Photos: LePuy to Conques

Here are a few photos of the first part of the walk to give you a small taste of our magnificent journey.

Tom and Cindy are at the beginning of the walk in Le Puy. The yellow sign at the top says "St. Jacques de Compostelle--1522km."

A statue of St. James (St. Jacques in France), for whom the Camino (le chemin) is named.

 Another statue of St. Jacques. This one warns us not to take advice from locals, to look to our guidebook and signposts.

It was definitely early spring.

 

The huge farmhouse at Le Savauge that we stayed in on April 14.

This is l'Aubrac, the high open plain in France's Central Massif that took us several days to cross. In the far distance in the upper photo you can see snow-covered peaks. There were wild daffodils blooming in the fields. The weather was stunningly beautiful--it snowed on those who walked it the next week. It was our favorite part of the whole walk.

L'Aubrac is famous for its beautiful cattle.

We stayed in a yurt in Rieutort on April 16. It was run by a woman who cooked for us since there was nowhere to eat or buy food there. She taught school during the day....

We took naps wherever we could.

Walking into Saint-Côme-d'Olt. The church spire really is twisted.

We spent the night in an old prison that had been made into a Gite (zheet) Communal. From left: Cindy, Jacques, Sylvain and Sabine (the proprietors), Tom. Jacques is the big Dutchman from Sweden who entertained us off and on all the way to the end of the walk.

Still Saint-Côme-d'Olt. Wysteria was blooming everywhere.

We reached Conques on April 21. On the right is the cathedral. On the left is the abbey where we spent two nights. We've come 205 km from LePuy.

We left Conques in the rain on April 23. In the photo below, we turned around for one last look.