Estaing - Espalion - Conque - Villefranche du Lauragais

Thursday, September 13th

Sleeping in the Princess's bed was lovely, and the location was so peaceful and quiet that we probably had our best night's sleep since leaving Australia. We decided to leave "The Manor" in Estaing:

And have breakfast in Espalion. Now, why is Espalion so important? Well, it's on the Chemin de St Jacques; it's where Rob has been before; it's where he wanted to buy a house in France when he first met Prue; it's been his PC background for 10 years; and here it is:

Now, if you thought Grand Designs or Renovation Rescue had some "basket cases", have a look at this one:

Rising damp, rotted beams, unstable foundations, and broken windows - but what a fantasic renovators delight! What's more, it's heritage protected. Partners anyone?

Now Espalion is clearly comfortable, and it has a medieval bridge as well:

Grabbed a coffee at the local bar (doubling as casino and lotto parlour) and a pastry at the local patisserie (fantastic) and headed along the Chemin de St Jacques where a few dozen French "walkers" beat us to the Romanic(13th century) church of Bessajouls:

Where another pilgrim had also beat them:

Back on the road firstly to Estaing again (photographer clearly needs Photoshop to remover rubbish from foreground):

and then to one of the great French sites of Conques:

Even on a Thursday in September it's difficult to find a parking spot in Conques, so you can imagine what it's like on a Thursday in August!

Finally, after a three hour drive, a search for a loo, an encounter with stinging nettles, and too many one way streets, we arrived at our hotel in Villefranche de Lauragais, close to Toulouse and even closer to Negra, departure port on the Canal du Midi, What else would one have for dinner but Casoulet?

Postscript: Australians at the same hotel as us, and departing on a canal boat at the same time as us - prudence!