Day 13: Golinhac (182 km) - Conques (203 km)

Golinhac (650m) - Conques (280m)

May 24

Last stop: Conques

Our last walking day. The rain cleared the air but it was rather chilly starting out and the countryside was obscured by fog and clouds. Then all at once, the fog cleared and it was beautifully sunny as we stopped by a road side cross on the way out of town.

The walk was challenging. Initially, we had a lot of up and down on a D road, with some very steep descents. The path threaded through a lovely countryside of rolling farmland.

A farmer's creative use of tires

The road to Espyrac

Annie:  Today was one of our longest étapes:  22km.  It was Saturday, and it seemed that everyone was walking to Conques.  A lot of pilgrims on the road.  We kept on passing our 4 friends from St-Jean-de-Luz (they were at the Auberge last night).  At one point, we all came across some black bulls in a field, which led to a lively discussion.  The 4some thought the bulls were bison; I said no way; someone then suggested “tauraux d’Espagne”?  I wondered, am I really here in France, on the chemin de St Jacques, arguing about buffaloes? – yes.  Yes, I am.

Dave: We reached Espyrac by about 10:30am. Which seemed mostly asleep.

The doors to the little Romanesque church were open so we stopped by to check it out. Only one little marche was open where Annie purchased a sandwich for lunch. Then we made our way out of town, on a very steep ascent with some lovely views of the town behind us.

We reached Senergues about an hour later. We first saw it way across the valley, a tiny cluster of shapes with a spire sticking up.  We got a bit lost coming into town but then found our way back to the path and made it into the town center, stopping to have a cup of coffee and pastry. Then another steep ascent out of town, and a long slog across a series of paths and D roads. But we had a delightful lunch break at a junction of two paths, on the edge of a lovely field.

We continued to follow the balises, as the path grew somewhat hard to discern.

3 km outside of Conques we passed through the village of Saint Marcel. 

St Foi

A church dedicated to St Roch is right on the road . We admired the beautiful ancient cross from a much older version of the church, and then stepped inside where we saw a statue of St Foi (whose remains are preserved in Conques). On the way out of town we saw a donkey!!

Conques is near!

Annie: The descent into Conques was steep, hard on the knees, and very slippery, and Dave fell!  Fortunately, he was able to catch himself before too much damage was done.  So, we literally limped into Conques.

Dave: The Camino was not finished me with yet. The rain from the night before made the descent on the very steep, rocky path slippery. Doug Lippoldt had loaned me his walking baton and that limited my fall to an embarrassing moment and a bruised side.

But what joy when we saw the sign for Conques!

Annie: After a frustrating stop at the office du tourisme – they are happy to welcome tourists, but reluctant to give information on how to leave – we checked out the hébergement.  Talk about a bustling beehive!  5-7 volunteer hospitaliers are there to direct you:  take off your shoes, hang up your bâton, put your backpack in a plastic bag, to protect against the dread punaise de lit.

Dave: The hebergement has 96 beds, divided up in a number of rooms.  Once situated in our dortoir room of 14 beds (all of which were filled), we made a little tour of the town and then had a delicious cold Leffe in the shadow of the basilica.

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