St Jean Pied de Port to Auberge Orisson

6th October 2009 - 9.89 km - 5.15 miles - Up 977 m Down 88 m


Our Hotel Saint Jead Pied de Port

We had a relaxed start this morning, getting up at a leisurely 8 am! After a visit to the post office to send French guide books etc. now surplus to requirements, we visited the supermarket to get in supplies.


The start of the Route de Napoleon, used to cross the Pyrenees by us and Napoleon and his army when he invaded Spain.

At 11:30 after coffee we set off and it was up hill all the way! Despite the forecast of rain we only had a few spots and soon the sun was out again as hot as ever. At 12:30 we stopped for lunch arriving at Orisson at 2 pm. The views back over where we have been have been magnificent.




As we sat reading, Seb and Anne appeared walking down from the Spanish border, where they finished their trip, we had hoped to see them again to say good bye, so our wish has been fulfilled.




Also at the Auberge was Donna an American from New Mexico who was celebrating her 62nd Birthday, and had carried up a large bottle of Champagne to celebrate. So after our final French meal of our Camino we toasted Donna with Champagne.

Tonight was an evening of beginnings, Middles and endings.

For Donna, Seb and Anne it's the end of their camino for this year. For us it marks the mid point of ours. While for an Australian couple Mike and Joan and for a young Italian couple who only got married on Saturday it marks the first day of their Camino.

As we came to bed we saw a fantastic red moon, and a sky covered in stars. A fantastic sight as we prepare to cross the border into Spain tomorrow.

On the Camino in France

Ostabat to St Jean

This is only going to be a short post as I am using a French keyboard in an Internet cafe as our charging cable for our ipods fell apart this afternoon, just before I tried to charge my ipod.

We have tried in vain to get a cable but will have to wait till we get to Pamplona so if you don't hear from us for a few days this is the reason why!

The day started with a very red sunrise, and I immediately thought of the nursery rhyme Red sky at night shepherds delight, red sky in the morning shepherds warning. The day proved to be hot and sultry. Even though we had a very short distance to travel and the terrain was good it just seemed to take a lot of effort. We arrived at St Jean the official end of the French leg and beginning of the Spanish (even though we have another day's walking in France).




Porte Saint-Jacques, Saint-Jean_Pied-de-Port

Our first task was to check out the weather to decide on the optimum crossing time. Unfortunately after over a month of hot and dry weather it looks like it is going to turn tomorrow and Wednesday. As a result we are going to do our crossing of the Pyrenees over two days rather than one, and will set out tomorrow morning after we have done a few jobs. If between now and Pamplona I can get access to the net I will do a more detailed post on our time in St Jean and what ever else we have got up to.

On the Camino in France.

Friends Reunited And We Follow a Snail! Lichos to Gaineko Extea

19.1 miles or 30.8 km Up 609 km down 615 km Last night at supper there had been a vote over what time to have breakfast. We had been outvoted so like good pilgrims we arived down at 7 am. None of the other guests were there! For breakfast there was homemade yoghurt, homemade breadmaker bread and homemade jam. So after a full repast we set off. Today was a day of options about the route we should take. The first choice was to follow the road (1.8 km shorter) or take a high level route on tracks with fantastic views. We decided to take the latter and were indeed rewarded by stunning views of the Pyrenees.

Some time later we came to our second choice of which route. Continue on the GR 65 or take the Escargot route: with a name like that we just had to. The route has been created by the owner of the Gite l'Escargot in the village of Uhart-Mixe which is bypassed by the GR 65, and took the traveller to Uhart-Mixe before rejoining the GR 65 a few km on. The route is waymarked by plaques with hand painted snails on them, rather than the usual red/white balises.

We had not passed any shops and had resigned ourselves to a lunch of peanuts, chocolate and cereal bars, as we thought we would not pass anything before 2 pm, but at 1 pm we heard a church tolling out the hour and realised that Uhart-Mixe was only a few minutes away.

We arived at the Gite l'Escargot to find that it was open and that it had a bar that served food. We also found Seb & Anne who were eating their lunch. They wanted to know if we had run to catch up as when we last saw them we were stopping at Pimbo while they had another 10 km to walk.

The bar served us an excelent vegetable soup, followed by a ham sandwich. After we had eaten and caught up on each others news we set off once more with the owner of the gite/bar taking us to the begining of the onward route. We made our way up and down hill to the village of Ostabat, where in medieval times they could accomodate 5000 pilgrims. Now they only have space for 10! But outside Ostabat at the farm of Gaineko Extea they have a lovely Gite for 30 where we stayed. Our room was of hotel quality, and had it's own area for sitting out.

