The Le Puy Route - Part 3

A Lot of What You Fancy - Saint-Chely-d’Aubrac to Conques

Day 7 – Saint-Chely-d’Aubrac to Espalion

25.18km / Ascent = 848m / Descent = 1314m

Overcast but humid conditions greeted us this morning, and the climb out of Saint-Chely proved to be a bit hot and sticky as we rapidly gained height out of the valley.

We'd enjoyed a plentiful breakfast of fruit salad, yoghurt, juice, coffee and croissants before setting off – just the job to fuel us for the full day we had ahead of us.

Crossing the Pont des Pelerins

Our guidebook split the day into 4 sections, but to be honest the divisions were moot and more because the first 16 kilometres of the day needed to be split somehow, rather than given as one long description.

Looking back over Saint-Chely d'Aubrac

Saint-Chely lies at about 800m above sea level, and by the time we had reached the fourth hamlet of the day – L’Estrade – after some 6 kilometres of walking through woods and along a ridge with fine views to all sides, we must have been back around the 1000m mark.

From L’Estrade, we began a stretch of over 10km to Saint-Come d’Olt – almost all downhill as we descended some 600m over the distance, mainly on clear tracks through woods and pasture. Once again, we played “Spot the Bull” – like a cross between “Spot the Ball” and “nearest the bull” – as nearly every group of cows has one, it was useful to know where the bull was when entering a field in case one got a bit feisty and we needed to make a hasty departure (the other alternative would be “nearest the ball”, which on Monday night had, of course, been Iceland).

Having a break

View from our picnic spot

Anyway, after a stop part way down for a piece of cake and a drink, we eventually arrived at the road. A short uphill section followed (we didn't even consider the “just walk along the road” option) followed by a dip and rise to a farm in the hamlet of Grezes where we stopped for real lemonade, cool, sharp and refreshing.

Nearing the end of the descent, Saint-Come ahead

A further 3k of descending paths brought us to Saint-Come d’Olt (Olt being the Occitan name for the Lot, the river on which the town sits). Reaching the Lot valley had brought us to the third distinct landscape the route would take us through, and after the highlands of the Margeride and the Aubrac plateau, this lowland river scenery was a big change.

At around 385m in altitude, Saint-Come d’Olt is around 900m lower than the Aubrac. There were some notable changes – as well as the fact that the walking now switched to riverside paths and wooded valley slopes, it was noticeably warmer without the mitigating breeze of higher levels.   

Church with crooked spire, Saint-Come d'Olt

We took another break, this time in a small park beside the main church with its twisted spire (like Chesterfield or Cleobury Mortimer) and ate our lunch of pizzas and nectarines. We popped into the church for a quick look, glad of a few moments of cool against the rising heat of the day.

Saint-Come and the Lot river

By now, it was about 2.00pm. We crossed the River Lot by the main bridge, and followed a narrow road beside the river. Again, two options were available – stay by the river or climb the valley side for broad views and a chance to see the Vierge Notre Dame de Vermus.

Looking back to Saint-Come

No contest, really – despite the muggy heat and sweaty climb involved, the high route it was. A steep mud path, still wet even after all the dry days we'd had, led zigzagging up through woods (now deciduous) to finally reach a high level track near an unnamed hamlet where we picked and ate wild strawberries.

Espalion from the Vierge Notre Dame de Vermus

Next, a mix of sandy tracks and footpaths led us out along a rocky promontory where the statue of Vierge de Vermus stood high above the valley, with Espalion laid out below and the Chateau clearly visible on the dome-shaped summit behind. This section offered different walking – perhaps the most dramatic of the trip so far – on narrow, rocky paths more mountainous in character than anything we walked at higher altitudes.

River front and bridges, Espalion

After a steep descent to the edge of town, we followed a path through the local park, once more beside the river. The two bridges – one old, one new – came into view, along with the old riverside houses, quite a dramatic approach to this historic town.

Thin houses and still waters, Espalion

Our hotel was on the main street. We checked in, and had a wash a brush up before dinner – an unexpectedly high level of cuisine given the general air of the place was more “business visitor” than “gastro-tourist”. We both had a generous and varied charcuterie plate to start with, whilst I had duck and Missy G had steak for main course, accompanied by a glass of rose wine. Pudding was a yummy strawberry sundae, and we rounded the whole lot off with coffee afterwards.

