Ramblings

Clack…..clack…..clack…..behind me. “Bonjour pélérin”, says Speedy as he zooms past me through the undergrowth of the track we were following before Cahors. He soon disappears. I assume that those who walk fast are travelling, daily, much further than I; but no, that evening, at the Auberge de Jeunesse et Jeunes Travailleurs, I find him in the bed next to me, asleep at 8.30pm! Fast walking must have exhausted him! He has not even got up the next day by the time I slip out of the building at 7.15am in the centre of Cahors, but later he again speeds past me with a single observation: “It’s difficult here…” and once more is soon lost to sight amongst the bushes and trees, stick clacking against the stones and rocks of the path.

Getting into the Auberge de Jeunesse et Jeunes Travailleurs was no problem for me who is neither young nor working, nor indeed for the Gang of Four in their 60s/70s, and others more of my age. Reception, by a young girl, very pleasant, was into an establishment rather like the military: “ID please; do you need a pillow / pillow case / blanket / sleeping bag / supper / breakfast… all of which will cost you if you do?” I indicate a pillow, supper and breakfast will meet my requirements (providing breakfast is early enough), and a bed, if possible. E22.10 it costs, sleeping in a dormitory with bunk beds for 8 (only 6 people that night), and a basin; loos and showers were miles away along old bare boarded corridors. Spartan furnishings, the strict minimum, one might say, but all quite clean. Supper OK (4 courses), taken with my new companions, and breakfast too and then we climbed the steep hill out of Cahors together before they slipped away ahead of me after we had admired a somewhat misty view of Cahors from above.

Hobbling along to Labastide – Marnhac during the morning I stopped from time to time to arrange my rescue from the Chemin which duly took place at lunch-time. Very useful to have a portable phone in my kitbag I can tell you. It was used extensively that morning (last Tuesday). I was not going to carry one but had my arm twisted; I’m glad it was!

Had to cancel 2 reservations I had made and one of my future hostesses enlightened me with a new expression for me: “Bon réetablissement”, so I told her that when I was “mended” I might well be coming to see her (at Lauzerte).

So what’s the state of the leg now after 3 days rest? Improving without a doubt, but still not ready to start walking.


While I am not walking I have time to write so if I stop writing that could be a good sign....