Over supper we were entertained by our larger than life host, called Benat, who got us all singing Basque and French songs.



We were also fed grandly on food either produced on the farm or from the valley we were in. After another great evening it was time for bed before our last day on the Le Puy route.

On the Camino in France

La Sauvelade to Lichos - I plunge straight in!

Today we walked 31.4 km or 19.6 miles we went up 279 m and down 290 m

Our fellow guests decided to get up at 6:30 and as they were quite noisy with door banging etc. we woke up as well. After a DIY breakfast (everything was provided but we had to fix it ourselves), we set off.

We are getting a reputation for fast walking as the Swiss lady in the gite, when she said goodbye said "you will probably pass me later as I have heard you are fast walkers" we said "possibly" but that we were like the hare in Aesop's fable of the tortoise and the hare as we also have lots of stops!

Our route took us through more rolling countryside with long smooth hills and then long descents to the valley bottom before rising up again to another hill crest. On the hill crests we had our first glimpses of the Pyrenees (they certainly look big, but I guess if Napoleon could invade Spain with a whole army, following our route over the Pyrenees, we should manage it as well)!


Large parts of the route were also through forest and we would occasionally glimpse men with long sticks, hunting for ceps, looking extremely furtive.

At midday we had reached the town of Navarrenx where we bought lunch, had an Orangina and unsuccessfully tried to post yesterday's blog. We also stopped by a gun shop. As I think we mentioned before, our friend Seb has a hi vis hat to stop him being confused with a rabbit by drunken hunters. I thought a hi vis hat might be good for misty mornings when walking beside roads. I am now the proud owner of a hi viz (orange) beany hat from the gun shop.

On the way out of town we got a bit confused about where we should go, and as we debated a plummy voice echoed across the street "can I help you?" it was a British ex-pat from London now living in Navarrenx, kindly offering assistance to his fellow countrymen. He told us the way to get out of town, but being a driver rather than a pilgrim he showed us the direct route rather the route up to and through the ramparts.

After lunch we stopped for a rest at a pate factory which has a rest area for pilgrims, we looked at the visitors book and the last entry was from Seb & Anne, who we last saw four days ago. As we rested I idly played with my iPod and discovered they had an open Wi-fi connection so was able to send my post.


After our rest we headed for our accommodation which for the first time was a Chambre de hote, a superior sort of B&B. After being shown our room, we were invited to shower and use the pool which I did, (I have the photo to prove it for those doubters). It was a bit bracing but once committed I had to upkeep British honour.


At 6:45 our hosts invited us into their living room for aperitifs. We then moved to the dining room for a bit of a feast. We started with charcuterie, this was followed by roast pork in a gravy, accompanied by a mix of vegetables. The cheese course followed with a selection of four very flavoursome cheeses, and to round off the meal was a very nice apple tart.

At table were ourselves, two Norwegians, the Swiss French lady (Carol) and our hosts (the only French people). Conversation was in a mixture of French and English and our hostess regailed us with hilarious tales of some of their guests. This included a tale of how at 6:15 that evening they had been phoned by a couple still in Navarrenx (about 2 to 3 hours walk away) wanting a room and meal that evening. Our hosts had told them that at that time of night they should stay in Navarrenx instead! It also transpired that the Norwegian couple were a retired Lutheran pastor and his wife. The difference between us was that Lutheran pastors have to be t-total: thank God for the good old C of E. Our hosts then told us that in their area one priest was covering 46 churches, even in North Norfolk we are not that desperate yet!

After a great evening we retired to our beds, ours being a double on a mezanine floor above a living space.

On the Camino in France

Pomps to La Sauvelade - Of Things That Go Bump in the Night

Today we walked 33.8 km or 21 miles.
We went up 283 m and down 461 m

Dear reader, today I start my blog by saying we are puzzled. Everyday we read up the distances we are due to travel, I reset my GPS to zero and we walk, but when we get to our destination, according to the GPS we have invariably walked far more kms than we should. Take today for example the book said 26 km, yet the GPS said 33.8 km. Do any of our readers know why? Can GPS's be that far out, or can they suggest another reason for the discrepancies?

