Day 16 - Roadways, Rivers and Rosetta Stones : Livinhac-le-Haut to Figeac

We had a nice breakfast of fruit salad, yogurt, croissants, and coffee in the communal dining area of the gite, and headed out around 7:30. As we climbed out of Livinhac-le-Haut we got a panoramic view of the Lot valley, which was quite beautiful in the morning light. As we walked the sky looked undecided as to whether it would give us more rain, or whether the sun would win out. In the end we had a nice dry day.

Not too far from Livinhac we passed a cross at the side of the road, which marked a spot where you could see three different municipalities (Aveyron, Lot, and Montredon?). The lookout point provided a nice view, and reminded us that today we are walking out of Averyron and into Quercy.

When we reached Montredon, the first village of the day, we stopped and looked inside the church, which was very beautiful. It was a small town, and everything else was closed because it is Sunday, so we continued on.

 

We had a pleasant walk, mostly along countryside roads, until we stopped in at the Chapel of Mary Magdalene. This 12^th century building has 15^th century frescoes above the alter which depict the tetramorph representations of the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It was a very beautiful and peaceful chapel.

Shortly afterwards the walk took us across a small lake where several people were fishing. At the far side of the lake there was a flock of sheep that looked like the special Quercy variety, which have the black eyes and ears.

 

A short while later we happened upon the Chambre d'hotes Aire de Picque-Nique La Grange de Bord. This was a very nice looking gite which was serving food to pilgrims. We had two delicious apple tarts, but the smells of the food being cooked in the kitchen were appetizing enough to make us wish we were staying for dinner.  The owner/cook was extremely friendly and nice as well!

After Bord we passed through St. Felix, which was another small village with a very beautiful church, and from there it was a short walk to St. Jean Mirabel. We took the short detour off the path to visit the church, and look at the tympanum above the side door.

Although we had been climbing gently since St. Felix, today was not a difficult walk at all. In fact, I think it might have been one of the easiest so far. The walk into Figeac was also very nice. The trail came in through countryside, and then dropped down along treed roads and through residential areas, until it reached the river.

The gite we are staying in didn't open until 3:30, so we found a bakery and got ourselves a quiche and a cookie, and then sat by the river in the park to eat them. We checked in to the Gite du Carmel, which is very clean and friendly, and then headed out to explore more of the city.

We visited the Abbey Saint Sauveur, which is very large and impressive.

After that we visited the Champollion Museum, which is dedicated to language and writing. Jean-Francoise Champollion was a historian and linguist who apparently founded Egyptology and who played a major role in deciphering the Rosetta Stone and Egyptian hieroglyphs. The museum was very interesting, and we would highly recommend visiting it! We did however recognize the irony of reading through displays on deciphering languages in a language we don't speak.

In the evening we returned to the Gite du Caramel and shared a delicious communal meal with three other women and the volunteers who run the gite. The ladies came from America, Belgium, and France, and most spoke a little English and very kindly included us in the conversation. It was a wonderful meal of soup, salad, bread, wine, and scalloped potatoes, cheese, and peaches with ice cream. The best part was the company, and the very nice lady from France nearly convinced us to walk the Cele Valley instead of heading to Rocamadour!

We headed out after dinner so Sean could photograph the city a little, and then returned to our three person room where we were the only occupants.  A wonderful night.

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Practical Information:
Distance: 24.4 km

Cumulative ascent: 707 m

Cumulative descent: 731 m

Max Temperature: 19˚C

Accommodations: Gitede Carmel (donation)