We woke  up to the smell of coffee at  6:30 AM at “The Nest of Angels” in Lascabanes. The smell of coffee sure beats an alarm clock! Birds were waking up with the sun by the time we headed out the door an hour later. Once again it was a perfect hiking temperature – cool with a mix of cloud and clear skies. I was hoping the clothes I had pinned to my backpack would dry before noon but within a half hour we were snug in our rain ponchos. How quickly the weather changed. It rained off and on for much of the day.

The red and white markers were easy to follow. Yesterday we happened to come across a man in a vehicle whose job is to make sure that the red and white markers are where they’re supposed to be. He was on his way to fix a marker that was leading people in the wrong direction. The markers differed from our Wise Pilgrim offline map because the route now makes a detour to pass through the town of Montcuq. There are several places for coffee in Montcuq which is good; otherwise, places to stop for coffee are few and far between. 

There was more agricultural land on today’s route, including another huge field of brown sunflowers and fields of lavender as far as the eye could see. The lavender had been cut but the plants were still fragrant. It would be so iconically “French” to see these fields in the summer when the lavender is in bloom. 

There were some annoying ups and downs such as the exits from Montcuq or Montlauzun. We had hiked 26 kilometres and had another four kilometres to go, including a dangerous descent and a final ascent to Lauzerte when we gave up! We backtracked to a road which was longer than the trail but safer, but we just couldn’t go any further.  We must have looked like we were at the end of our ropes when a kind woman stopped to help. She enlisted her husband to drive us to Gîte d’étape L’Abeille Lulu in Lauzerte where we are staying tonight. Nicole helped us by making phone calls to change our reservations and arrange a ride for us to Moissac where we’ll stay for two nights. Nicole helped us again by bringing in our clothes from the line and hanging them inside when it rained. We were away having dinner at a tiny but great pizza restaurant at the time. People refer to “Camino Angels” and we’ve met several Angels on our journey, especially today. They are kind people with big hearts willing to help others who are in need. For that we’ll be forever grateful.

Because we are getting a ride tomorrow afternoon, we’ll have all morning to explore more of Lauzerte, a medieval town perched on a hill which is among the most beautiful on the Camino de Le Puy. We’ll also go for lunch at the fantastic little pizza restaurant where we had dinner. It was the best! 😋