Anyway, back to the Blog. After the repast I reported on last night, we sat down and finished a nice bottle of rose we had picked up at the local shop. We then adjourned to the portacabin to sleep: the Norwegians had gone to bed at 8:30. We settled down but there was a lot of voices of people talking outside. The village is due to be "en fête" over the weekend and so the locals were getting ready as the sports hall we were attached to was the centre of operations. Apparently at gone 1:30 am there were voices and bangings in the kitchen, and when I got up at 5:30 and went out, there were cars outside and lights on in the main hall. When we went to breakfast at just after 7, we discovered what some of the banging in the kitchen was all about, as the fridge freezer had gone walkabout, along with it's contents of various pilgrims lunches, in it's place was a very dirty hole. One of the Frenchman went off and managed to recover the lunches, and the milk for our breakfast.

Our hope is that the good people of Pomps are not too tired after all their early morning fridge moving to enjoy their festivities!

We set off on our way again towards the Pyrenees, realising that we have less than 100 km to do to get to the boarder with Spain! The walking has changed again with rolling hills and ridge walking, including a ridge walk through the town of Arthrez-de-Bearn which is a very thin town and stretches for 2 km along a ridge. While we walked through, Paul the Swiss man we met last night, called us from a window to say he was staying for a couple of days to rest, which is probably what he needs with the schedule he has been following, which has been far tougher than ours.

A French Nuclear Power Station

We arrived at La Sauvelade our Eventual destination for the night, at 4:40. We have our own room in a very modern and clean Gite. At supper we sat down with 1 Swiss lady and four French people from Bordeaux. It turned out that one of the French women, had a pen friend in Wells next the Sea and last year visited Wells! It certainly is a small world.

Who knows how much smaller it will get before our trip ends.

On the Camino in France

Thursday October 1st - Pimbo to Pomps

Daily totals:- 21.5 miles, 35.6 km
Up 450m Down 511m

After a good evening and a reasonable night's sleep, we took our leave of Pimbo.

As we walked we saw hundreds of swallows sitting on the power lines, obviously on their migration back to Africa.

Our first stop was the town of Arzacq-Arrazigust, a town with two town squares and of course we first picked the one whose boulangerie was shut, requiring a detour to the other square and the second boulangerie!


At the next village of Louvigny we stopped for morning prayer. As we set off again, we looked on our iPods to see if there were any open Wi-fi connections. We were so intent on our hunt that we missed a waymark and carried straight on and only confirmed our mistake after 1 km.

When we got back on the right track, at the next hamlet we discovered Wi-fi at the first house.

We passed from arable sweetcorn monoculture back into cattle country before ending back in sweetcorn country, but a much greener country with green grass, rather than brown dried grass.


For the last km of our walk we walked with a very lonely Swiss man, who is loosing his eyesight due to glaucoma and in a short time told us his life story and family history. He was obviously in need of company, but our ways had to part as he was walking a further 10 km than us, but we listened while we could.

Our journey ended in the village of Pomps. We are staying in the village Gite that our guide book describes in this way:- "Spartan gite accommodation available in sports hall". We were shown by the man who runs the gite into a portakabin, stuffed full of beds, they also have beds in the men's and women's changing rooms. We selected two and paid the man.

We then decided to avail ourselves of the washing machine which took about 1 & 3/4 hours for the cycle!

At 7 all the guests assembled for our meal, two English, two Norwegians and seven French. The French people were not happy bunnies to say the least with the food.

The food came altogether on a trolley, including everything for breakfast. Our starter was a thin watery soup, with a little bit of onion floating in it. The main was pork and veg cooked in red wine with rice. The cheese course was a square of processed cheese similar to Laughing Cow cheese, this was followed by an apple tart.

I don't know if it was the food (It wasn't the best, but I have eaten much much worse) or a perceived blow to national pride, because as we all know, the French do (quite rightly) take a great deal of pride in their cuisine.

But at the end of the day for 10€ it was value for money.

Over the last month we have received loads of comments from friends and family, we really enjoyed receiving them, and they make all the typing worth while. I'm sorry that I can't respond to everyone. But please do keep them coming.

It is also my intention to add photos to the blog but to do this we need Internet cafes, which are few and far between, here in rural France.

Love Jeremy and Lesley

On the Camino in France

Aire-sur-l'Adour to Pimbo - A Tale of Armagnac and Priests and An Empty Gite

Daily data:- 19.8 miles, 31.8 KM
Up 377 m down 309 m

In the common room of our Gite there was a set of scales hanging from the ceiling, so before we all set off, we decided to weigh our rucksacks. The lightest two were Lesley's an Anne's weighing in at just over 9 kg, these were followed by Seb's and mine at 10 kg, but the prize for the heavy weight champion of the Gite went to the older Frenchman whose sack weighed a staggering 13.5 kg (that was before he added two aluminium bottles of water)!

