A very good day today, although very hot over the last hour.
We got away a fair bit earlier than usual, just after 7am, to try to beat the heatwave that seems to be engulfing France and that made the day a whole lot better than the walk into Figeac😀. We made great progress, mostly on roads with some rougher tracks, through small hamlets until we arrived at Faycelles before 9am. The guidebook said no food at Faycelles but a cafe/bar had popped up so we had a coffee and rested for 20 minutes or so. The village looked like a postcard, I think they’d put some effort into restoring the church and the surrounding building to make it attractive for tourists…
After coffee we headed a further 5km through farmland between the Lot and Cèlè rivers to Beduer where we stopped and ate some fruit we bought yesterday. The land looks very rich and the farmers seem to have lots of new tractors so I’m guessing they are too!
Just before Beduer we changed from the GR 65 to the GR 651 and after Béduer we dropped down to the Cèlè itself, passing through a hunting reserve on the way! Glad it’s not hunting season😀.
We’d made great time so far, which was lucky because I had stuffed up calculating the distance we needed to do today – I missed a 3.8km section and thought we were only 6 or so kms from our destination at Beduer!
For the rest of the day we either followed the Cèlè or drifted slightly off it to walk under the canopy. The crops seem to be wheat and corn 🌽 and the sections through these fields were quite warm. We stopped at a small village, somewhat strangely called Corn – I’m pretty sure that’s not French for the crop – for lunch, eating the bread, tomato and cheese we bought yesterday.
Although there were some sections in Spain where this was not the case, most little towns like we have been passing (not only today but for the whole trip) would have had a bar/cafe in them which makes it easy to rest and recuperate. Not so on this trail, which makes things a bit more challenging!
In any event, not long after 2pm we made it into Sainte Eulalie, a very small village on the Cèlè, and found our B&B. The village looks lovely but it’s too hot to go out and look – I will try before dinner!
24kms today and 274km in total – around 1/3 of the way I think!
Also – very slow internet and no phone service so I might read a book! Photos when I get a connection…
steelewalking 