July 14 2019 A Void to Avoid

Waking up in my beautiful little room in the Abbe in Conques, all to myself was a luxury and a pleasure. Today was Bastille Day and I was curious to know what new adventures the day would bring. I went to the dining room for an early morning breakfast, had my bowl (served in a cereal bowl) of coffee, yogurt and bread... always lots of bread although I was already craving an egg, and then headed to the cathedral for Sunday Mass. The night before I had been standing beside an awestruck Sandrine (the hiker with whom I had spent a night in a tent a few days earlier) who was marveling at the grandeur of the cathedral and its history. She shared with me that her ancestors had been guardians of the treasures of Conques and that this was the first time she had visited the site and was moved by the family connection. I entered the cathedral for Mass and shortly after was joined by Sandrine. A few minutes later beautiful young Fanny, whom I hadn't seen for a day or two also entered the Cathedral and nestled in beside us. It's really quite interesting. Mass seems to be enjoyed by all on the Camino irrespective of whether those in attendance were Religious (nuns, monks, priests), laity, hikers or tourists. I can't seem to put into words exactly why. Camaraderie? Interest in getting the full experience? Curiosity? Wanting...something more than a hike? Nonetheless I experienced it over and over again. That morning Mass will stick with me I think for a lifetime. Three very different women, a police officer, an artist and a student from different worlds enjoying Mass together in an unusually exquisite place. During the Our Father it is tradition in my community to hold hands and so we did. It was a lovely moment. Following the service we embraced and said our goodbyes.

The town is so beautiful that I hung around, exploring the little shops before finally leaving this exquisite little medieval village, knowing full well that I now had to climb UP the otherside of the steep valley. https://youtu.be/vS5wGQGp96I I knew it was going to be tough. Really tough.

Saying goodbye to Dylan, Andree Ann and Fanny

A lovely little hut while leaving the village of Conques

Leaving Conques

Almost immediately after leaving the little village you cross a bridge and are faced with an extremely challenging climb up a rugged hill and I mean rugged. I am only 5' 2 1/2" tall.

Within a few yards on the path up the hill I was faced with a large boulder in front of me... too large to climb over especially at a steep angle with my backpack. A few times I had to take off my backpack, throw it over to the other side of the boulder, clamber over the boulder, retrieve my backpack while balancing against the rock so as not to tumble while refastening my backpack, grabbing my walking sticks, then climbing a few yards higher where I had to do the same thing again. It's worth mentioning that most likely people taller than myself and younger would have a somewhat easier time but it truly is not a walk in the park for anyone. As I was ascending I would grab at anything that I could find to support me. My walking sticks were literally life savers. At the top of the hill I was faced with a dilemma... a real doozy! I could see the lip of the hill above me, just past a comfortable stride. I could see that there was a place on the path where I could place 2/3rds of my right foot. There was a void on the left side of that path. There did not seem to be adequate space to secure my walking sticks to steady me. The angle was ridiculously steep and as I mentioned I would need to essentially leap up and forward onto the top of the cliff. I am not an athlete. I am middle aged, I was alone and I was scared. I think I realized something about myself at that moment. I am brave. I couldn't go backwards, I couldn't even lean backwards otherwise I would tumble down the hill. I would need to literally take a leap of faith. So, I LITERALLY said a Hail Mary, grabbed as many of the spindly willow branches that I could grab on my right hand side while holding onto my walking sticks (there was nothing to grab or steady myself with on my left hand side, and I jumped. Just before taking the leap I could hear someone ringing the bell at the little Chapel just meters away. The little Chapel de St Foye is a bit of a milestone. The little chapel bell is rung when you arrive at the top of the incline and notes are left on the altar from Pilgrims walking the Camino. I said my prayer, heard the bell and jumped. As I was looking for photos on the internet about that walk out of Conques I was not surprised to find none. It took all of my energy to get to the top and the precarious angle did not present an opportune moment to take a quick photo but I did find a really good post that describes well what is faced by pilgrims walking from Le Puy to Conques. http://www.roomonethousand.com/failed-pilgrim This writer describes the journey so well. I am so sorry that she was unable to continue but I was relieved to think that she did not have to climb out of Conques. I cannot imagine doing that with poor vision. I have other feelings about whether a pilgrim fails if they need to stop, but I will save that for another blog. The fact that I actually made it to Santiago de Compostela seems astounding to me both then and now, two years later.

