Day 15 Trigodina
Saturday 1st October and today's route follows rolling hills with oak. The oaks here are small at six metres tall; I expect this is so they can sustain themselves over the summer. Winters must get cold and damp judging by the moss and lichen on the trees.
This is a truffle region as I may have mentioned and dogs as well as pigs may be used to sniff them out.
It being a Saturday there are working parties out maintaining the path. My initial thought is that the path didn't need any maintenance; but of course that's because of the working parties.
Walking 475 miles solo you get to learn things about yourself. You are forced sometimes to understand your limits and limitations. I learnt this morning that downing 200g of haribo sweets in one sitting is probably 50g to much. Yes, I know, profound.
I was lucky in stocking up on food last night (fig rolls and bananas) as it was a four hour walk to Cahors with no food stops along the way which may explain why one house in the middle of nowhere had a sign welcoming people in for water.
Today's highlight was the town of Cahors on the river Lot. Looking down it appears new but then you see the old town nestled to the west with its ancient cathedral. The river and cliffs bound the town on the west so expansion is to the east where the U-shaped course of the river now blocks that expansion. I cross the bridge into Cahors which is named after Loiuse Phillipe, France's last king from 1830 to 1848 who came to power following an uprising and forced to abdicate after another uprising. There is a pilgrim welcome booth on the bridge where I am given a coffee and a stamp in my pilgrim passport. Note the earlier red one top left where they provided the option of normal or "rock n roll".
Cahors cathedral is worth the trip and as I sit over a double espresso contemplating the next 13km I see someone sat outside smoking a pipe; he is about 25 years old and in this day of vaping it is unusual. Hidden in there was my second learning point. Today's walk spans parts 1 and 2 of my guide which is in two books. My last gite was 3km off the main route and I didn't get the maths rights. So, "do the maths!" as I very nearly found my walking limit.
I knew it was a category red climb out of Cahors and my third lesson today was what category red meant.
My final lesson came when I finally asked someone what those circular stone shelters were for. His answer was simple. "For shelter". Sometimes the answer is just staring you in the face.
Frankly it's a bit of a slog to my gite, Trigodina, as I had mis-calculated the distance and it is 32km and not 26km so that is 8 hours of walking over a 9 hour period. I do spot some ancient machinery by the wayside and its unusual to see one so complete outside a museum.
When I arrive Gite d'étape Trigodina there is no-one there until I find someone round the back chopping wood. They say they are closed but a place down the road may have space. It is now already 17:30 so I find some space and sit down to think clearly. Thrusting my email confirmation at them will nit be productive so I make two calls to each of the two numbers I have for the place down the road but no answer. I am in the middle of nowhere and on my longest day, it's a Saturday, and I am without a bed. It is a two hour walk to go on to the next town where I might find something.
Sometimes you just have to backtrack and there was that farmers greenhouse 1km back. At other times you buy yourself out of trouble. I use both of these tactics in moderation and after making a booking I walk back 3. 2km to a Chambres d'Hotes. It is smart and I'll be able to do some laundry.
