Today was 12 miles,  bringing our total to 243 miles. We have now arrived at our second rest day location,  Cahors.

Yesterday afternoon we made our arrival in Vers, a town we had visited two years ago while navigating the River Lot on a rented boat. The village view is beautiful, with the Vers river feeding into the Lot river at this point.

In short order, we were down at the river, checking out the boat lock that one must negotiate in order to continue sailing up river. We very much remember doing so with Kathy and Doug Brownell. 

We knew that our French/ Swiss friends would be in town, so we arraigned to have dinner as a group that evening. It was a hoot! Mangled French was the order of the day! Great credit to our friends who put up with our efforts and even (when they were done laughing) politely informed us that “that’s really not something you should say in public”. Oops! I guess Google doesn’t have all the answers!

The six of us dined and told stories until way past Pilgrim bedtime. It was truly fun and we hope that our paths cross again some time. Here is a photo of the six of us.

Today’s walk had two features we haven’t yet encountered; an extended walk right along the river Lot, and getting lost! Yep, it had to happen!

Because our primary plan was to walk the GR65 from Le Puy to St. Jean Pied de Port, we didn’t have a lot of detailed information about the Rocamadour detour. That hasn’t been a problem because the signage has been excellent … until today.

With the first 6 or so miles away from the river (not sure why), following the trail is important as there is no other easy way to assure yourself you’re on track. For the first time in our journey, the sign frequency was, at times, between 0.5 and 1.0 miles between signs. After more than a mile without a sign, the alarms went off.

Using Google maps, Bill pieced together a route that should allow us to intercept the correct path. We did, and all’s well that ends well.

Back on the course, we encountered the river and followed it for another 6 miles to Cahors, passing place after place we had seen just two years ago.

Here, two years ago, we loaned a water hose to a fellow boat cruiser who, in exchange, gave us a bottle of wine (we don’t drink 🙄).

Here,  we tied off and had some local kids want to use our boat as a diving board … no.

At other times, we just enjoyed the solitude of walking along the quiet river. 

Tomorrow will be our second rest day. Our bodies can use the break.

Farewell, for now.