Later, we went for a quick stroll round town by way of a digestif.

Pilgrim bridge, Espalion

Tomorrow, we had a lengthier day in prospect. In fact, the combined stats for distance, ascent and descent for today and tomorrow are quite revealing – the walking is not difficult because it sticks mainly to good paths, tracks and lanes, but is rather tougher than might first appear the case, with a total of about 33 miles walked and a cumulative height difference topping 2000m for both ascent and descent over the two days.

Day 8 – Espalion to Golinhac

28.12km / Ascent = 1154m / Descent = 750m

A long and quite tough day began with breakfast and a walk round the Friday market for things for lunch – cheese, bread and fruit. It was fun wandering the stalls, almost like the natives do, eyeing-up the produce, mulling over the choices and picking our preferences from so many options.

Then we set out on trail. It was a bright morning and warming, the early mist having burned off pretty quickly. It was about 9.00am as we walked the first stretch beside the river and worked our way through the suburbs to reach the main D556 road that we followed towards the Eglise de Saint-Pierre-de-Bessuejouls – one of the oldest churches on the route, according to our notes.

Eglise de Saint-Pierre-de-Bessuejouls

After a relatively flat first hour, we then made the steep climb up and out of the valley to reach the high ground above. After a short stop for food and water, we first followed the road through the hamlet of Griffoul, then took a stone track which led into an earth path descending into the valley again near Tredou.

Church, Tredou

More roads and stone tracks followed, as we headed for the village of Verrieres where we stopped for first lunch – bread, cheese, fruit and half a pain au raisin.

Lunch, French style

Although the description so far has been quite short, time-wise it was already late morning. So, as we passed the “beaux village” of Estaing, we decided to pause only for photos, as exploring the town would have added time to what was already looking like a long-ish day.

Estaing #1

Estaing #2

Beyond Estaing, we took a quiet lane beside the river Lot. It was getting quite hot, and felt like one of those lazy days where most things are just too much effort. Even the river could only just be bothered to flow: the section here is wide and slow, artificially broadened by the Golinhac barrage, and I am strongly reminded of Rupert Brooke’s poem, Heaven:

Fish (fly-replete, in depth of June,
Dawdling away their wat’ry noon)
Ponder deep wisdom, dark or clear,
Each secret fishy hope or fear.
Fish say, they have their Stream and Pond;
But is there anything Beyond?
This life cannot be All, they swear,
For how unpleasant, if it were!
One may not doubt that, somehow, Good
Shall come of Water and of Mud;
And, sure, the reverent eye must see
A Purpose in Liquidity.
We darkly know, by Faith we cry,
The future is not Wholly Dry.
Mud unto mud! — Death eddies near —
Not here the appointed End, not here!
But somewhere, beyond Space and Time.
Is wetter water, slimier slime!
And there (they trust) there swimmeth One
Who swam ere rivers were begun,
Immense, of fishy form and mind,
Squamous, omnipotent, and kind;
And under that Almighty Fin,
The littlest fish may enter in.
Oh! never fly conceals a hook,
Fish say, in the Eternal Brook,
But more than mundane weeds are there,
And mud, celestially fair;
Fat caterpillars drift around,
And Paradisal grubs are found;
Unfading moths, immortal flies,
And the worm that never dies.
And in that Heaven of all their wish,
There shall be no more land, say fish.

Climbing up to Montegut

As the route began to turn away from the river, we took another stop by a low bridge for second lunch. Then began the second main climb of the day – out of the valley on to the top again, rising steeply through woods to emerge at Montegut.

We hadn't packed much water when we set off (my fault) and were slightly worried about running short on this hot afternoon. However, we came across a wayside “water and wee” stop, provided for walkers by the trail patrons, which came in useful on both counts.

Wayside scene between Montegut and Golinhac

Quite a long afternoon ensued. After another long stretch of road walking, we cut up through woods again on an undulating footpath. Missy G had a good view of a deer (I just saw it disappearing into the undergrowth) - we reckoned these quiet, beautiful woods would be a haven for wildlife, so it was nice to see some!

Between Montegut and Golinhac was reckoned to be about 11k, but it was difficult to assess exactly where we were as the little hamlets we passed through were often not signposted, and the lanes and paths lacking in landmarks. But in a way, this is what we came for – peace and quiet and a chance to experience real, rural France.

