Episode 3 Stage 6 (2nd Half) and Stage 7-from Saint-Chely-D’Aubrac to Estaing

The walk ftom Saint-Chely to Saint-Come is lovely. It’s only about 20 kms taking on a gradual ascent to some high pastures until you reach the village of L’Estrade and then a long descent on dirt tracks and wilderness trails to Saint-Come a charming medieval village on the banks of the river Lot.

Along the way, I met, walked and made friends with an intelligent and friendly young Frenchman named François who had spent his career as an elder care nurse. His English was much like my French, so we help each other with words and phrases and chatted about all manner of things along the way. He knew the names of all the flora and wildflowers and showed me wild mistletoe.

He’s the first person I’d met who was walking all the way to Santiago from L’Puy-en-Velay, another 1400 kilometers to go. I figure if he walks an sevrage of 25 kms a day, with no rest days, he should arrive at KM 0 at Obadoiro Plaza in front of the Cathédral in Santiago in mid-July, with a few days rest here and there, maybe late July.

It’s easy to see why Saint-Come is regarded among the most beautiful villages in France it has a well preserved medieval center with the 16th Église-Saint-Come and its unusual twisted spire. I didn’t arrive until mid afternoon and the town was so quiet, it was almost like no one lives there. The only place open was a fruit stand, which had some prepared food, including bananas, and a salad that I had for lunch.

Stage 8 from Saint-Come to Estaing follows the Lot River before ascending into the hills with nice views of Espalion, a bustling town of 5000, that you enter by walking over the ancient Roman Bridge, known as Pont Vieux.

It was Friday market day and there were food and merchandise stalls of every kind lining all the streets in the historic center. I can’t buy many things because I’m baggage constrained, but I couldn’t help buying a couple of adorable matching dresses for my adorable granddaughters Clementine and Daisy.

Leaving Espalion you walk through several residential neighborhoods, where a nice woman had set up a pop-up snack stand for pilgrims selling her homemade Farcous.

Farcous are a regional specialty in this part of France. They’re a kind of a fried pancake or fritter type thing made with Swiss chard and parsley. I actually like them. They’re pretty tasty and you know they’re good for you because the inside is vegetable green in color, my favorite part is the crispy part on the outside. The lady was super friendly and very happy that I stopped to chat in my broken French and very happy that I purchased and enjoyed her farquos.

After that, you have a pretty easy walk for a number of kilometers through wilderness trails and forest until you reach the Église de Saint-Pierre-De-Bessuéjouls, a UNESCO world heritage site. The main church dates to the 14th Century but it has a small bell tower with a tiny chapel that dates to the 11th Century. The stairs up and down to the chapel are so narrow that I had to leave my back pack downstairs, crouch and walk up sideways.

After that, it was pretty tough going. For the first day of my Chemin the temperature rose into the 70s and it got hot and muggy. The stage takes you on a long narrow nature path that switchbacks countless times up and up and up a steep hillside and I was hot and sweaty and it got buggy.

And then it’s mostly blacktop roads until a nice wilderness trail which brings you to an incredible view of the village of Estaing. Estaing looks like it came from the pages of a story book. The view is dominated by the 15th Century Gothic Castle of the Estaing family one of the oldest noble families in France.

In modern times, early 20th Century, the Giscard family took the d’Estaing name as in former President of France, Valery Giscard d’Estaing whose family purchased the castle in 2005.

Estaing like Conques, tomorrow’s destination, is renowned as one of the most beautiful villages in France and a UNESCO world heritage site. Conque has an Abbey that was founded in the year 819, the same year that Santiago’s remains were discovered in Compostela and they have an 8:30 blessing of Pilgrims every evening followed by a guided tour of the Abbey and a 9:30 music program.

But the stage to Conque is a long strenuous one, over 35 kilometers starting with some significant ascents that my guidebook takes 10 hours to complete!

But for now it’s a walk around Estaing, a visit to the castle and church and dinner, a demain mes amis!