Our way this morning was a bit baffling. We left town in the usual way (up hill), the way marks as well as being the usual Red/white balises, were also blue and yellow scallop symbols on a yellow arrow pointing the correct way. In places the red/whites had become faded, but the new signs were always there. We passed by a big man made lake. Soon the red/white balises disappeared altogether, but there was always the new style signs in sight.


After a while we got a bit twitchy as we had expected some off road walking and it had not materialised. We decided to check or British guide book and our French accommodation guide (it has a simple map of the camino in it) to work out where we were: neither bore any resemblance to the route we had been walking! What should we do, go back or trust these new signs? We decided to have faith and in the spirit of pilgrimage and the pilgrim chant of 'Ultreia' (ever onwards) we continued.

At a corner where the signage was a bit indistinct, we stopped and consulted the books again. We had just worked out where we thought we were, when two German men came up and said "you must follow the yellow", so we were now more convinced this was the way to go. Shortly after we were rewarded with a familiar red/white balise.

Our path took us along the right route for about 2km before our guide books and the reality on the ground differed again. The reason we concluded was that they were building a new major trunk road and the Camino had been redirected to avoid it. It also meant that we missed our first village and water point, and in fact we did not visit a village for 20km, when we came to the village of Miramont-Sensacq.

It was after 1pm so we decided to go into the church and say mid-day prayer and then have our lunch. As we sat in the shade with our boots off, beginning to prepare our picnic, a man came over dressed in jeans and an open shirt, "were we pilgrims?" he asked, "yes" we said, and in conversation we told him of our trip. He then told us he was the parish Priest Fr. Roger. Lesley explained that I was also a Priest in the C of E. When he heard this he asked if we would like the parish stamp in our Pilgrim's passport and also a cup of coffee once we had finished our lunch. So following our lunch, we went to Fr. Roger's house, where he stamped our passports and then settled us into his living room whilst he made us coffee.

We then had a chat about our churches etc. He wanted to know how the Anglican Church fared in numbers on a Sunday and in numbers of Priests. In terms of attendance, we both had similar stories to tell each other. He then told us that he and one other priest were responsible for between 16 and 20 parishes, spread over quite a large area (sounds like rural Norfolk!).

Fr. Roger then told us that he had been able to walk the last 100km of the Camino to Santiago himself, but gave the impression that he would like to do the whole walk, if he had the time.

He asked if we liked French cuisine to which we replied 'yes'. As a conversation piece, I also said I liked Armagnac. Fr. Roger asked if I would like one, I said yes, and so he opened a cupboard with about 10 or 15 bottles of different Armagnacs, pulled out a bottle and poured me an Armagnac into my coffee cup.

After I had consumed the drink, we took our leave and after much handshaking resumed our journey, buoyed up by the friendly welcome of this hard working Priest.

We were grateful that we had decided to stop in the village of Pimbo tonight rather than go on to the next town another 7km away, as it meant that we could spend time with Fr. Roger, because after all this is what pilgrimage is all about, encounters with many different and varied people.

We were also grateful when we got to Pimbo and were shown into the Gite by the lady from the tourist office. There was a five bed bedroom, a kitchen / common room with a terrace, bathroom etc. And by six when the tourist office closed, we realised that we had this all to ourselves.



We did our laundry and hung it outside to dry, we then went to explore and discovered a little winery in the village near the church. Unfortunately it was closed, so we went to the Church for evening prayer and then back to the Gite to make our meal. As it was cooking I popped back to the winery, found the owner and tasted and bought a very nice bottle of his wine which we had with our meal. As the evening was warm we ate out on the terrace looking fantastic views of some of the countryside we had travelled across.


Tonight was the second time I regretted not having a car, so I could take a couple of cases of Pimbo wine home with me!

On the Camino in France

Arblade-le-Haut to Aire sur-l'Adour - A Day of the True Pilgrim Spirit

Daily totals:- 28.6 km (17.8 miles) up 216m down 192m

As with previous days this week, the day started with a thick mist which did not burn off until about mid-day. After breakfast, we set out walking. Our first task was to rejoin the camino as we were off piste, this we did after a couple of KMs. Again the way took us through fields of grape vines, either freshly harvested or heavy with grapes awaiting the harvest. After about 6km, we came across a small church where we stopped to say morning prayer. As we prayed a French couple came in for their own prayers. We left them to their contemplation and carried on our way.