Roadside memorial to Pepe, who used to sit here
every day, wishing pilgrims well as they passed

Eventually, though, after more road and woodland path walking, we came to the hamlet of Massip on into the edge of Golinhac. Our digs were on the far side of the village, so we followed the route past the church and up a narrow, walled lane to a road on the ridge where we made for the last house in the village – La Landette.

We got a nice welcome from the hostess, who showed us to a small apartment – quite simple, but very nice – where we installed ourselves for the night.

After a wash and brush up we went for dinner, served by the host. He spoke good English, so we discussed everything from Brexit to schooling to how busy (or not) the Chemin is at the moment (they are doing OK, but cheaper camping options are slow).

Interestingly, although we set of slightly later than usual in the morning – by half an hour or so – we didn't see a single other pilgrim all day (over 17 miles and 8 hours of walking) which must be something of a record!

We were also able to talk about the food we were having – homemade vegetable soup, local charcuterie, braised beef (that took two days to prepare), garden potatoes, local cheeses (including the blue ewe’s milk cheese Roquefort – quite well-known to English cheese lovers, and made in the Aveyron) and a homemade fruit flan. All delicious, and with hardly any food miles at all either! Oh, and we had a bottle of good local Marcillac plonk to go with it!

We felt very full as we trundled along the road for a five-minute stroll before retiring, but we'd had one of the best evenings of the trip – good food and interesting chat – so we went to sleep tired but happy.

Day 9 – Golinhac to Conques

21.75km

And so to our last morning, which was dry but rather overcast. In contrast to our pilgrim-free yesterday, walkers were already passing even as we went for breakfast – a feast of bread, jam, ham and cheese, coffee and juice. Just like dinner, simple but nice.

Nearing Espeyrac on a cloudy morning

Strrets of Espeyrac #1

Streets of Espeyrac #2

We were away in reasonable time, heading first on paths and lanes high on the valley-side, before dropping down to cross the river at Espeyrac. The walking was similar to the last couple of days, a mix of tarmac lanes, stony tracks and woodland paths. We fell in with a Frenchman, Laurent – originally from Paris but now living in Toulouse – who we would walk with off and on through the day.

The café was shut when we arrived in Espayrac, so we carried on, climbing out of the valley, through Celis, and on to the next village, Senergues, where we stopped for coffee and ice cream, and got lucky finding batteries for the GPS (which had run out earlier, hence the lack of ascent/descent figures for today).

Just at that moment, there were pelerins everywhere, and the little village was suddenly inundated with walkers looking for food and drink. In that sense, it was probably the most similar lunch stop to those on the Spanish section of the Camino – briefly buzzing as another pod of pilgrims passes through before moving on.

"Wee and water" stop, Senergues

After a short break, we continued to gain height before levelling out again for more high-level walking, mostly on roads, through more hamlets. A gentle drizzle fell.

Roadside shrine on the way out of Senergues

Cornflowers in the hedgerow

A little beyond Saint Marcel (where we popped into the church) we left the road for a gravel track, stopping for lunch before a steep descent that ran on into a woodland path that brought us to another road on the outskirts of Conques.

Entering Conques - sign both in French and Occitan

Conques is a beautiful, olde-worlde town, justly famous for its architecture and history. We arrived to find some odd things – tourists! And a wedding!

Abbey Saint-Foy

We wandered briefly through the streets, and found our hotel quite quickly. We had a beer and a cool down before checking in, then – after a wash and brush up – we went out to explore a little, and get something to eat and drink. 

Narrow streets

Conques is another of the "beaux villages". The medieval streets are very narrow, so the centre is more-or-less pedestrianised. The Abbey of St Foy (Santa Fe in Spanish) is a large structure for such a steep valley-side, and contains the remains of St Foy, a martyred woman from the 4^th Century, that has drawn pilgrims to Conques for centuries.

Abbey frontage, with sculptured tympanum
above the doorway

The current building dates from the C11th, but it’s origins are from the C8th. Think about that: that’s 1300 years ago!

Abbey view #1

Abbey view #2

Abbey view #3

To me the Abbey, with its high ceiling, ornate Romanesque sculptures, galleries and large dimensions, demonstrates just how important a site it was considered, as it would have taken a tremendous effort to build something so big on such a steep slope.

