Photos: Conques to St. Jean Pied de Port

These are photos of the last half of the walk in France.

 We walked above the clouds as we left Conques.

 We often stopped for coffee along the way. Jacques and Roland-from-Germany are with us.

 This is Spanish broom in bloom--it grew wild all over the place.

 In Livinhac on April 23 we stayed at La Magnanerie in this tower that once housed silkworms.

Recycling bins were everywhere in both France and Spain.

These scallop shells (the symbol of the Chemin/Camino) were blowing in the breeze like wind chimes.

We spent the night at Vaylats at the Convent of the Daughters of Jesus on April 28.

This rocky field was plowed and planted.

We took a rest day in Moissac. The geraniums above are in the garden of the wonderful gite we stayed in. As we left we walked along a canal.

Jacques was still entertaining us.

Most of the woods/forests were managed--the trees were planted in rows. This was true for evergreens as well as plane trees (sycamores) and eucalyptus once we got a little further west.

These are the stairs in the house we stayed in on May 4 in Auviller. Originally a farmhouse, parts of it dated back to the 11th Century.

The house above in contrast with a view from a nearby overlook of the nuclear power plant.

Notice the furniture on the ceiling in this restaurant....

The cemeteries were quite different from ours. Families are buried in granite vaults and many memorials are placed on top.

Wheat and barley had made heads and were starting to ripen.

Notice the trail sign under the Do Not Enter sign. We looked for such signs at every intersection.

These are fava beans in bloom.

Cindy and one of our favorite Camino friends Laetitia. She had the most beautiful laugh!

I toured the church and cloister in Romieu. The narrow spiral staircase reminded me of the one in the arm of the Statue of Liberty. Underneath this staircase was a hidden one used to escape unwanted intruders. A spiral staircase under a spiral staircase: think about it....

Sometimes walkers find messages in strange places. Laetitia was ahead of us and had written our names in the mud. Here's a photo of Cindy's.

This is an earthworm. Yikes!

Vineyards were slowly replacing grain fields.

The grapes become wine in places like this.

The Pyrenees in the distance....

Sometimes the other walkers were sheep.

This cattle guard appears to be called "passage canadien."

We've reached St. Jean Pied de Port, the start of the Camino Frances as opposed to le Chemin de St. Jacques that we have been traveling. We rested here a day, which was a good call--it was pouring down rain the morning of the rest day. Below was our view from our gite: pilgrims heading out in the rain.

To be continued........