Bodhi On The Way: Furious Heat and Gushing Rains Along the Lot: St. Côme d'Olt to Figeac (7 to 14 August, 2015)

Having completed the first week in volcanic plateau lands and somewhat-rugged mountainous terrain, this next segment would involve a mythical landscape even to French standards: a sinuous, languid (and as we would experience) steaming Lot River valley, with medieval villages strung like jewels along the course of the river.

Our arrival in St. Côme couldn't have been more intense: after a week of cool climes in relatively higher elevations (averaging around 1000m), we descended down to 360m and suddenly found ourselves in a furnace of 39-degree temps! This is complicated enough for us, but especially so for a 2-year-old who already detests excessive heat. So the first thing we did was to seek out the local swimming hole in the Lot:

The Lot with the impressive village of St. Côme on its banks.

Alexandre, Caro and the girls had already beaten us to it, along with most of the village.

Heading out in early evening, we invented a new way of carrying Bodhi (perhaps inevitable; he was too tired for riding his bike or walking AND didn't want to be inside the Chariot). We immediately named it "The Gypsy Prince".

Clowning around in our campsite along the Lot, not far from Espalion.

Espalion on the banks of the Lot.

The main church of Espalion. Young by French standards, it wasn't built until 1879.

Le Pont Vieux of Espalion, which was built in 1080 A.D., one of France's oldest medieval bridges.

A pilgrim studies the river below. We endured a fierce rainstorm in Espalion, a counterpoint to the raging heat of the day before.

Chapelle St. Pierre.

Romanesque art seen in the high chapel of St. Pierre. One of the amazing aspects of the Camino in France is that (nearly all)the churches are open to the public, free, usually in good repair and clean.

This pilgrim statue is a folk art masterpiece. Fashioned from thousands of bits of shop metal scrap...

The Lot is remarkable for its endless number of old stone farmhouses and barns. Here are a pair that we passed on our climb from St. Pierre.

Getting friendly with Katy.

We braved a constant rain on this day, walking through about a dozen showers in all.

Around every turn another fantastic stone farmhouse...

Bo on foot...

... before breaking out with a truly quantum leap in balance bike skills!

And still having energy for backpacking.

The next waypoint: Estaing, yet another amazing Lot village.

After Estaing, we left the Lot river and climbed steeply, with views opening up over the Lot valley. To put things in perspective, the Chariot weighed anywhere between 60-75 kg at one time... hauling this beast uphill (or pushing) requires the effort of EVERY muscle in your body. By now, Jeff was properly "trained" after a 10-day initiation, but the news or realization of an upcoming climb was ALWAYS met with trepidation.

We caught up to our friends again, who usually took 2-3 hour lunch/siestas.

Walking with Veronique and Guilhem, two pilgrims that we first met in Aubrac. Guilhem was planning on walking until Santiago... which was noteworthy for us, as until now nearly all the walkers we have met are doing section-walks, or par etape, which is a very typical French way of doing the walk... 2-3 weeks per year over 6-8-10 years!

Our picnic spot in gorgeous forest on the edge of a clearing.

Bo giving two thumbs up.

This day featured some really enjoyable paths.

Crosses, manifest symbol of Christianity, are actually of pagan origin. (This knowledge makes them a little more bearable.) In any case, they were used as waymarkers in medieval times along the Camino, and in France often attain amazing levels of artistry. The one above is a relatively-primitive stone example found along the way.

More views over the Lot valley as we approach the village of Golinhac..

Wood engraving of St. James on the door of the Golinhac church.

Golinhac's fantastic carved medieval cross.

Scallop-shell pilgrim sculpture welcoming pilgrims to Golinhac. We have been amazed at the village-level-output of artistic representations of the Camino thus far.

Golinhac and its church, high above surrounding river valleys.

We would often walk long into the evenings. This was partially due to our fondness for wild camping. Most pilgrims begin their days' walks before sunrise and aim to finish by 3-4 PM at the latest. This meant that we basically had the paths to ourselves after 4 PM. On the flip side of this, we would still be in our sleeping bags when we would glimpse streams of early-rising pilgrims pass in the distance.

Passing through Espeyrac mid-morning.

Stained glass scallops.

Margot and Faustine in fine form.

This friendly household offered us cold beer! Just before our descent to Conques.

Alexandre, probably the only guy out here who had it harder than Jeff. This smile though, is probably due to the fact that they will stop walking in Conques. We, on the other hand, have 3 more months ahead of us1

Conques, nestled in this remote canyon.

Conques is one of those places you have to see to believe.

The monumental cathedral of Conques. It houses the relics of Ste. Foy (Santa Fe), stolen from Agen and brought here by a monk in the 9th century. This brings to light the issue of holy relics, a rather bizarre aspect of Christianity (involving the worship and obsession with objects that Christ purportedly touched, or the Virgin mother, or the 12 apostles, or bodyparts or remains of any of the above, plus of local saints and martyrs presumed to have performed miracles), which in medieval times had a thriving black market.

Conques as seen from below. We stayed in the campground below the village along the Dourdou river.

Conques, to be sure, is packed with tourists all summer. The plus is that it has remained an amazingly-preserved medieval village.

Most pilgrims on the Way of Le Puy stay in bed-and-breakfasts called gites d'etape. Conques has dozens and dozens of them. For this you need deep pockets, which partially explains why most pilgrims out here on the walk are over 50.

The fantastic tympanum of the Cathedrale de Sainte Foy, an artistic highpoint of the Way of Le Puy.

Romanesque carved depiction of hell.

A brief re-encounter with Max from Lilles.

A farewell to Alex, Caro, Margot and Faustine!

A glance back on Conques as we climb the steep valley opposing the village.

Stained glass art along the way.

Katy gazes out over the Lot valley.

The Mickey-Mouse-Club-meets-the-Camino-de-Santiago. This was one of the weirdest outfits we saw along our walk: a whole family in matching pink shirts, khaki trousers AND with a donkey.

Looking back on Decazeville, a rare urban sprawl along this walk. We had to do a massive food shop here, and once again we endured 39-degree heat.

Climbing away from Decazeville, we were still walking into twilight (looking for a campspot) when we came upon this scene in the street at St. Roch. We unwittingly found ourselves sat at a table in a large lively company of pilgrims (including our friends Veronique and Guilhem, and a couple of Germans walking from Lithuania to Santiago!!!), invited by the host, one Brigitte.

Brigitte's "gite", pilgrim welcome. This is known as a donativo in Camino language, or libre participation-aux-frais. Which means to say, you pay what you can. This would be our first experience of donativos on our Camino.

We camped in Brigitte's garden, along with a dozen other pilgrims, and endured a mythical midnight thunder-and-lightning storm, with lightning striking the very chapel next to the garden! Peering out the tarp, lightning would illuminate this figure fixed to the garden walls and cast an eerie vibe over the scene.