Time Departed: 8.10am
Time Arrived: 12.40pm
Distance: 19kms
Cumulative Distance: 727kms
Percentage Completed: 95% (1,176,200 steps)
Weather: Early fog, sunny and cool, storm clouds
Accommodation: Hotel du Midi
Feelings: Neil - Happy, Henk - Fantastic, Di - Feliz!
At seven thirty we were the last of the fourteen at the gite to have breakfast. Whilst we ate our usual French breakfast of baguette and jam the walkers buzzed around us doing their final packing of lunches or buying goods from the small shop in the dining room. The shop had the makings for snacks, lunches and dinners. We ordered a picnic lunch the previous evening and we each received a half ham baguette which were enormous, chips, banana and apple, cake and mineral water.
At ten past eight we set out in our newly washed clothes and we were the last to leave the gite. The GR65 path diverted shortly before Aroue but we decided to walk up the road to see the small village. There were no shops so we could see why the gite sold supplies. For a Monday morning it was very quiet.
The architecture has dramatically changed and the stone-walls with green and blue shutters have been replaced with white walls and red-brown shutters. It is now looking very Spanish. Signs are now in Basque and in French.
Once again we saw The Pyrenees and they are getting closer. Our walk was an easy one on high country lanes with good views over the farmland and to the mountains.
We have seen for a number of days tall empty cages on the sides of farms and we haven’t known what they were used for. We were thinking they were for birds but today we got our answer as we passed one with last season’s corn in it.
About three kilometres from Saint Palais we found a picnic table and ate more of our picnic lunch. We didn’t stay too long as we could see dark clouds building around us and rain was predicted for the early afternoon. We crossed a small river into Saint Palais and it did feel like a Spanish town.
We found a cafe and had a coffee as we were early. As we sat down it started to sprinkle so we made it to the town just in time. Our hotel is in a great position overlooking the town’s plaza. There were many people having lunch at the covered outdoor eating areas and siesta time had started. Penny and Penny had already arrived as they took the main road into town and they said it was very busy. I’m glad we took a quiet country road into the town.
We showered and rested until four o’clock when we met Neil and walked around the small town. We had pre-dinner drinks and our meal with Canadians Penny and Penny who also have their walk organised by the same company as ours, Macs Adventures.
By coming to St Palais on a diversion recommended by Macs Adventures we are taking three days to arrive at St Jean whilst the others we have met will arrive at St Jean tomorrow or early Wednesday morning. We will arrive at St Jean by early afternoon. It’s been another great day on the walk.
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