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| René did not bring a beard trimmer. |
We had a leisurely breakfast again today as we did not have much to walk. We had decided to cut the day short due to my sore leg and we were going to take a bus part of the way today. Breakfast was coffee, spice cake, baguette, butter, homemade jam, juice and yogurt.
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| The spooky forest. |
We set out to pass through the forest which Andrew had walked yesterday. We noticed that the bare branches, leaf covered trail, and darkly shadowed forest did lend a spooky feeling to the forest. Or maybe it was because we were a few days from Halloween. Either way we were glad not to be walking at twilight...
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| Already resting? |
We walked by fields of cereal crops and pastures for cows. The elevation was mostly flat. We walked into the tiny hamlet of Varaire and had a second breakfast of viennoiseries. We also bought a baguette for lunch. We saw another pilgrim buying some lunch supplies and we were still surprised to see her after having seen so few people walking on the Rocamadour variant route.
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| Road into Limogne-en-Quercy |
We walked into Limogne-en-Quercy just after 13h00. There was a local bus passing through town at 18h55 and we planned on taking it to Villefranche-de-Rouergue where we had accommodation for the night. The original plan was to walk many more kilometers today and the next day, to eventually walk to Villefranche, but we were playing it safe, and hopefully smart, by not walking and resting my leg.
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| View from the bench. For six hours. |
So we had about six hours to wait in a tiny town. We were going to spend some time at the little local museum located above the tourist office, but exceptionally it was closed for the day. We did a tour of the town and walked up the church and used the WC near the community centre. We stopped just outside the tourist office at a bench and had our lunch of baguette, the rest of the Cantal cheese and an apple. And then we waited. We did not do much more than read, talk, and visit the few small shops open after lunch, but the time passed quickly, and my leg was better for not having walked, and before we knew it, we had to stand up and wave down the bus.
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| Happy to be on the bus. |
We were worried about not being able to see the bus in the dark, but we had no trouble recognizing the unique headlights. To signal your intent to board a bus in France you wave at the driver, and given that we had waited six hours for this bus, we waved wildly. The bus had an eerie blue night-light and after sitting on a bench for six hours, boarding a blue lit bus was like a dream.
Thirty minutes later we arrived at the bus station in Villefranche-de-Rouergue and found our lovely bed and breakfast
Les Terrasses de la Maison Pago. Pierre welcomed us, gave us a quick tour and some restaurant suggestions. The house had been a cannery for dehydrated local mushrooms and sold to many countries including the USA. Now the upper floors were the owner's residence and the lower rooms were for the bed and breakfast.
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| So delicious! |
We choose the recommended pizzeria and had pizza, lasagne, a carafe of wine and chocolate, vanilla, praliné, and caramel ice cream. It was so good that we decided to come back the next night.
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| Illuminated clock in main square. |
The main square was empty and we wandered around. The square would be the location of the Thursday market, one of the oldest in France. It also had an illuminated clock built into the stones with a series of white and yellow lights which indicated hours and minutes.
I took advantage of the bath in our room when we returned. The hot water relaxed my left hamstring and butt and I was able to stretch.
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