Sunday, September 29th, Limogne-en-Quercy
We have written a couple of blog entries that we decided not to send as they were just too whiney! It has been 6 nights since a communal dinner but tonight we will have one. It's quite a bit cheaper than going out but usually a bit more than cooking yourself. We like cooking in but seem to be in little towns or villages that do not have much in the way of a food store. Last night in Cajarc we were lucky with a Casino food store, a boulangerie, a charcuterie and a wine store. So it was pâté, cantal cheese (one of our favourites in France) pears and a baguette along with a half-bottle of Cahors red wine.
After we left Conques we climbed out of its valley and crossed over into the Lot valley. The houses seemed to change immediately, and instead of stone houses with slate roofs, we were into brick or stone/stucco homes, all with tiled roofs.
We took a day yesterday to be tourists. Spent 2 nights in Cajarc so we could take the local bus up to St. Cirq Lapopie, a famous French village that was a strong hold for the ruling family of the day to control the traffic on the River Lot. It is also one of the villages on the "most beautiful in France" list. There were a lots of tourists there but we arrived a bit before they did. We found that the store opening hours are geared to when the tour buses arrive so being early doesn't really help. As we went in through the old stone gate we met a woman from Seattle, quite by accident. As we chatted she told us she owned a house in the village that she rented out when she wasn't in France. Hmmmmmmm. "Really" we said in unison. She asked if we would like to see it and of course we said yes. She had 4 friends staying with her too. Very interesting house, nicely done up and appointed. She suggested a place for lunch and its house specialty. After checking out all the streets up and down the slope the town is built on we went to the hotel for lunch and followed her suggestion: a puff pastry filled with rocamadour cheese and a very nice salad with local walnuts. It was soooooo good we both just sat there drooling through the meal. The server thought we should know it was only an entree (appetizer) and too small for a main course. We each had a glass of local wine to accompany. We could not have eaten anything else - well - except for the warm pear tart with vanilla ice cream with a honey sauce which we shared. Mm- mmmmm! Meals in France are such a wonderful experience!
An old house in St. Cirq Lapopie
We spent the night again at the Gite Le Pelerin in Cajarc. Finally another nice place like we have been coming to expect after our first 2 weeks. Nice people, nice place and a nice breakfast together with the other walkers. Today's hike was much better than the last few days. After a big thunder and lightening storm during the night it has cooled off a bit. We hiked to Limogne, 18 km mostly along stony paths through the woods. It was misty during the morning so we couldn't see very far but the moss covered rock fence along both sides of the path were so neat. They have probably been there for hundreds of years. Just after we arrived in town and had installed ourselves in a bar for our coffee it started to bucket down with rain. And so we were able to stay there and be dry until it was time to check in to our gite.
And so, on we hike, having now covered 300 km.
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