9 May 2019 Espalion to Decazeville

Hi Shingy,
Here is a two-day update on our French adventure.

Arriving in Conques

Yesterday we travelled from Espalion to Conques by bus because Punda did not want to brave the expected 100% rain. Conques is an amazingly beautiful place, but we could not find accommodation; everything was booked.  Punda used bookings dot com and found a two-star hotel in a nearby village. We took a taxi to the village, and what a blessing! As we got into the taxi, it started to rain, and soon it developed into a full-blown cloud-burst. We were received at the hotel by a lady who spoke only French. She gave us the key to the hotel's front door and promptly left. We were the only guests with a whole hotel to ourselves! 

The hotel all to ourselves, with the front door key in our pockets.

Later we explored the hamlet, which seemed utterly deserted to us. In the end, we did find a restaurant just before they closed. A friendly young man, who did speak English, helped us to book at another restaurant down the road for dinner. We had to walk 1.3 kilometres in the rain to this restaurant across a bridge over the river Lot. The dinner was a good steak and French fries and cheese for dessert.  

On the way to the restaurant next to the Lot river. 

After dinner, the rain stopped, and the walk back to the hotel was a magical time. Do you remember the swallows we talked about before we left Cape Town? We saw many swallows flying about when we crossed the river on the way back to our hotel; maybe you will be able to see some in the photos. 

Today we walked to Decazeville. It was rainy, and some stretches were very muddy and slippery. We are now in our gíte Les Volets Bleus. Mpanzi says it sounds like blue violets. She is really good at charming our French hosts with her humour and French pronunciation. 

She has also developed into our travel agent and is booking our accommodation in advance, for at least five days ahead. Punda likes that a lot, to such an extent that he has no idea where we will sleep tomorrow.  As he says: "Between Msafiri and Mpanzi, I have the best travel mates in the world."

We are now looking ahead to our dinner. There are eight other guests. Here comes another memorable time...

Two hours later and we are back from a French cuisine experience par excellence. A five-course meal out of this world! Soup, salad, crepes with ham and cheese, a cabbage and pork baked dish, a cheese board with six kinds of cheese and then chocolate mousse! Each course is better than the previous one.

Bonne nuit.