Oct 11,12,13

Day 11, October 11, 2025, 7 km. Today we move along 2 1/2 hours by car (36 hours on foot) to a must see location of Condom France, The home of the Three Musketeers. We decided to start this day by driving out to Rocamadour. and then a stop at Cahors on the way. Obviously a bit more of a day then we expected, we could have spent a full day just in Rocamadour. 

As we left our place we stopped for Julie to get a photo of a cemetery built into the side of the cliff. each grave is a chamber where many were buried and a new marker added to the top. I guess it saves space.
 

 Rocamadour. is an amazing city built on the side of the cliff looking over a river valley so rich with history. It is said to contain the the tomb of Zacchaeus .. the wee little man.  It was another village that we could not drive in, but John bit the bullet and walked in with the others, and was so glad he did. (so sorry that you were in such pain)

Then on to Cahors to see this beautiful bridge over the Le Lot River. 

Next stop was our farm stay just outside Condom, but first we stopped along the way for a late lunch at a beautiful restaurant. 

This was our next place where will spend three nights exploring and walking. It was the upstairs of this country home.  

This was a very long stressful drive, and John's phone and GPS went dead... here is Kim's account of what happened next.

 

I remember that is was very stressful when Johns phone stopped giving directions and he was driving on a busy road not knowing where to go and he was very frustrated understandably and when I put the directions on my Google Maps and handed my phone to John, Siri randomly said "That's right up there with aliens, crop circles and lost socks" and we all laughed at a very stressful time it was just weird but needed 😂

This was a long tiring drive but it was worth it in the end.  

Day 12, October 12, 2025 13 km - The first day here John drove us back to La Romieu and we walked back to our house, the last 2 hours was very hard walking on stones and up and down. Happy Thanksgiving. We walked through lovely towns and fields and vineyards. 

Later Peggy wrote, I am thankful for each of you and our adventures together. I am thankful for health and the ability to walk. I am thankful for Gods' blessings poured out on us - especially during our Camino.

Journal entry - Now is the time to dig deep and solve some issues in our minds, to de stress. 

Miracle Boy Paul says, I had no idea I was going to even walk. I thought you might kick me off the team for being too slow. 

Day 13, October 13, 2025 - 13 km. Lovely walk into Condom to have Latte and a croissant with John. The way was peaceful, clean, the fields were resting and serene. We stretched often and my foot and ankle did much better. Plus Kim adjusted my ankle. Journal entry - loved getting a latte. I listened to Jane Siberry singing " The sky is so Blue" thought of Jef and had a cry. I wondered what he might be doing if he was still alive. Probably walking the Camino with me - I cried.  This night I decided to walk over the Pyrenes again ! Crazy!
 

 

We arrive 

into Condom, the home of the Three Musketeers. 

Lots of walking along the river, then they were picked up and driven to about 10 km from our next stop. 

Oct 7-10

Day 7, October 7, 2025 10 km .We moved  ahead to Saint -Sulpice, in the middle of the Cele Variant. 

Here we will spend the next 4 days walking and exploring what some say is the most interesting and beautiful locations of this Way. This was like a dream come true for me. So much planning and thinking and trying to get just the right house in just the right place. Praise God. Our first drive was to Figeac where we started with a latte and a treat at a café before heading out. 

John went grocery shopping a couple km down the road and when the others failed to meet up with him he checked their position to see that they had promptly walked the opposite direction . This when we found out that they mark each of the three variants' the same and both coming and going .. this meant that for the next week there would often be some trials getting back on track. So thankful that you guys showed such grace each time we went a wrong way.

The home was spectacular.  We had tried to get as close to the Camino as we could and this house was so close that it had the marker on the down spout right on the house. 

Day 8, October 8, 2025, 10 km. The next morning when we woke up everything was fogged in. 

 We had another coffee and some more breakfast then John drove them about 10km back on the route and came back to make them lunch on the patio.   

He started setting things up when they were about 1 hour out.  He says he could have sold their lunch 10 times over as other pilgrims thought they had hit the jack pot as they came across our oasis. 

The whole place was more then we ever could have expected..  Every day we were starting the day saying  " Today is going to be a glorious day full of miracles, signs and wonders. "  

 Day 9, October 9, 2025 13 km. Our second day was a beautiful morning so they began walking right from the house and chose to walk along the river .  At lunch time John met up with them in a quaint little village where the mayor came out to greet us and bring us to a museum that he was proud of because it held the old clock that was cared for by his ancestors.  

Maralhac-Sur-sele' was a very interesting village with an incredibly old abbey we were able to go into.  You just never know what you are going to find. This is Mayor Jean Paul; he had nine cats, gave us a tour of the museum, had a Latte that our John David made, was quite amusing and a bit obnoxious at the same time LOL. 

That night we got home and everyone brought out all their pain meds and creams to show what the the over 60 group used on the Camino.   I think we can make it another day. 

Day 10, October 10, 2025. 16 km. So the next day we drove to the village of Bouzies to walk to Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. 11 km, plus an extra 4.5 in the opposite way before turning around and walking back . 

When we arrived at the village there was a bridge to cross and John refused to go over it with the car and insisted that they get out and walk at that point. That was just fine with Kim as she already had her door open and was bailing out. 

This walk was along the river and was so close that for about 5km they were walking in a dug out trench that horses would use to walk along the river bank to pull the barges. 

When we got to Lapoopy  the team was walking along the river and had to climb the mountain to get to the village. John was trying to find them and could see that they were right below him but could not drive to that location . 

After going the wrong way yet again we had a fantastic day along the river with the amazing cliffs. We were all in good spirits and we power climbed this great hill to the town of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie.  

John standing at one café waving to the walkers across the valley 

The walkers waving back 

 After many tries John gave up and went to a coffee shop to wait for them. The team went to a coffee shop at the same time and we waved to each other across the valley. Eventually the walkers reunited with John and we headed to the Pech-Mirle caves 

What a day. When we got back home we had a debriefing with the group and warned them that this must be the pinacol of the trip and it was going to be down hill from here, Something that was going to be tossed back up at us for another incredible week.  

( to clarify - I meant After the next planned day to Rocamadour it was going to be all down hill and I hoped  to prepare them for a less than spectacular time from here on.) I was certainly wrong about that as we carried on having Glorious Days filled with miracles, signs and wonders.