puy spectacular. The decent was much quicker and I headed back to the hotel and was on the road by 11:30am
The driving today has been the most fun but also the hardest as it was a constant string of bends and steep climbs often following narrow roads so as to avoid motorways. This demanded all my concentration even though there was little else on most of the roads. The 7 was being driven hard but not particularly fast with all the climbs and for the first time I saw the temperature gauge rise above 80 but settle around 95, much to my relief as I have had nightmares about the car over heating on these mountain passes.
As I passed through small hill top villages I came across more pilgrims trudging the Camino. Many smiled as I passed in my little car with its scallop shell but there where a few who gave me looks of utter distain that I should be following this pilgrim path in such a contraption. I believe envy is one of the [7] deadly sins!!
Lunch today was a picnic of French bread with a small tin of Pate Champagne and a couple of mouth full’s of wine from my wine skin. This was eaten sitting next to a tiny pilgrim chapel by the road which intersected by the Camino path. The odd looks from fellow pilgrims soon turned to smiles when I offered them a slug of my wine flask to help them on their way but no one asked for lift. I will have to buy another bottle of wine tomorrow to replenish the wine skin for the Pyrenees.
The afternoons driving was even more intense than the mornings not helped by the fact that the French seem to have resurfaced every D road in this stretch of my journey leaving fine grit everywhere. This meant I had to go at a snails pace often for several miles to avoid sliding around and protect the paint work from chipping. When I undressed this evening I also had gravel and tar stuck to my neck and back which had been flicked into the car. The result was I arrived at Conques two hours later than intended at 5pm but it is regarded as one of Frances most spectacular medieval villages and abbeys so I felt I could not miss it. Traffic is not normally allowed in the village you have to park in either a top or bottom car park. This results in a ten minute walk to get to the village. Thankfully the young guy on the gate was so impressed with my car that he gave me a special sticker and let me drive into the village and told me to park right by the abbey. St James be praised!
The abbey is dedicated to St Foy a young girl who became an early Christian martyr her relics are at the abbey so it ensured that this became a stopping off point for pilgrims heading to Santiago. The abbey also has one of the finest collections of treasures from the 9th – 16th centaury. I could only spend about half and hour having a look round as my sat nav indicated it was another 2 hour drive to Cahors and I was suppose to be camping.
The final part of the drive was the toughest with more small roads and resurfacing. I arrived in Cahors just before 8pm. I decided I couldn’t cope with finding a camp site and putting a tent up. I had also not had time to by any provisions for an evening meal or breakfast so felt a motel was the best bet. Again the sat nav came up trumps and gave me a list of hotels with in a kilometre radius of the town centre. On the list I found a Formula 1 these are run by the same people that run Ibis but are very basic so I headed straight there. It was about 1km out of the town by the out of town shops. A room was available and only 30 Euros around £28.
Its very basic a bed in a square room, wash basin, chair and TV and the décor is not up to much but I was very tired and it did exactly what it said on the tin ‘room for the night’. Finding something to eat was a little more problematic as there was no food outlet near the hotel so I drove into town. Cahors is very disappointing apart from the amazing fortified bridge across the river there was no main square and I drove round and round hoping to find an area of bars and cafes but with no luck. By now I was so tired I felt like just going back to the hotel but then I passed a Kebab shop so it was a donner and chips. This admittedly is a disgrace in France but needs must. I was very pleased to get into bed and very quickly fell asleep.
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