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.
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