Livin' It Up in Livinhac

I'm in a town called Livinhac-le-Haut today. I didn't walk here, but instead took La Malle Postale. Again. I know, I know. I'm a cheater. But a few days ago my blisters were hurting enough that the people in the gîte where I was staying decided to take care of them. The lady pierced my swollen blisters with a sewing needle and drew thread through and knotted it so that they could keep draining and wouldn't cause me more trouble. 

One of them still had fluid in it, though. So when I got to Conques (beautiful little town set in the side of a valley) the hospitalier at the abbey who was a doctor put red stuff on them to dry the blisters and told me to go barefoot as much as possible. Which meant that I ended up taking a rest day and while I was there I walked around the little town in my bare feet... through the cathedral, in the streets and even in the shops. 

I felt weird doing it at first. And of course I had to be careful and get used to walking on the cobbles. But it was actually nice. People kept remarking about my pieds nus and one of the hospitaliers even cheered when he saw me after the pilgrim benediction the first evening.

I met an Australian couple, who were staying in the same dormitory as me, at the abbey and at dinner the guy was telling me that I need to get rid of all my camping stuff that was making my pack so heavy. I had kind of decided that for myself because it's ridiculous to send my bag along and walk without it every day. Not to mention an extra expense. So I got a box at the abbey and packed my tent, sleeping pad, mallet and camping stove with fuel bottle into it and shipped it back to the States.

In all, it was a restful day and a half. A very good relief after the previous day when I walked about 14 miles in the heat, up and down hills, to get to that night's gîte. I got so hot that I had to stop several times for long breaks just to cool down. Tingling hands and face are not a good sign. It took me more than 10 hours to get there, with me leaving Estaing at 7h30 and not getting to Le Soulié until about 18h00. I'm not doing that again!

So tonight I'm in a gîte in Livinhac where everything is bio (organic). Even the sheets, supposedly! And the Italian owner is going to make pizza for the four of us who are guests tonight.