Jour 11 - Cahors to Lascabanes

Leaving Cahors was an absolute horror.  Once crossing the bridge leaving the city, there is a steep climb up winding stone steps with a rise of a foot or more to take your breath away.  Not only was  there no guard rail or hand rail, which was terrifying enough, but I had slight vertigo the higher I ascended, and had to concentrate on walking one step at a time, looking only directly in front of me. It was over some 100 yards later, but was a scary experience to say the least.  I didn't learn until later that the Cicerone guide actually suggested an alternative route.

It was a long walk afterwards, and I stopped at the little pilgrim-friendly town of Labastide-Marnhac, with a grocery store, public restrooms, a fountain and a restaurant--things that mean a lot to long-distance walkers like me.  I shared lunch with three charming French women there.

The final trek was punctuated in the beginning by renewed encounters with some I had met along the route--a middle-aged Swiss couple, a young Canadian woman, a younger Swiss couple who had actually started their walk in Geneva, and a French couple from Angers that I had stayed with at Noailhac and Espeyrac.  A number of them were staying at the same gîte in Lascabanes.  I was actually staying at a Dominican monastery in Escayrac, so I was having second thoughts.  On the verge of changing my reservation, as it meant another 5 kilometers of walking, I telephoned to cancel, but a volunteer there offered to pick me up in her car and drive me to the monastery instead.  Small things can mean a lot!

Cahors

the Louis-Philippe near my gîte

The beautiful Valentré bridge leaving Cahors

crossing the bridge

a view of the city of Cahors after mounting the terrible stairs

some people actually use them to transport baggage

I  rested here one the grounds of this church--it looks like others had, too

a gîte along the way, just before a rather treacherous descent

a wayside cross--one of hundreds

a deserted chapel

a reassuring trail-marker

three lovely ladies that shared some of their lunch with me

an army of sunflowers

a little shrine en route

the promise of cold drinks ahead

At the monastery of Notre-Dame in Espeyrac

(Psalm 51) 1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your
steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out
my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my
iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I know my
transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against
you, you alone, have I sinned, and done what is evil in
your sight, so that you are justified in your sentence and
blameless when you pass judgment…. 9 Hide your face
from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. 10 Create in
me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit
within me. 11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me. 12 Restore to me
the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing
spirit…. 15 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will
declare your praise. 16 For you have no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be
pleased. 17 The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken
spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not
despise. 18 Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; rebuild
the walls of Jerusalem.