So the church bells mercifully stopped after 10 pm last night. At 7 am they returned with a vengeance, declaring it to be 7 am twice, then ringing for the next five minutes non stop. Nobody in Livinhac-Le-Haut needs their own alarm clock.
Today the hills flattened out and the farms were replaced by housing and light industry. We did stop for casse croute (sandwiches) this morning in a cafe in Montredon.
Helen operates a small cafe 7 km past Livinhac-Le-Haut, the perfect distance for our first break. She recognized my last name. Her husband, a Fischer, is from the Alsace region of France as are my Dietrich ancestors. She thought my name would be rare in Canada. I told her it wasn’t so rare, at least not in Kitchener-Waterloo.
Pauline is French and works in a restaurant. She spends time in Canada as her fiance lives in Toronto, ON, teaching French and Spanish.
We walked 30 km again today to reach Figeac, a middle ages town with narrow cobble stone streets. It is known as a centre of arts. We searched out the Post Office. Mark D and I people watched while Mark K spent nearly an hour in the post office sending home some unneeded gear and mailing in his election ballot. Mark D and I requested mail in ballots online for the upcoming Canadian Federal election, but they only arrived at our homes a few days ago. Oh well.
We stayed at Gite D’Etape Le Coquelicot, a very old building close to Old Town. We opted for a restaurant meal this evening and scoped out the best Pizzeria in town. Our laundry was drying and we had this place to ourselves pretty much – just one other guest.
At this point the Chemin offers three variant routes. All have their selling points but we are going to stay with the traditional route. We have reached the 1/3 distance, just 500 kms to Saint Jean Pied de Port.