Because there were no accommodations in Golinhac, I spent an extra night at the hotel in Espalion. I was instructed to take a taxi from Golinhac back to Espalion, and then take a taxi back to Golinhac to continue the hike on to Conques.
This proved to be more complicated than it seemed. On Friday I was able to arrange (in French) a taxi from Estaing to Espalion. But on Saturday morning it was raining, and the taxi company the hotel called for me called back an hour later to say it wasn’t possible to take me to Golinhac. Fortunately I still had the number for the other taxi, and the same guy showed up 30 minutes later.
By the time we reached Golinhac it was already 11 am, and I was tempted to just have the taxi take me to Conques and blow off the hike. Instead, I set off walking in the rain.
It’s about 21 km (13 miles) from Golinhac to Conques. I’ve been walking between 4-5 km per hour, depending on how often I stop to rest, how hilly the terrain is, and how long I’ve been walking — sometimes I’m shuffling by the end of the day. That was yesterday, for sure. Climbing up the steep incline in the middle was an exercise in just putting one foot in front of the other, and reminding myself that this is an amazing adventure, even with poor visibility and squelching socks.
I got into Conques just as Saturday evening services let out at the church, having taken very few photos due to the rain. But today (Sunday) I was a rest day, so I was able to wander around a bit and check things out.
Conques is built on a hillside and has for the most part retained its medieval layout. The original monastery was built in the eighth century, and the current Abbey Church of Sainte Foy was constructed in the 11th and 12th centuries. It has been an important stop for pilgrims all the way back to medieval times due to it being the home of the remains of Sainte Foy (Saint Faith), a teenaged girl who was tortured to death by the Roman Empire in the 4th century or so. Lovely.
Conques is also a point on the Via Podiensis where a lot of vacation hikers leave the trail. They have definitely thinned out over the last few days – yesterday I was passed by a group of four cyclists, and saw no other hikers. Admittedly, I started late in the day, but at earlier stops there would be dozens of people for breakfast or dinner and the number has gotten smaller each day.
Saturday is supposed to be the last day of rain for a while, with sun and temperatures rising into the high 20s Celsius (low 80s Fahrenheit). Those are the kinds of days that were giving me trouble on training hikes, but I hope the conditioning of almost two weeks of walking will help. Fingers crossed!
This is the view from my window, at 5:30 pm Sunday afternoon:
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