Conques

We have been out of email contact for about 3 days so have not been able to do our blog.  The weather has improved dramatically to the point that we wish it was not quite so warm when we are hiking.  The sky is blue and the hills are beautifully green.  Not quite as high as they were a few days ago but we still seem to do some major ups and downs every day.  Where the road has a switch back we follow a path that does a short cut.  Some hills have loose rock and shale and so we are very thankful to have our poles.  We use them nearly constantly.  We last blogged from Saint-Come-d'Olt after some wet days.  We arrived in Estaing on the 20th and were so impressed with this gorgeous little village we decided to take the next morning off to explore it and check out its little winding streets and bridges.  We left about 11:30 to walk to a Gite in Massip.  Only 11.5 km and quite a nice hike.  Massip turned out to be a large farm with a separate Gite that the family ran.  It was a lovely building, very quiet.  The dinner meal was prepared by the son who is a chef.  It was very good, using veggies from their garden for the salad, veal from the farm mixed with chestnuts in a sauce over pasta for the main course and an apple tart that was delicious. He came out and chatted to everyone all the way through the meal.  Wendy could not understand him very well because of his different accent found in the south of France. In the morning we were served homemade jams including a jam made from green tomatoes cooked with vanilla bean.  Who would have thought?  At another Gite we were served jam made from zucchini which just shows you can make anything into jam, if you use enough sugar.  The next morning we left to hike through Golinhac and into the woods to Espeyrac where we stopped for a good coffee.  It was Sunday and most places were closed but we found our Dutch Canadian friends from Owen Sound sitting outside a hotel that served coffee until noon.  Lucky for us we arrived with 20 minutes to spare.  Joseph and Gerda have been playing hopscotch with us along the trail for the last 4 or 5 days and we have great chats with them when we meet up.  They are seasoned hikers and come to Europe often.  We hiked another 3 km to Senergues for our night in Gite d'etape Domaine de Senos.  We had a room to ourselvs in this beautifully converted building that had been a private school for girls up until 13 years ago.  Now it has the best view for guests at any gite.  The lower terrace and dining room look out over the valley and the hills.  Wow!  And also the best spot for drying our washed hiking clothes.  (We use the term washed loosely, they are really just freshened in the bathroom sink with water and a bit of soap, most things get a little grey looking as the days pass).  

Today we arrived at Conques, having walked approx. 200km in 14 days. This is a slower pace than many on the route, but it feels right for us. Many other walkers, maybe even the majority, have luggage transfer every day, and they are only walking for one or two weeks.  We have discovered that many of the hikers who started in Le Puy are finishing here.  So now we are wondering if the gites will be less busy.  We are booking 2 or 3 days ahead and sometimes have to phone a couple of places to get a bed.  We are using the French accommodation guide book Miam Miam Dodo and the Michelin Chemins de Compostelle Map book.  

Conques is a very historic village, and its abbey has been important as a pilgrimage destination in its own right since approx 900. Little twisting slate and stone streets - slate roofs - dry stone fences, very picturesque.  Last night we went to the church for the pilgrim blessing at 8:30 which was followed by a 30 minute descriptive chat by one of the friars of the famous 12th century tympanum over the church door. He then went to the organ upstairs to play a 30 minute recital.  Wendy and I paid 6€ each to go up to the gallery to listen.  Although the church seemed very austere and plain, it really was quite magical from above with the lights illuminating the tops of the columns at different intervals.  We could walk all the way around up there in the rafters (so to speak).  The music filled the space.  The organist ended with the "House of the Rising Sun".  Some thought that was not an appropriate piece to play but we thought it was cool. Today we have our first full rest day so we can explore Conques. Tomorrow we will hike on. The hill up out of here looks challenging, as in YIKES!!