Anyways, back to my story. I leapt with all the force I could manage and I made it! It wasn't elegant. I seem to remember much of my torseau sprawled over the top of the cliff, face down, arms flung out with death grips on my walking sticks, back pack pinning me down, but I was alive, relieved and ecstatic. I told myself that I never wanted to do that again and this experience became a hot topic of conversation at the Pilgrim's office in St. Jean Pied de Port two weeks later.

MADE IT!

After a few seconds to recover I scrambled away from the edge and dragged myself to standing. Ahead of me was fellow young pilgrim Fanny and the beautiful little Chapel de Saint Foy.

I rang the chapel bell to announce that I had arrived in one piece. Looking back towards Conques the village was already starting to disappear from view.

And Conques disappears once again.

Just around the corner from the Chapel de St Foy is a stoney path which continues up the hill. It was flanked with strikingly beautiful purple flowering bushes.

I took this video to share the beautiful flowery landscape but it will also give you a glimpse at the effort it took me to get to that point and the effort needed to continue climbing. I find it interesting to watch this now because at the time, this was the 'comparativly easy' part.

So with all of that behind me I was still at the beginning of my journey for the day. After continuing my climb up along the steep and rocky path, I arrived at a plateau and soon thereafter a farmer's pastureland holding a palimo horse family with a newborn colt.

I tried to photography the young animal but the parents would have none of it and quickly surrounded their baby out of view.

Close to lunch hour I arrived in the little country village of Noailhac and ordered a Mediterranean salad. There were a few truly wonderful meals that I enjoyed on the Camino and this was one of them. https://youtu.be/92XdR9Mixuk I had always imagined that I would be enjoying delicious meals like this throughout the Camino but it truth my experience was that they were few and far between. Essentially when I would arrive in the evenings in a new town, finding a bed to sleep in, washing my clothes and myself, I rarely had the time and energy to look further than a block or two around my gite for food and was happy to eat whatever was easiest. On this day however I felt I was making relatively good time and I decided to stop for 30 - 45 minutes for lunch. Since I ate in an outdoor cafe I could slip off my shoes under the table, pull out my little novel, relax and enjoy this delicious salad.

Very obviously still on Le Chemin de St Jacques. Cross just outside of Chapel de St Roch

Once again walking in the hot summer day I was so happy to arrive at the charming little Chapel St Roch

St. Jacques... the pilgrim with his staff, trusty dog and it appears some good walking boots.

The stain glass windows designed by Victor Loup Deniau were spellbinding.

I relaxed in this chapel as well for ten minutes, enjoying the windows, the ambiance and the peace.

I walked most of the day without interruption finding my direction from my Miam Miam Do Do app and the telltale white and red striped symbol along the route. Although the symbols were a little less obvious, the path seemed easy enough to follow, or so I thought. I did unfortunately take a wrong turn at one point and had to back track for about 20 minutes which is always a pain in the neck... or feet. Every unnecessary metre becomes a nuisance but today, after my harrowing experience up the hill that morning, I simply enjoyed my walk along even ground and periodic pavement. I was heading towards a mining town approximately the same size of Flin Flon called Decazeville. I was excited to experience Bastille Day in a somewhat larger centre. Would there be fireworks? Dancing in the streets? Markets and parades? I believe this daydreaming was the cause of my error in direction. Instead of staying in a Gite (there appeared to be only one available) I decided to splurge on a room at the 3 star L' Hotel Foulquier. The photos looked wonderful. I imagined a queen sized bed, a shower in my room and dinner in an outdoor cafe amongst town celebrations. As I was walking however I realized that my ETA would be approximately two hours later than anticipated. I finally had the nerve to call the hotel on my own, without assistance and apparently the fellow on the other end of the line understood me as I tried to relay my new arrival time and he confirmed that my late arrival would not be a problem. I was relieved and continued to enjoy my walk.

At one point, at about 7 hours into my walk I met up with a man and woman about 10 years older than myself beside a camper trailer. We chatted for a few minutes when they shared that the woman wanted to hike to Decazeville. The husband asked if she could join me because he was worried that she would get lost and of course I said that I would enjoy the company and that I was pretty confident of the direction by this point because of my Miam Miam Do Do app. He told his wife that he would meet her at the church in Decazeville and off we went, along a farmers field and eventually into some woods. I remember chatting about our families, about our lives and interests and suddenly she said, 'Il faux que j'aille pi pi!' and suddenly she sidestepped into the woods. I did not understand for a few seconds what she was telling me until I realized that the term pee pee in French was exactly the same definition in English, I simply did not expect it to be used by an adult. Regarding 'going pee pee', I have to admit that I had worried about that a lot in the months before leaving Canada. What would I do if I had to suddenly use the washroom while walking, or when I was on a top bunk? Well in all honestly I only had an issue twice in two months. Essentially walking in 30C heat all day, even after sipping on my hydration bladder regularly, I rarely had a problem waiting until I arrived at a town, or restaurant where I could purchase a cafe au lait and use the facilities. I had my role of toilet paper available just in case but it lasted me the whole 2 months while walking, returning back to Canada only half used.

