April 14, 2011 from Conques

We have now made it 203 km.  My three companions have been Chris and Gitte Mackay from Scotland - friends I met five years ago on my last Camino - and Marie-Helene their friend from an earlier walk in France.  Marie-Helene is French but unfortunately she left us yesterday.  Gitte has tendon problems that probably necessitate Chris and Gitte staying in Conques for another day or two.  I would stay for another day (we arrived in Conques yesterday and today is our first rest day) but they might not be ready to leave in two days.

So, this might be me heading off 547 km across rural France by myself.  Yikes!  At least I now know how to say "I do not know how to speak French" in French.

So, quick update.  We have been walking mostly along what is known as the GR 65.  The French have a wonderful trail system all across their country and this is the big/great trail 65.  It mostly tracks the Camino (Chemin in French) but takes some scenic liberties.  France also has a wonderful network of hostels (called gites).  Most towns we have walked through have a municipal gite.  All the municipal gites have kitchens so you can travel fairly economically.

The countryside is beautiful.  It is also much tougher than what I remember of walking in Spain.  There were sections in Spain that were tough but virtually every day has been tough going. 

Weather continues to be exceptional.  We have had only two days of drizzle.  Another day looked like it might rain but never did.  All the rest of the days have been sunny and even hot.

I confess that as I have been walking along I have been taking a mental inventory of what is in my pack that I can get rid of.  I had decided that if I could find a silk sleeping liner I would mail my sleeping bag back to the US since most nights I was sleeping more outside than inside my sleeping bag.  Last night convinced me to keep my sleeping bag because it was quite chilly.

I might be able to update this later today.  Otherwise I'll update again when I find another computer.  Please pardon my spelling mistakes but this is a French computer and when I hit spell check every word is highlighted!