We soon encountered one of the groups of what we call "plastic pilgrims" (a large group, who book up all the accommodation, have a car to take their baggage from A to B, so they walk with tiny daysacks, and at lunch time bring them a sumptuous picnic with coffee, wine and all the trimmings). This particular group were also taking bunches of grapes off the vines, eating a few and then discarding the rest.

We lost this group at lunchtime as they stopped to await their caterers.

Our host at Arblade-le-Haut had been keen to suggest another shorter route to Aire-sur-l'Adour, which he thought was prettier, but we had decided to follow the official GR65 route instead. At about 1pm our route turned a sharp right to walk beside a railway line. At the turn was a notice board empty except a notice in a sandwich bag that read in large letters "Jeremy + Leslie Norfolk England".



It was a note from the three original Canadian women, Maureen, Melanie and Nadine, saying "hope this finds you + your feet + pilgrim bear are well. This is our last day". It was dated the 24th and had been waiting for us for 5 days. We had last seen the girls in Cahors where they were leap frogging to Condom as they had done that leg already. Also left with the note was a fruit bar from someone from Quebec - if you ever read this blog girls, it was great to find your note and it really boosted our spirits. We hope the rest of your Camino goes well over the next few years.

Buoyed up, we went on our way. A little while later we came across a bench with signs and notices inviting pilgrims to take a rest. We were also invited to help ourselves to drinks and fruit, but, alas there was none. The bench had been put there by a lady called Elizabeth to aid pilgrims on their way.


A little later on we stopped for lunch, and as we sat the French couple who had come into the church during our morning prayer passed, stopping to have a chat with us about our journey.

We continued towards Aire-sur-l'Adour passing by a couple of large supermarkets and walking along a busy main road before crossing the river Adour on a bridge festooned with flags of all the European nations reaching the town of Aire-sur-l'Adour itself.


We stopped at the Office de Tourisme, to get directions to our gite, the totally aptly named "La Maison des Pelerins" owned and run by a former pilgrim. Before we got there we liked the fact that Jean-Michel the owner would not let large groups block book the accommodation. In some ways the house reminded us of the Tea Houses we stayed in Nepal, even down to the Buddhist pray flags and picture of the Dali Lama! As accommodation went it was what Pilgrims accommodation should be about. It wasn't glitzy like some of the places we have stayed, it was simple and down to earth, with a large kitchen for us to cook in, laundry facilities, simple but clean bedrooms, bathrooms an loos and a comfortable common room to relax in.

We arrived and after booking in, were greeted by Seb and Ann our French friends, who offered to cook for us all. After the usual washing and showering we headed into town and found an open Wi-Fi spot, posted our blogs and picked up emails from friends and family. Over a glass of beer I also started to catch up on the latest goings on from Ambridge which I haven't heard for a month.

We headed back to the Gite and offered to help with the cooking, but were turned down as Seb wanted to cook for us! We relaxed in the common room and I phoned Dad to wish him a happy birthday. We then sat down to eat, Seb had cooked a wonderful tagliatelle dish, with turkey and goats cheese. Accompanied with a lovely green salad. We were joined for the meal by Gwen a Breton who was on his own, and had been invited by Seb to join us, at the table were an older French couple eating their meal, with us all joining in the conversation and sharing our wine. Once we had cleared away Ann sat down and played the piano, while Gwen played a guitar and sung old British and American pop songs. All in all it was a fantastic day.

When we had set out this was what I had imagined the camino spirit to be about, but had not fully experienced, today we had had it in spades!

On the Camino in France

Lost and stung - Eauze to Arblade le Haut

I woke up with a stinking headache, (and no before you say it, it was not because of too much red wine! - we had Rose). Outside there was a heavy mist. After breakfast we made visits to the patisserie, the chemist and the church, and then we were off.

For a second day we were walking through fields full of grapevines, and the harvest is beginning to be in full swing.

Like me you probably have a picture of bronzed men and women with wicker baskets on their backs, carefully cutting each bunch of the vine and placing them in the basket.

The reality is very different! One man drives a large machine over the tops of the grapevines and this machine harvests the grapes, which are then put into large skips (like the ones at council tips in the UK) and the grapes are then taken to a factory for processing.


