Inspirations

Day 7 - Tuesday, 1 October 2024 - Saint-Chely-d'Aubrac to Saint Côme-d’Olt. ~16.7 klms, total ~155.3 klms.

To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.

Søren Kierkegaard

In a strange, serendipitous way this article popped up in my inbox today. I cannot say that I have any recollection of the event in October 1984, but since I was living in Port Moresby at the time news from Australia and the world was pretty sparse. But in the interconnected way of the world it was this very event which inspired a trickle of subsequent events which led me to some of my more unusual (extreme?) adventures - to lose my footing. Obviously central to those being my various trips to the Himalayas, and also including our various Caminos, this one being our 4th. As I reflect back I can say that I have indeed dared momentarily, to slightly misquote Kierkegaard. [AW and LP within the context of the article above you will no doubt understand the analogy well.]

That said, today was indeed an easy day, not one of daring. Very pretty, very comfortable temperature. I'll let the photos tell most of the story.

We left our digs at Bonnefon around 9am (our delightful hostess Martine drove us back to Saint-Chély-dʼAubrac for the start of the day's walk). A quick lookaround, and a stock-up at the boulangerie, and we were off, arriving here in Saint Côme-d’Olt around 2pm.

Saint Côme-d’Olt is in part named after the martyred brothers Côme and Damien, although I'm not quite sure of their connection to this area. The d'Olt part comes from the old celtic word (Olt) for the Lot river. Beautiful twisty turny little town.

We are staying tonight in Couvent de Malet, an old converted convent. I haven't been able to find much history of the convent itself; it clearly still has elements of religious adherence, but how that connects with the commercial/accommodation side I'm not sure. Trish and I attended vespers this evening (most unusual for me); the nuns' singing/harmonising was lovely.

Here's today's photos:

Leaving Bonnefon this morning

Above: various scenes of Saint-Chély-dʼAubrac.

Above: along the way today.

Lastly, below, a few from Saint Côme-d’Olt, the first four being the convent we're staying at, the rest from around town...

Bigger day tomorrow - until then ...