After an hour or two we finally arrived at the perimeter of the town. A few cars zipped by but it was surprisingly quiet. I said farewell to my walking buddy as she continued along the road towards the church where she would eventually reconnect with her husband. My hotel was perpendicular to her destination and off I went to find l'avenue Victor Hugo.

Not long afterwards I found the l'av Victor Hugo which lead me to the Hotel, but where was everyone? I entered the hotel. The lobby and dining area seemed lovely enough but it was devoid of people other than a fellow at the lobby desk. I approached the desk, confirmed that I was the person whom he had spoken to a few hours earlier, shared by Passport information, had my credential stamped, was given a key to my room and was led down a hallway. Soon we arrived at my room. The bed seemed a little rumpled and the bathroom seemed recently used. I seem to remember there was a towel on the floor. In any event the situation warrented a courteous discussion. He quickly spruced things up a bit then left after leaving me the entry code for the Hotel main lobby door. Receiving a code or special key to enter or exit a gite is quite common on the Camino but I wasn't expecting it for a three story hotel. Anyways, there I was! I had walked for about 10 hours that day not to mention my harrowing climb that morning and once again I really didn't care what the bed looked like. I was simply relieved to have one and to have arrived at my intended destination. My hotel room had a large patio door that separated my room from a little outdoor walled enclosure. I had a shower, washed my clothes, put my wet clothes to dry outdoors on a deck chair and decided to search for food for supper and see if I could track down some Bastille Day festivities. It was as I left my room and headed to the lobby that I realized something was not right and it hit me, I was completely alone in the building. There were no customers, guests or staff in the building... anywhere. I went up one floor... no one. I went down hallways, still no one. Huh! Odd! I still wondered if they were out at a town party somewhere but no one was on the street.. and I mean no one. I exited the hotel in search of food, restaurant or grocery store nervously closing the Hotel door behind me hoping that the code given to me to reenter worked. All of my belongings, were in my room and it would have been a bit of a problem retrieving them if I couldn't reenter. I practiced entering and exiting the hotel a few times until I was confident that I would not have an issue reentering if it got dark. As I walking down the street it appeared as if I was in a 'seedier' part of town. Where was everyone? I had my passport, credit card, debit card and some cash with me at all times... even when taking a shower, so I knew that I had the essentials if I really ran into a problem and had to abandon my backpack and belongings. Less than a block away I found a very small pizza joint. There seemed to be some activity there so I entered the place. It was about the size of a small bedroom and the poor young woman seemed to be the only one there taking orders and throwing pizzas into the oven. I eventually ordered a pizza and was told that I could pick it up in 30 minutes. There was no place to wait in the little shop and nothing to see on the streets. All other shops were closed most like due to the holiday and so I went back to my creepy hotel to wait for my 30 minutes to be up. The next issue to worry about was that evening was fast approaching and the sun would soon set. I completely abandoned any thoughts of enjoying Bastille Day festivities and concentrated on watching the clock count down 30 minutes. Once again I walking down the empty hallway, across the empty lobby, locked the hotel door behind me and quickly headed towards the pizza place in the dusk. The pizza was ready, I purchased the pizza and a pop and zipped back to the hotel, unlocking and locking the door, scampered across the empty lobby down the hall and into my hotel room double locking the door behind me. The pizza was delicious I am happy to report and I enjoyed as much as I could eat. My husband Mark's cousin and her husband own a gite in Montcuq only about 100km away. I decided to telephone her and ask her advice about my situation. Was it safe? She thought that I would be fine and so I stayed. In all honestly I really don't know where else I would have gone by that time of night. As mentioned above, my room had a large glass patio door. There was a curtain or blinds to use for privacy but I simply did not feel secure so other than the clothes drying outside I decided to sleep in my clothes, barricaded the door and had my backpack and walking sticks at my side ready to go at a moments notice. I flopped onto the bed, which was quite comfortable by the way, and fell into a sleep that only the truly exhausted know.