Walk Day 10 - Cahors river loop

Sunday, May 31, 2009
Got the walking bug now so, on my last day I decided to explore the GR36 which runs along the Lot River out of Cahors. Left at 8am and walked to Laroque des Arcs and back -- a nice little 9klm round trip and back by 10:15.


As on the GR65, there's the familiar red and white marker on the lamp post on the right.

A garden alotment.

Scullers and fishermen.

Laroque des Arcs -- half these buildings are built right into the rock.

Walk Day 3 - Cajarc to Mas de Palat (near Limogne-en-Quercy)

Sunday, May 24, 2009
A later start again today at about 10am. I'd heard the stores didn't open until 9:30 but it turned out a bar/café opened at 8am (and it also had internet). Blazing sun all day but met great pair of Swedish men and walked with them for several hours which takes one's focus off heat, blisters, leg pains, etc. Did about 15 klms and arrived at La Hulotte B&B just before Limongne-en-Quercy just before 3pm.


View leaving Cajarc after a short, steep ascent out of the river valley.


The hills ahead in the photo are where I'm headed.

Cajarc is back behind the near hills.

The forest here, and on most of the coming days' trails, is oak and the underbrush is wild boxwood.

Morning snack stop in the woods. The forest is lined with old stone fences which indicate this was all cleared fields relatively recently, as does the forest in which the trees all look the same age and not that old.

Delicious foie gras and cornichon sandwhich for lunch.

After refueling, get the gear on and carry on....the two Swedes I lunched with kindly snapped this for me.

Wild geraniums.

My two charming Swedish friends who spoke perfect English, as most Scandinavians I've met do.

The courtyard of La Hulotte, my B&B for the night.

My bedroom.

Walk Day 2 - Beduer to Cajarc

Saturday, May 23, 2009
Left Pech Ibert near Beduer at about 8:15am -- coolish, clear, sunny morning shifting to cloud (which kept things cool), and arrived at Cajarc on the River Lot at 2pm for a total of about 19klms. Ouch. Didn't realise I wouldn't be able to pick up any lunch or snacks along the route and arrived at Cajarc very hungry and with legs a-screaming.

Had a giant steak and salad and limped to my Chambres d'hote (B&B) run by Cécile Pons -- a lovely little apartment with two bedrooms in the old medievil section of this small town. Iced my sore parts with cubes in one of my ziplocks from the fridge's little freezer. As became my daily ritual, immediately washed my day's clothing and hung it on the outside clothesline, which every pilgrim-stop has, and changed into my clean clothes for dinner.


These stone "igloos" dot the landscape all along the trail that I walked. Some housed wells, some were quite small -- perhaps a shelter for a shepherd? I was told they were built as first shelters before a proper house was built, and then used for storage, barns, etc -- but I've no idea if that's true.




Entering town of Gréalou -- note red and white trail marker on the hydro pole.


A field of sweet peas.






Another wonderful dry-stone wall -- look at those huge end-stones.

The first vinyard I came across. I was told this was most likely a plot for personal use as the main Cahors wine region was in the River Lot valley, west of the town of Cahors.

Typical signage along the trail where there are dividing paths.

Long path heralding the descent into Cajarc.

Town of Cajarc.

The last steep descent into Cajarc in the River Lot valley was painful for me -- watch out for those big toe blisters and sore muscles.

A beautiful wrought iron balcony in the ancient centre of Cajarc.

Medievil Cajarc.

My bedroom.

My France Walk on the GR65 - May 2009

June 4, 2009

Hi All --

Just back on Tuesday from my 9 day solo ramble on a section of the GR65 trail aka Le Chemin de St. Jacques in south-west France. wow fantastic.

I wanted bucolic, rolling countryside dotted with medievil towns and easy access to comfortable nightly accommodation and food. Bingo! I got it in spades...

Started May 22 in Figeac on the River Lot and ended just outside Montcuq on May 29 some 120 klms down the road. I walked slow and steady with an average of about 15klm per day -- most other "pèlerins" (pilgrims) seemed to be doing 20 to 35 klms a day.

The walk was intended to be 10 days but the lack of bus service on Sundays and holidays in the region meant I had to return to Cahors early and spend the weekend there. Not a bad spot to spend a couple of sunny days and I did a day hike (about 10klm there and back) down the river on another section of the GR65 system.

Here's a map which includes the trail section (Figeac-Cahors) that I was walking on:

http://www.gr-infos.com/gr65f.htm

I decided to write this blog after having difficulty finding photos of the terrain and of the actual paths.  I really wanted to be able to see what I would be up against and was looking for a "beginners" easy trail.  Alors -- there are alot of trail photos here for your reference.

SOME OTHER LINKS:

Will generate distance and altitude excel sheets for your walk:

http://www.godesalco.com/plan

Pages from the Miam Miam Dodo -- the ESSENTIAL guidebook for the trail with simple maps and, most importantly, listings of all the B&Bs, hostels, publicly available taps of potable water, etc along the trail. In Paris buy the book at "Au Vieux Campeur," a giant store dedicated to all things outdoors:

http://www.chemindecompostelle.com/Selection/CartePuy09.html

A list of the baggage transfer services all along the French and Spanish pilgrim trail. The relevant one for the section I did was Taxi Bernard. Call the night before, leave the money in the backpack pocket, and for 8 Euros (flat rate) it will be dropped at your next night's accommodation.

http://www.chemindecompostelle.com/Selection/Transfert.html

Some info on all the main walking trails in France in english:

http://about-france.com/tourism/long-distance-footpaths.htm

Site of the La Fédération Francaise de la Randonnée Pédestre, all in french but pretty easy to get around if you can remember un petit peu of that highschool stuff. They publish great booklets with altitude maps and tourist site information on each and every national walking trail in France.  They are quite heavy though so, although I read them in the weeks before, I opted not to carry it with me in the interest of keeping my pack weight down. About $30 CDN for each publication if I remember right. http://www.ffrandonnee.fr/Default.aspx

Postscript 2013: I'm adding this link which is a list of (mostly) commonsense advice for solo hikers -- it's amazing how often we forget this type of thing, yes? 
http://solofriendly.com/10-tips-for-hiking-alone-safely