Day 11: Saint-Côme-d'Olt (149 km )to Estaing (166 km)

May 22

Saint-Côme-d'Olt (385 m) to Estaing (320 m)

Chapelle des Penitents

Dave:  Beautiful morning. The winds have finally abated. We enjoyed our petit dejeuner in the Couvent cafeteria and then after I finished my morning bandaging-of-the-foot rituals (all praise to Compeed!), we packed up and left. We walked through the winding streets  of St Côme d’Olt, and checked out the little museum (the Chapelle des Penitents) and the beautiful church with the twisted spire, St Come-et-Saint Damien's Church.  

Morning light, Eglise St Come-et-Saint Damien

We then set out over the bridge, and down the refreshingly flat D road, heading toward Espalion. 

Annie:  Many downed limbs and trees on the path today.  We learned that the gusts of wind yesterday reached 100k/hour!  

Espalion

We inched towards the fabled city, Espalion.  However, it wasn’t as fabulous as I had anticipated.  It has a lovely pilgrim’s bridge – but it is no longer on the chemin, so pilgrims don’t have to walk across it!  We did have a nice coffee in Espalion.  

Dave: After getting our coffee and a sandwich, we headed out of town, walking along the river, then back onto the D road we have traversed in the morning. 

Annie: Following the Lot River, we trooped out of the city, a few km down the road to the church St.-Pierre-de Besséjouals, one of the oldest churches on the chemin.  It really is rather amazing:  very plain on the inside, but then you climb up to a second floor – kind of where the choir loft would be – and there is a “chapelle aérienne,” with beautiful Romanesque columns and capitals, and a very old altar!  

We ate our lunch on a bench facing the church – a beautiful, sunny day.  Then we started up.  Then up some more.  Then up a lot more, one of the worst climbs yet!  

I am very disappointed in Alison, she did not indicate how many meters we would be climbing.  This was not the “easy étape” we had planned on, and Estaing was still far off.

Dave: After 30 minutes the steep path began leveling off, and then we were walking on a track, through a farm field, with fine views all around of the surrounding hills. 

We went up again and past a barn with an interesting rooster finial. A church beckoned in the distance. It was closed, but we were able to fill up our water bottles at the tap.  

Tredou church

We walked on a very long and straight D road. And then the road twisted through a tiny village Verrieres. 

Verrieres

We reached and intersection and saw the sign for "Estaing. 2,5 km"

The entranceway, Hospitalite St Jacques

Annie: The Hospitalité St. Jacques is a unique place.  Showers very primitive, and only one bathroom, which seems a Bad Idea considering that the dortoir sleeps 18.  I washed out some socks and underwear, and ran up to the top of the building, where there was a clothes-horse under a roof (and, bizarrely, next to a chicken coop). 

Estaing

Dave: We stretched our legs before dinner, catching a view of the church and sharing a beer with our Dutch friends, who were also staying in Estaing. 

Annie: Dinner was very jolly and communal.  I was next to the 2 women we had met on the chemin yesterday, the ones who brightened our chemin when we really needed it.  They are Véronique and Josselyne, from Lyon. 

Dinner at Hospitalite St Jacques

Getting ready for bed in a room of 8 is an odd experience.  People had “claimed” various bunks by hanging their stuff on them.  Everyone is polite and discreet, and tried to ignore the fact that their neighbors are changing into pajamas and getting ready for bed.  The room was unexpectedly cold, and I was glad to get into bed – although I ended up being the one who then had to get up out of bed and turn off the light.

The chapel, Hospitalite St Jacques