Close up of tympanum above Abbey doorway

There is no doubt the town is beautiful, deserves its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site and warrants a good look round. But despite a slightly shorter day’s walking today, we were still ready for a good sleep, so returned to the hotel to get a few things ready for tomorrow's departure. We would have time for another look round in the morning, and all being well we will be back sometime in the near future to continue the Route St Jacques.

Room with a view

Conques had proved to be a great place to break our journey, and before leaving for the airport we had time for a lazy amble around the cobbled streets, catching up with Laurent and a bunch of other pilgrims who were in the enviable position of being able to continue.

We’d thoroughly enjoyed our 9-days on the trail, but it is quite a different experience to the Camino de Santiago through Spain. Several things had struck us about the differences, not least the fact that the path was far less busy than in Spain (although busier than we expected) and the route connects hamlets, villages and small towns, not large cities (after leaving Le Puy, the largest town we passed through had a population of just 4000, and many other towns and villages had far fewer inhabitants than that).

Inside the Abbey, with reliquary containing Saint
Foy's remains strung high out of reach

The route is also much less direct, with a lot more in the way of height gain and loss on a day-to-day basis. And, by and large, the walkers were mostly just that: walkers, and not pilgrims, just out for a few days’ walking rather than aiming to reach Santiago. Also, those walkers were nearly all French, whereas on the Camino there was a much more international roll-call.

Another difference was the food – obviously different between France and Spain, but whereas in Spain meals were often cheap, plentiful and repetitive (fuel, in other words) the food we had enjoyed over the last few days had been a showcase for the produce of the area – locally sourced, proudly typical of the region and treated with love and respect. 

View of Conques

For those that have done the Camino, it is a worthy precursor to that trek, But it is different, and it would depend on what elements of the Camino each individual felt they gained from as to how much enjoyment they would glean from this route. For example, the walking, scenery and food are great, the camaraderie just as fulsome but much less frequent than on the Camino, simply because there are fewer pilgrims en route.

We loved it, though, and plan to be back next year.

Peaks Of The Balkans: Albania, Montenegro & Kosovo - Day 14

Day 14 – Mount Korab

10.20 miles / Total Ascent 1506m / Total Descent 1436m

And so to our final walk of the trip – an ascent of Mount Korab, the highest point in Albania. We had a long day in prospect, with a return trip to the top and back taking around 8 hours, plus a 4½ hour transfer to Tirana to fit in before our farewell dinner, so alarms were set for 5.00am in preparation for a 6.00am start.

The start of the trail

The early stages

Our intended route tackled the peak by a fairly straightforward route, rising at first beside a stream, then over meadows before angling up to the rocky summit, and gaining height steadily, and sometimes steeply, along the way.

Following the stream

In the early morning, conversation was subdued although we made good progress, passing a waterfall and chatting briefly to a shepherd who had spent a year in Britain before returning to his home. As we climbed we could see the weather round the summit was a bit iffy – OK sometimes, clouded over at others – and it was quite clear as we progressed that there were some who were going better than others.

Waterfall

Although we stopped occasionally to get the group back together, a decision would have to be made as to whether the top was attainable – particularly as time was not really on our side. In the end it was decided that we would split, with half going for the top while the other half waited at the ridge below the summit.

I would have dearly loved to make the top. And, had we had more time available, I would have gone for it. But for some reason – I don’t know why – I wasn’t going particularly well that morning, and decided I’d have to opt out. Looking back, I feel disappointed about not making it, but it was the right choice. Others felt the same, so a group consisting of Endrit, Tony and Matt continued to the top, while Gent, Laura, Rebecca, me and Missy G made it as far as the ridge. At least we got a chance to look over into Macedonia.

Looking into Macedonia

For the descent we simply retraced our steps. Our non-summit group had made it about half way down before the summit group caught up – they had made the top without too much trouble, but the views were limited by the low cloud, so they didn’t stay too long and soon set off back again.   

On the descent #1

On the descent #2

The last half of the descent offered up the best weather of the walk, and we enjoyed a pleasant trundle in the sunshine as we made our way back to the village. There was just enough time for a quick beer and an ice cream at the bar, then it was time to load up and be on our way.

Nearing the bottom

We dropped Gent, Laura and Vicki back at their hotel in Kukes, then made our way back to Tirana on the Albania-Kosovo highway. There was just enough time to check into our hotel, then it was off for our farewell dinner. We were rather too tired to paint the town red, but we did manage to squeeze in another ice cream on the way back. 

