Day 30 - La Romieu - Condom - 31 May

Time Departed: 9.00am

Time Arrived: 1.15pm

Distance: 14kms 

Cumulative Distance: 507 kms

Percentage Completed: 66% (846,600 steps)

Weather: Very overcast, late afternoon sunny

Accommodation: Hotel Le Logis des Cordeliers 

Feelings: Neil - Armagnac Happy, Henk - Energetic,  Di - Very Good

It was a shorter day and we took it slowly with Neil and I taking photos at every opportunity especially the wonderful flowers. Once again there was plenty of slimy and clinging mud after rain went through  overnight. We had morning tea at the very pretty and tiny village of Castelnau sur-l’Auvignon which has a population of about 200. The village had signs along the little main street describing its significant role in the French and English Resistance Movement against Nazi Germany. In 1944 the village was attacked and burned by the Nazis but before retreating the resistance fighters destroyed the tower of a former castle holding the arsenal. 

 

We are continuing to pass many acres of wheat fields and now grapevines too. The wheat is starting to turn yellow in this area. 

About six kilometres from Condom at the end of a long muddy wooded section we came across a fast-flowing very narrow creek which we had to cross. Before we knew it Neil had walked across it with his boots on but Henk and I decided to take our boots off. I didn’t want to get the sheep’s wool protecting my feet wet as I have a limited supply. We threw our boots over to the other side and used Neil’s walking stick to steady ourselves. 

We had good views over Condom when we were about two kilometres away. We met two English walkers and kept company with them into the town. This has been our biggest town for a while with a population of 7000. As it was getting late for lunch we headed to the central town square to find a place to eat before everything was shut down for their couple of hours of break during the afternoon. We found a restaurant directly across the square from the Cathedral of Saint Peter and the very large stature of four musketeers. D’Artagan, from Alexander Dumas’, “Three Musketeers” was supposed to be have been born in the Armagnac region. 

Dinner was at an Italian restaurant in a rustic laneway not far from our hotel. We were surrounded by tables of English people who seemed to live locally and spoke French. This area seems to be a popular destination for the English.

Day 29 - Lectoure - La Romieu - 30 May

Time Departed: 8.30am

Time Arrived: 2.00pm

Distance: 20kms 

Cumulative Distance: 493 kms

Percentage Completed: 64% (820,400 steps) 

Weather: Overcast

Accommodation: Chambre d’Hotes Angeline 

Feelings: Neil - Eager, Henk - Good,  Di - Keen

It’s four weeks today since we set off from Le Puy-en-Velay and we have completed about two thirds of the walk. We have two weeks left to complete the remainder to St Jean-Pied-de-Port. 

We met the fellow Aussies, Brian, Anne and Peta at breakfast and after some discussion they realised that they were not walking to La Romieu which was our destination. They were walking to Condom which was 32kms away! This particular part of the walk of 32kms we broke into two sections so we didn’t have to do such a long stretch. I said to Peta that I felt sorry for them and she said she was weeping inside but they just had to get on with it. 

The forecast was for rain all day but this did not eventuate, however, the rain overnight made the clay paths greasy, muddy and downright sludgy. We either skated across the greasy bits or collected globs of mud on our boots. It was slow going but thankfully there were only two significant sections of this. 

Henk at one point fell on his right hand side and had mud caked on him. Neil and I wore our wet pants because of the forecast and although we didn’t need them for the rain they were good for walking through the deep mud. We also walked between large acres of wheat and corn and other pastures of produce that we didn’t recognise. 

Just after ten thirty we came upon Marsolan, a little village with a cafe and as we only had 20kms to walk we decided we had time to have a coffee. Brian, Anne and Peta arrived at the same time and decided there probably would not be any more coffee stops so they stopped as well. They decided to take a GR65 diversion and not go through La Romieu to reduce the kilometres to Condom. A Quebec walker about our age joined us but she had very limited English so it made the conversation hard. 

We read a sign that we couldn’t have a “pique-nique” at the cafe so we finished our coffees and moved over to a large terrace with expansive views overlooking the countryside and ate our pastries. We met a Scottish couple holidaying in the area and spent half an hour talking to them. They said their French B&B host had said that the wheat is about a month late in turning yellow due to the late winter. We spent a relaxing hour at Marsolan but we had to move on as we were unsure of the weather.

