Oct 20, Day 14: Gramat to Rocamadour (12.4 km)

René and Susan, smiling but cold.
The morning was cold.  René turned on the heater in the yurt and the bathroom, and only when it had warmed up a bit did I force myself to get out of the warm bed.  We had a little breakfast of yogurt and tea.  We took our time as we knew that we did not have far to walk today to get to Rocamadour.

Surprisingly, the owners were waiting for us at the main house with a set table for breakfast.  We did not know that breakfast was included.  We had great big bowls of coffee with milk, croissants, toasted baguette and butter.  The owners gave us lots of good information about Cahors, where we were headed in three days, and about our hike today.  They told us we would be walking through the Causses du Quercy Regional National Park and by an old mill bridge.

The river valley

The old moulin (mill).
There were two paths to take, one down on the valley floor, by the old mill bridge, and the other at a much higher in elevation along the ridge of the valley.  We choose to walk along the valley floor.  The river had been quite robust, but now it was a small creek.  The walk was easy and the valley was beautiful.  Again we saw no other hikers or pilgrims.

Short day: Gramat to Rocamadour.

Rocamadour on the hill.
We saw the small town of Rocamadour up on the hill.  We were approaching the town from down below in the valley and we knew that we would have a good walk straight up hill.  There were a number of cars parked down below and tourists who were struggling to make it up the hill.  We realized quickly that this would be another tourist filled town.

In town we sat and had a lunch of couscous salad and apples.  We talked to other pilgrims Catherine, Sylvain and Cristelle, who were walking the Rocamadour route.  They were walking the Le Puy camino route in sections and they were out for about a week.  They had walked the other valley route, and said that it had been beautiful to see the valley and warm in the sun.

View from our hotel room, breathtaking!
René had booked a night at the Best Western Beau Site.  He had booked a standard room, but the hotel receptionist gave us an upgrade to a room with a view of the valley and a bathtub!

Tourists visiting the church of Notre Dame.

View of Rocamadour from the other side of the valley.

Tourist shops and tourists in Rocamadour.
We spent the afternoon walking through Rocamadour, then walking up to the church and the top of the valley, past the animal park and to the lookout from the other side of the valley.  There were many people visiting and struggling with the hills and stairs, but René and I flew up, feeling light as air without our backpacks.

Deserted Rocamadour.

I was glad to soak in the bathtub for a while.  The hot water felt good on my sore legs, and I was able to stretch my left hamstring.  We ended up at a valley view restaurant for supper and ate a goat cheese salad, and omelette with cepes mushrooms, sausage with polenta and apple crumble for dessert.  Catherine, Phillippe and Christelle were also at the restaurant, and we ended up commiserating about sore feet and hips, the endless hills and heavy backpacks.

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