Never the less we still managed to get away late, our excuse this time was talking to two fellow Melbournians (from Camberwell) about their Camino experience.
Leaving Espalion we headed to nearby Bessuejouls and its beautiful church of very early origins.
Our route then took us along quiet winding roads through the beautiful Lot river valley - in the sun (25 c) providing for a sublime cycling experience.
Entering Estaing capped off a great morning as we crossed over a pilgrim style bridge into a lovely medieval style town dominated by the towns towering 16 c Chateaux !
We had intended then cycling along the Lot in the direction of Conques as our preference (flat & scenic) but a landslide on the road forced us to detour by climbing 5 steep kms out of the valley surrounding Estaing.
H`s excitement at having two extra gears because of his 5kg lighter carrying weight evaporated within the first 100 metres of the climb as he heralded the steep climb with his favorite saying `Good morning Grandma` !
Following the valley ridge line was a delight until we got to the turn off to Conques. While I stopped to check our maps H sailed through the turn off believing the tourist info people in Estaing had told him to head to Compuac - he'd in fact heard correctly but what he didn't acknowledge was that they had first told him to head to Villecomtal !
While I stayed at the intersection we had yet another of our famous Mexican stand offs with H 1-2 kms down the road ploughing into his fruit supplies and wondering where I'd got to !
After his fruit had run out he returned to the intersection and self now with more than a fair share of sun and sheepishly indictated that with Galballys help he expected that he would get off this one !
With Conques signposted 25 kms away we sped down the hill to Villecomtal (6 kms) and raided its tiny Boulangerie although it only had cake and pastries.
Amazingly Conques was still sign posted 25 kms away at Villecomtal so with a feeling of wariness we took the valley road out of town into a very strong headwind that probably with the absence of some lunch time protein began to quickly tire the ageless one!
We called it an early day at Saint Cyprien only 8 kms short of Conques as such is noted as one of the beautiful towns of France and would most likely have a fair tourist influx limiting accommodation availability. Well spend time there in the morning.
Time to do some washing and time for Henley to put his defence case together - you can be the judge !
You guys are going great guns, 10 kg of camping gear sounds impressive. Did you have a marque?
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