It was a rare thing today that we did not have to climb a steep ascent to arrive at a hilltop village. La Romieu is  a UNESCO listed World Heritage village with about 500 people. It has a massive early 14th century church with two towers which dominate the landscape. It was a great sight to see as we walked alongside the beautiful flowering private botanical garden towards the village. 

Our lovely hotel is centrally located alongside the church and overlooks the village centre. 

After showering and washing some muddy clothes we set out to explore the village including the church, cloisters and towers known as the Collegiate Saint Pierre. They had an excellent video giving a good background to the establishment and restoration of the church. As we went into the church Aled Jones was singing “How Great Thou Art”. We climbed the 154 very narrow steep steps up to the top of one of the towers and had excellent views over the countryside. The frescoes in the sacristy date back to the 14th century. 

The village has many sculptured cats on their buildings which were made by French sculptor, Maurice Serreau. These seem to be quite a tourist attraction and refer to a 14th century story of Angeline whose cats saved the village from starvation by protecting its harvest when her cats ate the rats. We saw a little field mouse on the path near the village and he had the notion that if he hid his head we wouldn’t be able to see him!

At six o’clock a storm finally arrived and the temperature dropped significantly and we chose to dine indoors rather than on the village’s square. The restaurant was very busy mostly with noisy walkers. After dinner Neil and I decided to try the local Armagnac as it is sourced from this Gascony region. I’m so pleased we shared a glass because one sip of it and I decided very quickly that I didn’t like it. Neil drank the rest but probably won’t be having another one. We were happy to have tried it! 

The roses, both free-standing and the climbing ones, are spectacular and are planted everywhere. It’s hard not to take photos of them and I took quite a few today as they are all so beautiful. 

Day 28 - Lectoure - 29 May

Rest Day 

Weather: Overcast and some rain 

Accommodation: Hotel de Bastard 

Feelings: Neil - Relaxed, Henk - Relaxed,  Di - Relaxed 

It was good to have a later breakfast for the start of our rest day. We met fellow Melbourne Aussies, Brian, Anne and Peta at breakfast. They left a day later than us from Le Puy-en-Velay on 3 May so we have kept pace with each other. They also had a rest day today.

Our first job was to go to the laundromat to wash our filthy walking clothes. Yesterday’s mud was thankfully removed. We followed our washing job with a coffee in a very French, darkish cafe then and a tour of the town. There is a very large church, the Cathedral of St Gervasis and Saint Protasius which dominates the small town was originally built in the early 1300’s. 

We met an Austrian at the Tourist Information Centre who has walked 2000kms from Vienna pulling a cart with his backpack and other luggage. He is planning on walking to Santiago de Compostela which is another 1000 kilometres. 

Lectoure is popular with English tourists and we could hear the accent as we walked around the town. Yesterday’s restaurant was fully booked for lunch so we continued down the long street of Lectoure and found a small cafe with seating outside. The food was a more simple affair from yesterday and half the price and just as tasty. Neil and I shared a cassoulet of duck, sausage and cannelloni beans with bread and wine. Henk sat in front of a Callistemon which is such an unusual site in France. 

It was a great rest day and we are eager to get going again. 

Day 27 - Miradoux - Lectoure - 28 May

Time Departed: 9.00am

Time Arrived: 1.15pm

Distance: 16kms 

Cumulative Distance: 473 kms

Percentage Completed: 61% (787,800 steps) 

Weather: Dense fog, Scottish Mist, Rain 

Accommodation: Hotel Bastard 

Feelings: Neil - Happy, Henk - Fantastique!,  Di - Good

We woke to a dense fog which didn’t lift for the entire walk. We met our fellow walkers at breakfast at eight o’clock. It was a later start for all of us as today was a shorter distance. Once again our wonderful Dutch hosts sat in the middle and translated the conversations between the French and the English around the large table. We have stayed in some great places along the route but the B&B at Miradoux would have to be a standout for us because of the amazing large house, the food and the camaraderie around the table.

When we set out we knew we could be in for some wet weather but Neil and I braved it out by not wearing our wet gear until four kilometres from the end. That’s when the heavy Scotch Mist turned into rain. The dense fog certainly made it an atmospheric walk today. 

