Oct 23, Day 17: Vers to Cahors (18.2 km)

A rare non-selfie pic.

The day began with an excellent buffet breakfast at La Truite Dorée.  We had coffee with milk, excellent croissants and baguette, butter, apricot jam, ham, cheese, and apple compote.  While we were checking out we noticed two pilgrims (or hikers) who seemed to be starting out as they were asking the receptionist for directions.  They kindly offered to take our picture.  

The morning fog on the river.

We walked up and out of Vers, the usual routine to get out of town.  I was still quite sore from the previous two long days, but I was optimistically looking forward to a shorter day and a day off in Cahors.  My left hamstring was still very tight and the tightness extended down my leg to the knee.  The rejuvenation I had felt from the hot bath taken in Rocamadour was long gone.

The descent into Cahors.

We climbed over a double set of hills and began our descent into the suburbs of Cahors.  As we were walking the last stretch, Catherine, Christelle and Philippe came down behind us.  We showed them that there were two ways to get into Cahors, one along the river Lot, and the other up a hill to get the view of the city and then down into Cahors.  We all chose the flat route.

Lock in the Lot.

Forested area between farm and river.

The walk along the River Lot was flat and very enjoyable.  The river was on our right, and there were farmers fields along the left.  There were people out walking dogs and cycling.  We decided to break for lunch at a cement dock used by the boats passing through the lock.  We ate a basic lunch of an apple, peanuts and squares of chocolate.  

View of Cahors.

We approached Cahors and crossed a bridge into the city.  We found the tourist office and René inquired about a bus to shorten one of the sections we still had to do.

Exhausted.

We checked into to the Inter-Hotel Le Valentré and I immediately fell asleep even though we had walked only 19 km.  My body can only take so much and then it shuts down.

Pont Valentré.

René on the Pont Valentré.

I felt much better after a rest so and we went back out with the goal of visiting the Pont Valentré.  The weather was spectacular: warm with a perfectly blue sky.  On the other side of the bridge we met Catherine, Christelle and Phillippe.  They had reached the end of their current section and they would be leaving the next day.  They had crossed the bridge to visit the beginning of the next stage of their pilgrimage.  They would return in the summer and continue walking and were planning to eventually walk to Santiago.  

We had a great spread of apéritif with beer, crackers and olives while relaxing in our room.  We then went out and found a little crêperie and had one crêpe with ham and cheese, another with spinach, and treated ourselves to a dessert crepe with chocolate.