All morning we had been following at a distance the young French couple (Seb & Anne) we had met last night. Seb was wearing a very bright hi viz orange hat. A little while later we passed them and said to Seb how much his hat showed up. He told us that he was wearing it as a precaution against hunters because he said "I am not a rabbit" and a drunken hunter could well confuse a six foot Frenchman with a 9 inch rabbit! I don't have a hi vis hat, but I do have a bright orange "Mr Easyjet" rucksack so hopefully hunters should not confuse Lesley and myself for rabbits either.

When we reached the town of Manciet we had to cross a major trunk road using a road bridge. As we crossed we could smell the grape lorries as they passed underneath. We stopped at the church to say midday prayer, only to find it shut. There was however, an oratory of St James, (a small room with a window looking into the church, and just behind the window was a picture of St James). So we stopped and said the office, before continuing on our way.

We left the town passing a scrapyard before continuing in open countryside, as we went up a small hill I heard a shout from Lesley, looked around to see her all contorted, I asked what was wrong, "I'm being stung by a bee" I leaped into action removing the offending insect, which then turned around and stung me on the arm. "it's gone I said", "no it's not, it's just stung me on the ear" said Lesley. It turned out two bees had attacked Lesley, I had got no 2, who had got me, but no 1 had already stung Lesley. I removed the stings from both of us and as a precaution we both took an anti-histamine.

It was about half an hour later that we realised that we had not seen a balise marking the route for a while, also where there was a possible left or right there were no balises indicating a turn. I was then worried we might have taken the wrong route. We read our guide book and concluded that we had missed a right turn 2.5 km back. We turned around and retraced our steps. As our last map for the route ran out just before Condom, (and we have been unable to buy the next one), we couldn't look for an alternative route.

We also realised that the route back would probably take us past the irate Bees again. However, luck was on our side, after retracing our steps for about 1km we came to a side road with signs to a gite and church we knew were on our route, so we took the turn and after another km regained the correct route.

As we retraced our steps we reflected that in nearly three weeks and over 500 km of walking this was the first time we had gone wrong, which is not a bad achievement. We also mused that perhaps the bees had been trying to tell Lesley that we had gone the wrong way, as they were buzzing in her ear, and perhaps they had stung her in frustration when she hadn't listened!


Eventually we got back on the route and came to the church of Sainte Christie where we stopped for lunch, but unfortunately the church was locked, as ever a disappointment. After lunch we continued to the town of Nogaro where we bumped into Seb and Ann again who had wondered what had happened to us as they had not seen us, so we explained that we went wrong.

After getting something for tomorrow's lunch, and a glass of Orangina we set out to walk the last 2.5 km to our nights halt at Arblade de Haut, (all up hill of course!) we arrived at our gite and were welcomed with a cold glass of mint squash, before our host showed us to our room. After the usual round of showers and washing, we sat on the terrace with our hosts and our fellow guests (including Seb & Anne) for a beer.

There were 11 of us who sat down for supper, we 2 Brits, 3 Germans and 6 French people. With great ceremony our host brought out two bottles of Floc de Gascogne, the drink we had first tasted at Therese's in Miradoux, he explained that it was grape juice fortified with Armagnac. The Floc was followed by a courgette soup, a lightly spiced tagine type dish from Reunion, served with rice, and a desert similar to Breton fa with Apple.

Over dinner we talked with Seb and Anne, and in conversation the speed of my walking came up. Lesley had been commenting on how after 28km I was still walking at the same (fast) pace. Seb said he had noticed that I seemed to keep on going and that they had nicknamed me the Terminator, as like Arni in the film I was relentless. I found this quite funny. Seb and Anne are also doing a blog and so we swapped blog addresses.

Finally a happy birthday to my dad for tomorrow 29th September.

On the Camino in France

Condom to Eauze

Distance 20.8 miles or 33.5 km
Up 289m down 296m

The accommodation determines the distance!

We set off bright and early, with just a brief stop at a patisserie, (we had spied out yesterday), to get our breakfast. We started our day's walk by walking alongside the river, before heading inland. At first we walked through the usual freshly ploughed fields, occasionally spying out hunters touting shotguns, or hearing their guns go off. Very soon the terrain began to change and we were surrounded by grape vines, growing grapes of at least three different varieties that I could spot (so in truth there were probably about 10 or 20).


The grape vines spread in neat rows for acre upon acre. As our path took us through the vines it was tempting to go and help myself to a grape or two, however, after our discussion about scrumping with Georgina Sykes and our feelings when we had seen others helping themselves to other farmers crops, it wasn't hard to resist the urge.