The overnight rain made the paths very slippery and boggy. We repeatedly were scraping our boots on wet grass and the tarmac after emerging from boggy areas. At the end of one path and before we entered Castet-Arrouy there was a boot scraper made up of the ends of two broom brushes. 

We arrived at the pretty village of Castet-Arrouy at ten thirty and came across a little table with morning tea supplies outside a house. We were discussing if we should stop or move on when the lady of the house opened the door as she was vacuuming. We decided to stay to let her know we appreciated the gesture. We didn’t stop for long as we didn’t need the rest.

At eleven thirty we decided to have a break but everything was wet from the overnight rain and the damp fog and we couldn’t sit. We stood at the corner of a field having our morning tea. 

Four kilometres from our hotel at Lectoure the rain came down and didn’t stop until we reached the hotel. We looked like drowned kittens and the hotel looked very stylish.

The hour’s rain had completely saturated us but the lady at reception didn’t seem daunted. We were given our room keys, removed our grubby boots and rain gear and left them on the ground floor and proceeded to our rooms. We decided as our bags hadn’t arrived and we were wet that we may as well go and have lunch in our wet clothes than stay in the room in our wet clothes. 

We quickly found a warm restaurant on the main street and had a delicious two-course meal and Neil and I had a very good red wine. We felt very squelchy. We then squelched back to our hotel to wait for our bags and shower. 

Tomorrow is a rest day. We’ll get our clothes washed at the laundromat and look around the village and rest! 

Day 26 - Auvillar - Miradoux - 27 May

Time Departed: 8.30am

Time Arrived: 1.30pm

Distance: 18kms 

Cumulative Distance: 457 kms

Percentage Completed: 59% (761,800 steps) 

Weather: Sunny and warm, thunder

Accommodation: Hotel le Bonheur 

Feelings: Neil - Good, Henk - Good,  Di - Good

There was quite a bit of frivolity overnight due to the “Fete de la Saint-Noe”. Young ones were making the most of the weekend’s festivities. At 7.00am a canon-like sound was fired at the corner of our hotel and the village’s 17th century clock tower. Our hotel host warned us this would happen and it occurred repeatedly around the village. 

It was a good day’s walk mostly alongside undulating country roads on soft green verges. We passed acres of farmland with wheat, organic strawberries under cover and cherry trees. 

 

At 10.30am we arrived at the beautiful little village of St Antoine. We thought there was a cafe but after walking around the village we couldn’t see one and resorted to sitting outside the church at a picnic table. We had brought ham and cheese baguettes from Auvillar which were some of the best we have had. Tom from Bude went by and joined us for the rest of the day. He stayed at the same hotel as us tonight. The church had very old frescoes. 

St Antoine had a wonderful entrance through an old gatehouse and lovely houses with shutters and beautiful climbing roses. Many walls and houses have climbing roses and they are in full bloom and are spectacular. 

Shortly after we found a little table under a tree selling bags of cherries and cherry tart. We bought a bag of cherries and kept going as we could hear thunder close by. We still had eight kilometres to go and we were concerned about the weather. 

At half past eleven we arrived at Flamarens which has a 13th century castle and is now privately owned. There was a small outdoor cafe and as the potential of a storm had passed and we had plenty of time we stopped and had another break. 

When we arrived at Miradoux it was only 1.30pm and our hotel didn’t open until 3.00pm. We walked around the little village and Tom asked the only person who seemed to be around if there was a cafe. He gave us some directions and we found it. I don’t think we would have found it without the directions as it was tucked away down a street on the way out of the village. We spent about an hour at the cafe having a drink and eating the rest of our baguette before returning to the hotel. The village was empty and we later learned from our hosts that people in the village “live behind their shutters”. 

We were given a very friendly greeting by our hosts. They are a Dutch couple and they recognised Henk’s Dutch surname as they come from Limburg (Tegelen) and went to school at Roermond which is close to where Henk’s parents lived. The hotel was originally a large private house and was built in about 1840. Our room and Neil’s room are on the top floor. 

There was ten of us for dinner. Four spoke French, four spoke English and our hosts spoke both English and French and translated between the two groups. It was a very good night with four courses all home made. 

As we finished dinner at nine o’clock there was a storm so hopefully tomorrow we will have a clear day again. It’s a short day tomorrow of fifteen kilometres then we have a rest day. The week has gone quickly.

We are walking at a good time of the year as the flowers are out in abundance and are a magnificent sight.