Pilgrims on the Way

In Estaing, I stayed in my first gîte communal, which is a large facility run by a town or community. And this is it. It was very clean and almost empty, probably because of the heatwave of previous days. Mary, the hostess, was extremely helpful and friendly, and she quickly got me sorted into a room with three empty beds […]

On the way to my gîte, I saw this wheel up against the side of a building, and I did a double-take. As I mentioned yesterday, Estaing is home to a plethora of art made from common items. This one gave me pause, however, as one-half of it very much resembled a character – the title character in fact – […]

The village of Estaing is home to a plethora of art made from common household items. This was the first one that I saw, just after running into Marten and Nina sitting at an outdoor café having coffee. I joined them, and we had a great conversation before they left to do their last 7 km of the day. Although […]

As I mentioned yesterday, Estaing’s bridge over the River Lot has two pieces of art at its center, facing each other across the bridge. On one side there stands a Cross, and on the other side facing the Cross is a statue of Blessed François d’Estaing, the Bishop of Rodez who was responsible for the construction of the bridge. And here […]

The Camino eventually returned to the road, and shortly thereafter I caught my first glimpses of the village (town, really) where I planned to spend the night: Estaing! It towers over the north bank of the River Lot, and it almost looks like a town from a fantasy novel. It was only about 1:30 PM, so I would have plenty […]

After leaving the little village of Verrières, I was soon on a main road again, which ran above and roughly parallel with the River Lot. Then the Way left the main road to go up a ridiculously steep hillside covered in loose slate. Soon I was walking on a ridge above the road, which itself was on a ridge above […]

After Trédou, the Camino passed through several tiny villages – or perhaps farmsteads – so small that most weren’t even on my map. Finally, we came to the larger village of Verrières. It appears to have been the home of several mills, but in recent years found a new life as a suburb. This photo was taken from the Pont […]

This image in the little church of Trédou is, despite appearances, a modern poster mounted on a metal backing, if I remember correctly. In any case, it’s a poster, and it’s attached to a pillar in this 15th century church to appeal to pilgrims walking the Camino. I would love to know the origin of the original image, as I […]

The little church of Trédou was built in the 15th century, although by that time there had already been a church on this site for at least 400 years. It’s sort of quasi-Gothic. The stained glass windows date to the 20th century and are quite lovely The sign outside indicates that this was originally a monastic church, which definitely tracks, […]