Pilgrims on the Way

Originally part of a Benedictine priory, this church is located on the approach to the town of Espalion, It was the town’s first parish church by the 11th century, and despite the distance from town remained a parish church for the next 700 years. Properly titled the Église Saint-Hilarian-Sainte-Foy de Perse, it was built on the site where Saint Hilarian of Espalion […]

At the top of the ridge, from the monumental statue of the Virgin Mary, you get your first glimpse of the town of Espalion, below. The town itself hugs the River Lot, but towering above it is the ruins of the medieval Château de Calmont d’Olt. This has been a fortified position since at least the 9th century, and it […]

Finally after another climb, Nina and I came to a monumental larger-than-life statue of the Virgin Mary, arms spread like a protective mother embracing her children. This is marked on the maps variously as “Notre-Dame de Versus” or “de Vermus” or even “de Vernus”. It possibly means something like “Our Lady of Virtues”. She sits on a volcanic outcrop overlooking […]

I finally reached a large clearing at the top of the climb, and the cool breeze put me in mind of the prophet Elijah, finding God not in the storm or the earthquake, but in the gentle breeze. I found myself walking with a friendly young Bavarian lady named Nina. I was faster than her on the uphills, but she […]

I thought I was at the top of the hill. I thought wrong. On the next section, they had thoughtfully installed several sets of stairs like this. In my memory there was far more up and down than you see on the map below, but there certainly was a lot of up up up! In fact, we got above the […]

After walking uphill through the woods for some time, we came to this clearing near the top of the hill. The dawn’s light bathed these ruins and the nearby farmhouse in scarlet, and I stopped for a while to admire the view. It had nothing to do from being winded by the climb, of course. I took half a dozen […]

After crossing the river, I stopped for one last look at the lovely village of Saint-Côme-d’Olt. You can more clearly see the twisty church tower from this angle, and I think get a clearer idea of how the village sits above the river. From here, the Camino parallels the river for a bit, ducking in and out of forest and […]

On the way out of Saint-Côme-d’Olt, the Camino crosses over the Lot. In Occitan, it is known as the Òlt – hence the name of the village. Over the course of the next week and a half, the Camino will leave the river valley of the Lot several times, always returning to it, before finally leaving it for good after the city of […]

The next morning, I left Saint-Côme-d’Olt about dawn. This is later than in previous days, as the high temperature today was only supposed to be in the upper 70s. I ran in to a number of other pilgrims leaving the village. Even if I didn’t have others to follow, the way was clearly marked. Daylight helped too, of course. Date: […]