Day 22 – a new beginning 

I’ve said goodbye to many familiar faces for whom Cahors was the end of their adventure for this year. Some new faces were taking breakfast in the hotel, in the French way of walking a stage of the Via Podiensis every year.  I also said goodbye to R who is now a motorist touring the Dordogne.

Outside the hotel I saw Madame Claudine who is dedicating her life to shuttling backpacks and injured pilgrims along the Via Podiensis. I am forever bumping into Madame Claudine because her service is extremely popular. Many pilgrims send their packs ahead to their next gite and her vehicle is usually full of packs and injured pilgrims. I decided the time had come to introduce myself. Yesterday evening I studied the guidebook and saw a series of ultra long stages towards the Pyrenees without any habitation in between. I thought it might be sensible to save my backpack from the suffering it would otherwise endure for those days. Madame Claudine welcomed me to her world and gave me her business card which I’m treasuring inside my passport.

I’m in a charming gite today, the Gite Rande Etape “Le nid des Anges” in Lascabanes. It’s very peaceful because there is no telephone signal and the walls are far too thick for any wifi coverage. So I have to sit on the tumble drier to get a signal. We have a Swiss man walking from Geneva to the Pyrenees, another French Canadian travelling at a very fast pace to Pamplona and the latest French faces. I’m sure we’ll get to know each other during the communal dinner.