Day 7: St Côme d’Olt to Estaing
- Simon Pollack
- May 3, 2024
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 29, 2024
The matter of honour looms large on the walk: the pride of challenges met
And after falling some way from my steed, I met a challenge I’d set
But preparedness takes all forms, I think: hydration’s of use to me
To others the matter of water is moot: they choose charcuterie
3 May 2024, Friday
Distance hiked 21.5km (13.4m) | Ascent 741m |
And so on to Estaing. I love this quote from the traditional GR65 guide Miam Miam Dodo:
“A little after St-Côme-d’Olt you will have a choice to make: either follow faithfully the GR65, which climbs the hills with marvellous views across the valley of the Lot, or die of shame by taking the stupidly flat road to Espalion, where you’ll arrive like a vulgar automobile to the derision of the population who will throw stones and old cheese at you.”
I could hold my head high: I went up the hills, up to the statue of the Virgin, and down again.
I had one of those moments that happens sometimes (and happened again later in Estaing). As I was coming into Espalion at 11.45 I really fancied an omelette. It just came upon me. And lo and behold a sign appeared at the entrance to the town “Omelettes for Simon”. It wasn’t quite like that, it was a chalkboard menu that included omelettes and an arrow saying 50m. So 50 meters later I was sat down with a water and a coke and a EUR 9.50 cheese and ham omelette on its way. When it arrived with a perfect salad and some delicious fresh bread, this was a happy pilgrim.
If the hike up the hills between St Côme and Espalion is hard, the hike up to the plateau that starts a couple of kilometres outside Espalion is much harder still. It just goes on and on. I remember this from when I did it last time, and when I reached the top which then leaves something like 8km pretty easy hiking to Estaing, I was absolutely dead on my feet. This time I was out of breath but fine: progress, I suppose! As I took five at the top, Brigitte from the dinner table last night appeared behind me and we walked amiably together to Estaing.
Estaing is a lovely little town. A bit more upmarket (art galleries, bijou restaurants) than the typical stop on this pilgrimage. I suppose this befits a place where a famous former president lived out his dotage. Valéry Giscard-d’Estaing, a president from the 70s, reunified his name with its associated property by buying the chateau at Estaing around 20 years ago, when he would have been about 80. The woman from whom I rented a wonderful chambre d’hôtes, Monique Simon of Lou Bellut, knew him. She’s quite a character and can tell you lots of stories of old Valéry, as he used to enjoy browsing her shop (now closed) of upmarket curios.
Monique doesn’t serve food, but that’s fine as there are about 5 good restaurants within 100m of her place. I really fancied a steak and went to a restaurant, Chez Mon Père, that had steak as one of its three options. It was delicious. I’d booked a single person’s table and the proprietor was smart enough to realise that I and the other two similarly solo were likely all on the pilgrimage so he put us on the same table. And thus it was that I had the typical pilgrimage dinner table experience even in a restaurant. Jean-Noël, opposite me, was a quirky chap. He was attracted to the restaurant because one of its three dishes was Pieds de Porc (pig's trotters). I found this amusing because our destination, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, is a homonym. The other quirk was his idea of an emergency. He carries only a day pack as he sends his luggage on to each next step. In his day pack he doesn’t include water (“you can always get water”) but he always, ALWAYS, carries a tin of terrine with him. Just in case.
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