Yesterday morning couldn’t have been better! We left Saint Cirq Lapopie heading for Accambal, a distance of 22 kilometres. It was beautiful, peaceful, and cool  walking alongside the meandering Lot River where massive cliffs hung overhead. We stopped to watch while a lock was opened to allow the passage of a boat. The trail lead through the well-equipped village of Bouzies where we ordered sandwiches to eat along the way, and then continued along beautiful country roads with little elevation change. It was perfect! 

Then things went sideways in the afternoon. We missed a red and white marker and made exactly the same mistake Kerri Daniels told about when she was interviewed by Dave Whitson on “The Camino Podcast.” Even though we realized we weren’t on the right path, we thought we’d be able to join up with it eventually. The well-used trail we were on almost petered out and we were faced with an insurmountable cliff. From the look of it, we weren’t the first to try climbing around the side of the cliff. Eventually we gave up with dirt under the fingernails, a couple of scrapes, and no choice other than to backtrack two kilometres to the marker we missed. Although we got back on track, we were confused by all the different routes to follow on Google maps – some longer and steeper than others. Our 22 kilometre day turned out to be about 26 kilometres and we were exhausted by the end of it.

Chambres d’Hotes Les River d’Olt in Accambal (Bears) was a perfect place to recover! Evelyne gave us the warmest welcome, a refreshing cold drink, and showed us to our beautiful room with a view. That evening we were in a group of seven for dinner on the patio facing cliffs lit by the setting sun. We had such a lovely time and the food was superb. The end of the day was as perfect as the first part of it!😃

After walking 26 kilometres yesterday, we decided to skip the challenging 24 kilometre hike to Cahors and took the bus instead. It allowed us hours to explore this beautiful city with its 14th century bridge, Catedrale Saint Etienne, and just wander around in the historical part of town. Eating Italian “Hawaiian” pizza and beer in an alleyway in France where all the downspouts had knitted “socks” was fun.

We are staying at Le Deuxieme Soufflé in Cahors tonight in another private room and bath overlooking a garden. Tomorrow we’ll be back on the trail to Lascabanes, 23 kilometres away. 👣 👣