Stopped posting for a couple of weeks, but didn’t stop walking. Due to the weather my wife and I have been walking our local routes by ourselves and these have been recorded on here many times before. But I have a mini portfolio from these recent walks and maybe I’ll put them all together in one post.
However our group walked again yesterday and it was a very unusual occasion because it was a new walk - not simply one we’d not done before, but one that wasn’t previously possible. The Aveyron and Decazeville have spent nearly €1.4 million on a spectacular new 180 metre long pedestrian suspension bridge across the Lot that’s several kilometres from the two nearest crossing points. Connecting the banks of the river here has opened up several new walking routes and perhaps added another variation to the Camino from Conques. Great to see this sort of visionary project amidst all the economic gloom.
So off we set from the carpark on the riverbank below St Parthem
Rarely drive past this point because the track used to get very rough further along and my wife used to get anxious despite being told that we have 4x4 for such situations. However, now it’s been upgraded and anything can drive through.
The first interesting barn of the day - not seen one like that before - Daniel Buren?
The new bridge footpath is bit too cultivated for my taste, but it’s obviously wheelchair friendly.
And then the bridge itself!
With dogs…
Ruud’s youngster is a tad suspicious - hmm - not seen one of these before…
Whereas Lupo (who’s getting on in years) doesn’t appear to have noticed it at all…
I’m first across 'cos I wanted to grab some photos, strange disconcerting sensation walking on the bridge because it bounces very slightly and made me think of the Tate/St Pauls Millenium Bridge problems (interesting video explanation)
Lots of new ‘do nots’ and just a few ‘dos’.
But the most important one is don’t use the bridge during an orage!
Gigi’s made it across and is raring to go
Because the trails on the south bank are new, they haven’t yet been marked and we went wrong a couple of times, which turned a shortish rando into something rather longer. This was the start of the first one -
Of course I raced up the hill, to take some photos looking back and was way ahead of the rest then I realised they’d all stopped and were about to turn round
Continuing along the slopes of a valley off the Lot
Until we reach another turning…
So what happens this time? We climb up the hill until Paul, our navigator decides this is another wrong turning, so we walk back down again. But at the bottom he has a rethink and we walk back up again., eventually adding nearly 3kms to the route.
But it’s difficult because the trails haven’t been used much yet and one overgrown track looks pretty much the same as the next
After an hour or so of climbing (that’s just walking uphill) we’re around 500m and nearly above the forest so the views over the Lot Valley should soon start to open up
And here they are -
Looking east towards where we started from…
And looking west, down river towards chez nous and the lovely [Chateau de Gironde] -the light dot in the centre of the skyline (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMspEqi0CV0) that we walk to once or twice a year (see Nov 2025 post)
But meanwhile, here at the high point of the walk, there are lots of things much closer to look at:-
Shed with Mercedes:-
A calvaire at the highest point
A simple and visually satisfying design solution:-
A fine lauze-roofed barn:-
And a sheepdog practising its sheep herding manoeuvres for our amusement:-
And now it’s downhill from hereon, but not easy because the track is new and largely untrodden, but navigation is easy because one can refer to the river.
Getting left behind after stopping to remove stones from trekking sandals (everyone else sensibly walking in boots)
Back down at the Lot:-
Then back over the bridge -
And a different route back to our starting point along the smart (slightly boring) new path linking the bridge and the village
Nevertheless, there’s still some interesting sights along the way:-
- though this wasn’t one of them - a feeble laser-cut JC and calvaire
That’s better!
The dark red Marcillac sandstone around the windows has come from some distance away and suggests the house either isn’t very old, or more likely, it’s an old house whose windows were enlarged. That’s the case with ours which probably was built around 1400, but the current window openings were probably made after 1820 and before 1860 (invention of the tool used to dress the stone and photographic evidence)
But never mind all that - look at the size of this lintel!
The charmingly unmodernised path back down to the Lot -
Possibly an early Aveyronnais prototype that inspired Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic domes?
More importantly, we’re nearing the picnic site…
Cor smoking well away from everyone eating, but he’s got the better spot…
Meanwhile high above, we’re being watched by a giant sanglier
But down below, the dogs don’t care -
Good rando, and one we’ll remember…