Day 24: 7 May- Montcuq to Lauzerte

After several quite 'flat' walking days, it was a shock to my system that I needed to climb quite a bit today, up and down on rolling farmland.

The nature of the landscape was changing, and there was heavy cultivation in this area, with a lot of wheat and other crops. The sight of a church steeple behind a crop of wheat was one that was familiar to me from when I cycled in the Loire....
There was some wind today as well, and the pattern that it made on the wheatfields was quite mermerising....
Suddenly the town of Lauzerte appeared, in the heat of a hot day, on top of a steep hill. Oh no! - after a morning of quite strenuous walking I suddenly never felt quite up to it. Ahhhh, but there was a restaurant at the bottom of the hill. It was a delicious meal, and they didn't even mind my muddy shoes... And after a meal, the climb was easy.

There was a lovely, relaxed welcome at 'Les Figuiers', which remains high on my list for best places to stay. The couple whose home it was were very natural and genuine, and I loved it there. The gite was fully booked and I got to sleep in a bedroom in the house itself... one of several times being a single woman walking on my own brought such a treat. Michel also spent some time in the evening helping me try to sort out some onward reservations: I had thought I was very clever knowing that May 8 was a holiday, and managing to book in Moissac for 8-9 May - but what I hadn't realised was that the whole long weekend from Thursday to Monday was a holiday.......!!! If you come to France in May, you have to be sure when all the holidays are...

There was time for some exploration of Lauzerte, a medieval town that begged to be explored. And having climbed its ramparts, the views back down onto the surrounding cultivated countryside weren't half-bad either!


Postscript: By the way folks, before I forget...you don't stay in the gite communal in Lauzerte... there has been a longstanding problem with bedbugs there that they don't seem to be doing anything about.... Next day in my gite in Moissac they were involved in preventative action with anyone who had stayed in the gite communale in Lauzerte... their packs were put into plastic bags.... they had help to wash all their clothing... and they were not able to use any of their own bedding... Apparently they physically see the bugs leaving the packs that have been in that gite....