Peaks Of The Balkans: Albania, Montenegro & Kosovo - Day 12

Day 12 – The Three Borders & Into Kosovo

6.20 miles / Total Ascent 653m / Total Descent 841m

We awoke to a bright, crisp morning. Despite some slight discomfort, the beautiful views and quiet serenity of the place more than compensated for a somewhat chilly, sleepless night.

Morning view from the camping barn

We breakfasted, said our goodbyes, and turned our attentions to the first of today’s objectives, the Tre Kujfit (or Three Borders) where the borders of Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo meet. As befits a point of such geographic interest, it is located on the top of a nearby summit – somehow its impact would seem diminished if it were simply a point in some non-descript field.

Looking back over Doberdol

Of course summits are great for views, but you have to get there first. In this case, that meant a fearsome 350m slog up the steep valley side – a rather rude awakening to the day.

Bigger mountains above Cerem

The mules made a far better pace that we mere humans (four legs good, two legs bad), but we eventually made the ridge where we paused to get our breath back. Then it was a case of picking up a contour path round the mountainside to reach the rear of the summit and the final steady ascent to the top.

Three Borders summit, 2232m

Although not huge by local standards, the summit stands clear of other, nearby peaks, and tops out at just over 2230m. Needless to say, there were some excellent views to be had into all three countries, and we spent some time soaking them up, taking photos and commenting in the mountain log book. We could see the route of the previous day, across the nearby hills to the jagged summits beyond, and the hamlet of Babino Polje, where we had stopped during last year’s Montenegro trip, was but a few hours hike away.

Since leaving Vusanje a week-or-so ago, we had been following the route of the Peaks of the Balkan trail pretty accurately. OK, so two of the days (Nderlysa and to Pyramid 18) were side trips, but other than that we had followed the route as set out – from Vusanje, over the Peja Pass to Thethi, over the Valbona pass to Rrogram, through Cerem to Doberdol and to the Three Borders summit.

Descending into Kosovo

Now, though, as we descended from the summit, we left the Peaks of the Balkans route behind and struck off on a different path into Kosovo. We crossed some boggy moor land, dotted with orchids and alive with frogs, descended through woods, took a wrong turning, found the route again, and finally picked up the car road at a scruffy mountain village whose name we never got to know.

Orchid #1

Orchid #2

Village, name unknown

Continuing down, we reached the valley bottom – the end of this section of the journey. We met our driver, said goodbye to Lumi and the mules, and ate our lunch in slightly subdued mood.

Valley bottom, transport waiting

Then we were heading into civilization once more. A bumpy half-hour drive brought us to the monastery at Decan, the largest Serbian Orthodox Christian church in the Balkans, and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Noted for the beautiful and well-preserved frescoes, the origin of the monastery dates back to the 14^th Century, the frescoes were added from the 15^th Century and have remained largely intact despite being plundered by the Turks in the late 17^th Century.

Decan Monastery

We had a look round the monastery, and it is indeed impressive. Sadly photography inside is not allowed, so I only have a picture of the exterior. However it is really beautiful inside, and well worth a visit. However, it is still under threat: as a Christian Serbian church inside predominantly Muslim Kosovo, its presence here is unwelcome.

For the sake of brevity and prudence, I’ll skip over the history behind the troubles and the recent war between Serbia and Kosovo: suffice it to say that there is a climate of strained relations between the two countries that will take some time to repair. So much so that the monastery has been targeted during the recent conflict (with attacks by suspected Kosovo Albanian insurgents as recently as 2007, I gather) and currently remains under the protection of KFOR, the international peacekeeping force in Kosovo.

Seen from our hotel window, KFOR Land Rover in Prizren

After visiting the monastery, it was time to transfer to Prizren. We arrived mid-afternoon, with time to rest and explore the town centre for ourselves. We had a potter round the streets, and treated ourselves to an ice cream before going back to the hotel for a rest and a shower before dinner. We opted for a local restaurant, and had kebab, chips, bread, dips, and salads, all washed down with excellent Peja beer!

One interesting point of note: Prizren is a predominantly muslim city, and we were there during Ramadan. As night fell, the restaurant got very busy, with people ordering and receiving food, only to wait until last prayers were complete before tucking in.

Afterwards, we went for another short stroll. The city really came alive after dark, and for a mid-week night it was really buzzing.