At about 12 we came to the town of Montreal-du-Gers, which was just starting to gear itself up for a fête, with a silver band, pony rides, a bouncy castle, a bar and much, much more. We slipped into the church for morning prayer and continued on our way.

For the last half of our walk we walked on the bed of an old railway line, passing an old station for the village of Bretagne d'Armagnac, aptly named as the station yard was full of vans and cars with British registrations.

Despite the distance the first 29 km were quite easy, it was the last 4.5 km which was the killer and seemed to last for 30 or 40 km!

We eventually arrived at Eauze to find that to get in the gite you booked in at the tourist office, which was closed. The office had a list of room allocations already made, which included a group of 15. The chances were that there wouldn't be a place for us, so we checked into a budget hotel instead.

It seems however, that we are suffering at the moment from the curse of the toilets. Last night the loo in our room kept on filling and filling unless we took the lid off and fiddled with the innards. Tonight it's a dodgy seat only attached on one side. The trouble with limited French is it's not easy to explain these problems!

We had gone demi-pension to save us setting out again to find food. So after a beer we went to the restaurant. The thing about demi-pension is you don't know what you are getting until it arrives. The starters came: a green salad with Anchovies. Not good for me, with my fish allergy. I gave Lesley the anchovies and hoped for the best. When the main course came, I was on cloud nine but Lesley was not so happy, as we were presented with steak and chips, the steaks being cooked Bleu. After a short discussion I called the waitress over, pointed to Lesley's steak and before I could say anything else she said bien cuit, (would you like it cooked a bit more - she obviously knew the British palate). Lesley accepted her offer whilst I declined, and shortly afterward the steak arrived back rare, the nearest a French chef can bring himself to cook a steak to well done!

Whilst having our beer before our meal we bumped into a young French couple we had seen walking the camino on a number of occasions over the last week or so, but had never spoken to before, the man spoke excellent English having learnt it so he could understand the jokes in Monty Pythons flying circus properly. They were enjoying the camino but felt that sometimes with the number of large groups of walkers it was a bit like a production line rather than a pilgrimage. Like us they are keeping a blog, but unlike us prior to this trip they had never walked, but were very much enjoying the experience. They are walking as far as St Jean Pied-de-Port so hopefully we will see more of them.

On the Camino in France

A rest day in Condom

When we left Figeac we had planned to have a rest day in Condom. The original plan was to arrive here today (Saturday) just before lunch and leave either tommorow afternoon or Monday morning. However, because of the night halts, the ease of the terrain and our improved fitness after twenty days of walking, we brought forward our plans and arrived yesterday afternoon.

Before we went to bed, we had been told by the hotel owner that we could have breakfast at any time we wanted as it was entirely self service. In a corridor on the ground floor, they had set out our breakfast, and in a fridge nearby they had left orange juice, butter, jam and milk. A gas ring and saucepan had been provided for us to heat our water and milk, and the timing was up to us!


After breakfast we set out to explore. From our room we had a fine view of the Cathedral tower and the river.


We decided to go first to the cathedral and say morning prayer, before we did anything else.

From the outside it's a magnificant building, and the inside it's equally impressive. The fabric is well cared for and it is obviously a place that has been prayed in for centuries, and gives you a sense of peace and the presence of God as soon as you go in and sit down.

This sense of the other, is aided by organ and choral music being gently played through the church's sound system (something I have noticed in many French churches).

Condom cathedral is somewhere that both of us felt we could spend hours in, and is, we felt, one of the most "spiritual" churches we have been in on the pilgrimage so far.

It was now 11am and we decided to visit La Poste again to see if the iPod had arived. (In truth both of us expected it not to have, due to the industrial action in England, and we had been looking at how to get back to Condom from places further along on the trip). I presented my passport, the lady went to the cupboard for Post Restante letters and came back with not just one but two jiffy bags for us. One was my iPod fixed and firing on all four cylinders thanks to the ministrations of Nick. The other a food parcel from Meryl. We immediately headed for a cafe with wi-fi to send them an e-mail to say the parcels had safely arived.

As it was a nice day, we decided to have a walk along the river and also check out where the Camino left town, ready for tomorrow. On the river were a group of youngsters messing about in canoes and obviously having a whale of a time.


On the way back we had to weave our way around men playing petanque on a gravel square opposite our hotel.


