Time Departed: 8.15am
Time Arrived: 12.45pm
Distance: 17kms
Cumulative Distance: 524kms
Percentage Completed: 68% (871,600 steps)
Weather: Sunny
Accommodation: Carpe Diem Chambre d’Hotes
Feelings: Neil - OK, Henk - Good, Di - Good
It was an easy walking day from Condom to Montreal du Gers over undulating hills alongside vineyards and wheat fields. We quickly met an English couple, Laura and her 75 year old father, Stewart from Oxford. The walk goes much faster as we chat away. A short time later we met yesterday’s English couple, Charlotte and Kevin and our band of six made our way along the little country roads and across the muddy, clay-hugging slimy paths in the woods.
At one stage we chose a lane which paralleled a long section of the designated path which was very muddy path. Because of lack of signage we didn’t realise it was a private road. We turned a corner by a large house and two large dogs came bounding out and barking at us along with a French woman shouting. We thought she was calling her dogs back inside but the English understood what she said and that she was telling us that we were on her private road. They apologised and she said we weren’t really sorry. The English offered to walk back but she told us to go on. We soon came to a gate at the end of the lane to find the sign on the other side stating private property and beware of the dogs! The French woman was right as we weren’t sorry as we missed a large section of muddy path!
We walked crossed a 12th century bridge, Pont d’Artigues over the Osse River on a former Roman road and is now considered a World Heritage site. There was a new art installation on the bridge listing the major towns leading to Santiago de Compostela. We had morning tea at the end of the bridge in the shade.
There is evidence of a great deal of rain and flooding in the area we walked today. The rain occurred about two days ago and once again we had to cross over a little flooding stream. Neil’s stick came in handy again and thankfully we didn’t have to take our boots off as someone had placed some stones across the water.
We arrived at Montreal du Gers in time for lunch. A market was just packing up. It is considered one of the most beautiful villages in France and sits high on a summit overlooking the Auzoue River. We walked down a long, narrow street to its beautiful central square. Many walkers were resting before moving on another ten kilometres to Lamonthe.
Our accommodation is a B&B and we were greeted warmly by our French host and her husband who speak moderate English. We sat in the garden in the shade and had cool drinks before going to our rooms. Five people are staying at the B&B tonight, the others being a French couple. Our French hosts are in their sixties and are also walkers and they seem to cater specifically for walkers. We had aperitifs on the terrace prior to dinner. It was Armagnac but this time it had a good flavour with a reduced alcohol of 17%. It was a pleasant sunny evening and we all got on very well.
We had a great night eating delicious home-made French food.
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