Day 11 - Family (Livinac-le-Haut à Figeac - 26 km)

Sep 2

Today was another great day. After breakfast at the gîte and stocking up on some traveling food, we began another long climb out of the village. I had a chance to chat with Santamaria (Ankemaria) for the first few km. She is truly a lovely woman with a very interesting past and a real pleasure to walk with. For the first time on this journey we saw clouds and a few drops from the sky. Although it probably wasn't necessary, we donned the pack covers to keep our socks and bread dry as they normally are hanging on the back of our packs.

The day was mostly uneventful as we walked through a few fields and along several roads. The best part of the day was arriving in Figeac to meet Clément and Lucie. Dan was ‘missing’ since mid-afternoon yesterday and our gang of five once again regrouped in the town square for refreshments. Dan will have to fill you in on his adventures himself.

After getting cleaned up and doing some laundry, we settled in to help Lucie with dinner prep or to plan our journey for the next few days. We had a great time chatting about a wide variety of subjects before supper and were eagerly awaiting Lucie's creations. With none of the basic spices and condiments in the apartment, Lucie and others whipped together a beautiful salad, an amazing, vegetable packed French omelet and a wonderful peach clafoutis that was so delicious. Some French chocolate treats completed the meal which satisfied all of us. I can only imagine what would have been produced had Lucie been in her own kitchen.

Yes indeed, it was a wonderful day because of the fellow pilgrims. And finally, for Marie-Paule (Clément's mother), I will continue to update his travels as long as I'm in the same area as him. You have raised a fine son and we are all blessed to have him in our pilgrim family.

For the first time since we began our Camino 11 days ago, we had clouds.

Our very typical lunch stop when we share whatever food we have in our packs with fellow pilgrims.

Santamaria looks over the wide variety of food at a rest stop. These honour based stops are greatly appreciated by us.

I simply love these natural tunnels.

Just some of the typical signs we look for at every intersection of the trail. The important one for us is the white band over red - this particular one indicates a left turn is coming up for us.

The French love their bicycles.

Some of these buildings are hundreds of years old and are still in use.

An old shepard's hut.

One of the narrow streets in old Figeac.

We found Dan in the village square patiently waiting for us.

Our accommodation for the night was not a gîte but an apartment in a building that was constructed some time in the 1700s and has been with the same family for generations. This was luxury for us.