Chasing After Jess

We reluctantly left the beautiful town of Espalion after a very comfortable night at our Gîte.

During our stay, we met some lovely people who we did not realise would form a big part of our story! Firstly, we met a young girl from the USA traveling alone (Monica, who ended being a close friend of mine here). Second, we met lovely lady from NSW (Nicky – who we didn’t get to see again, but we stayed in touch online) who entertained us with her funny stories and her kind heart!

We stayed up much later than usual, enjoying dinner, sharing stories, and forming new friendships. Our new friends convinced us to try the Cele Valley variant of the GR65, which they said was stunning compared to the main track.

We set off around 6:45 am, crossing the full Lot River under overcast skies. As usual, the day started with a steep, rocky climb, and the ever-present mud made the going slow. Walking along the Lot River was beautiful, with stunning buildings and scenery, and one house even had its own bridge connecting the road to the garage.

Sadly the day seemed to drag, and it took much longer than planned to cover the first 14 km to the lovely town of Estaing. A track deviation due to poor conditions added extra kilometers to our journey, making the final stretch to Compuac a long, steady uphill climb. The sun came out just as we neared the town, and we arrived around 4 pm.

Compuac was a lovely little town, and our Gîte in the square had great views of the cathedral. We enjoyed sitting in the town square in the afternoon sun, and were happy to find our Australian friends staying at the same Gîte.

Our host was gracious and kind, and dinner was a delicious four-course meal of soup, quiche, chicken stew, and prune brûlée. After two and a half hours, we couldn’t stay awake any longer and we reluctantly excused ourselves, reassuring our host that everything was wonderful. The French way of staying up late and eating dinner late is quite different from our early-to-bed, early-to-rise routine. Is the proverb “early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise” just words? We fell into bed totally exhausted and sadly woke up feeling the same, but that’s a tale for tomorrow.

Jess x