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19 September 2026 - Noailhac

It is a luxury to use a toilet in the morning. I was up at quarter to 7, but the tent next to me was already gone. The church in town rang their bells for like 10 minutes at 7 as I was packing to go. Then I did some yoga to prepare my stiff body for the day. The road/trail from Golinhac is downhill all the way to Espeyrac through the forest. Talked to some nice French young people hurrying to try to get a place in the Conques abbaye for the night. There was an epicerie in Espeyrac where I got snacks, a sandwich, and a beer for later and coffee and a croissant for immediate consumption. It was like two hours to get there, so a good time for a break.

After the break it was an uphill climb to Sénergues in the late morning heat. I arrived there just after noon, which is sadly when the castle closes for two hours. I do love that now everywhere I stop I see people I know. I really wanted to give up for the day with my sore feet, but then I tasted the delicious cold local beer. A couple of those later and I was feeling ready to go again. There was a bit more uphill, but then it was the descent to Conques. Conques is a city of medieval stonework that attracts tourists beyond just camineros such as myself. The number of "art" shops is evidence that an older crowd finds this place interesting. It was, however, difficult to avoid the alure of the bookstores. I knew if i went in though I would surely just add weight to my pack. So I visited the cathedral and found a bar to park in and read until it got cooler.

When I left to go down to the bridge across the creek at the bottom of the valley the sun had already set there. The climb up the other side was steep! But with nowhere to stop I just had to keep going. At the top I was greeted by another sunset across the fields. I walked through those fields to Noailhac, where there was a restaurant open at 9PM beyond the hours on Google Maps fortunately. I sat down outside and discovered I was next to the mother/daughter pair! They were also excited to see me as we have been saying hello to eachother for several days without having a proper conversation. I had a nice canversation with them both and the Marine (the daughter) stayed to write postcards and we talked a while longer while I ate. We still had not exchanged names yet at this point though. She left for her gîte and then I left to climb up to a chapel with a nice spot to camp by it. On the way out I discovered that the restaurant also had a small store so I could buy a bottle of wine for the night. What a lucky evening! It was about two kilometers uphill in the dark, but I found the chapel to camp by and was soon ensconced in my tent.