Breakfast at Auberge Saint Jacques, such as it is - a spartan affair with small, dried up croissants, bread and yogurt - is served at 8, and we’re due to leave the room at 9:30. That’s not enough time for even a small breakfast to settle so after leaving our room we decide to loiter in the lounge for a while, a decision made easier by the fact that it’s cold and foggy out.
The fog is just lifting when we coast down from Conques an hour later, enjoying the steep descent much more than when laboring up yesterday. By the time we near the river we’re below the remnants of this morning’s fog and in the bright sun. A short, easy ride lies ahead: 19 miles with minimal descent, practically a rest day. And it’s just as well we have such a short day because as easy as it is Rachael is struggling with it and feeling quite low energy. She’ll be back to her usual dynamic self by tomorrow, so the theory is that a restless night following an afternoon coffee paired with a spartan breakfast the next morning isn’t quite the right pairing for her.
Leaving Conques. The fog has just lifted but it’s still cold.
The Notre-Dame chapel, in a small unnamed settlement along the Dourdou. Odd that it doesn’t have a place name - the addresses are listed as Conques - because it’s a substantial village with a restaurant and two hotels.
Video sound track: Fog Dance, by Gianni Savelli Media Res
Our B&B in Entrayguez has a check-in time of four. We sent a request for an earlier time this morning before leaving Conques, but don’t think to check the mail until we arrive in town. Once we finally do we’re happy to see that we can arrive whenever we want as long as we call and give them an hour’s notice - which we do, and then find a picnic table in the sun beside the Truyère and admire the town’s landmark bridge while we relax and enjoy lunch. At the end we allow ourselves fifteen minutes to reach our hotel, only 0.8 miles away - and we use it all, arriving just a few minutes early. It’s uphill all the way, and steepens to 16% at the end - even worse than climbing into Conques.
The bridge over the Truyère. It opened in 1340, but has a troubled history. It was severed for a few centuries for defensive reasons before being restored in the 1600’s. It was completely renovated only a few years ago and restricted to foot traffic now. When we came to town 15 years ago we shared the one lane bridge with automobiles.
We love our place here. We’ve been upgraded to a corner room with a deck overlooking the countryside, and after washing the laundry and hanging it to dry I sit around on a deck chair all afternoon while Rachael takes a badly needed nap for a couple of hours (no more afternoon coffees for her!). It’s wonderful - it’s so quiet, except for the magpies that stream across the sky.
For dinner we walk down to the village park to Quay West, a casual place that looks like the only spot open tonight. It’s just turning sundown as we descend, and as we look up there are dense clouds of birds swirling above the town.
The walk back up to our room is magical. The streets are completely empty and it’s fully dark now by nine. A lot of this region is a dark sky preserve so there’s not much lighting from the town, and the sky is full of stars. Jupiter is bright straight ahead of us, and we can see the Milky Way above. The Big Dipper is right above the horizon, as bright as Rachael remembers seeing it. I don’t think we’ve seen a sky like this in the entire tour.
Descending to the village. Steep down, steep back up.