By this time it was lunch time so we bought a few bits from a pattiserie and ate them sitting in the sun.

In the afternoon we went to a cyber cafe to upload our pictures and then did some shopping, before a meal and bed.





On the Camino in France

Marsolan to Condom - A day of plans thwarted.

The figures for the day 15.6 miles/25.1km - up 427m & down 525 m

We set out bright and early, with all our clothes clean and dried and no sign of a black spaniel! As usual, after 5 minutes we stopped to stretch, as we have been taught by Tonya our Nordic and power walking instructor at Pinewoods Gym.

After 5km we had a choice, either to take a 6km shortcut or follow the correct route around two sides of a triangle to the village of La Romieu. La Romieu's claim to fame is it's very large church, built when thousands of pilgrims were passing through every month in the middle ages. We had decided that we would where possible follow the historic path of the camino, and so we plumped for going to La Romieu and planned to stop in the church to say morning prayer.

The approach to La Romieu was fantastic, after walking through acres of ploughed fields or fields in the process of being ploughed, we were now walking through acres of apple orchards. We turned a corner and there was La Romieu in all it's glory, and at it's centre the fantastic looking church.

As we entered the village we discovered it's other claim to fame, it is the village of Cats (a place my sister in law, Meryl, would love), on walls, peeking out of windows, roofs, and signs are stone cats, lots and lots of them.


We moved into the village and looked into the cloister of the church where we saw a sign "to visit the Church tickets can be bought at the tourist information". We were not happy, the great churches in Le Puy, Conques, Figeac and Moissac hadn't charged for people to enter, so why did La Romieu? We will never know the answer as we decided not to go in! The only door we darkened was that of the pattiserie where I bought gorgeous, if somewhat overpriced, Florentines. We then left La Romieu for good, and travelled on, saying morning prayer and eating our Florentines in the next village.

The sun was getting hotter and hotter as we continued on, passing into grape country with acre upon acre of grape vines, which I had been expecting as Condom is the centre of the Armagnac industry. Walking over the brow of a hill we saw Condom laid out before us, there was a rustle in the undergrowth and Lesley saw a snake (about four foot long) disappearing into the undergrowth, (I had also seen a similar specimen on the canal towpath a few days ago).

As we reached the town centre I spied the La Poste and we popped in to get my iPod, unfortunately due to industrial action in the UK it hadn't arrived, so we agreed that we would return tomorrow morning to retrieve it.

After a quick visit to tourist information to get a map, we headed to our proposed hotel for the next two nights, only to find it closed until 4:30. So still encumbered with our rucksacks we headed back into town for a drink until it opened.

At 4:30 we went back and sorted a room, we asked for demi-pension for tonight and just a bed for tomorrow, to which the owner agreed. He then told us the meal would be at 8pm. So after showers and laundry we headed back to town for a beer. As we had the munch we picked up some peanuts to eat with our beer. At the bar we picked, when 7pm came along, the bar man brought out dishes of chips and more peanuts. Quite full, we headed back to our hotel for our meal. The chips were a mistake! The meal we were presented with started with vegetable soup, this was followed by a massive salad with charcutarie. We were then presented with poulet with spaghetti bolognaise. And if that was not enough, a pudding doused in Armagnac.

Hopefully after that little lot we will be able to sleep!

On the Camino in France

Miradoux to Marsolan

Today we went up 365m and down 428m. And we walked 27.3 km or 17 miles.

After a restful night's sleep we got up and went to breakfast, which was just as chaotic as supper, with Therese dressed in a large flowing caftan trying to cater to every one's needs including boiling up a litre of milk for my hot chocolate.

Staying in the house with us, was a German lad from Hanover, who whilst camping in the woods had done something to the tendons in his foot. He had tried to limp on but had to give up and had been sent to Therese by someone in the village as she had been a nurse. She had taken him to the doctor, applied ice packs, and given him foot massages.

His foot which had been very swollen looked better but it was still painful so Therese was taking him off to Lectoure (the nearest large town) to see a different doctor for a second opinion.

So with hurried goodbyes we took our leave of this wonderful lady. This was one of those encounters, which is what pilgrimage is all about, and which you would never have if you went on one of the pre-packaged trips on the Camino that many of our fellow walkers were taking.



Thus buoyed up, we went on our way. We stopped at the village of Castet-Arrouy to say morning prayer and were greeted by a pack of dogs, one, a black spaniel, tried to lick my legs and followed us into the church.

When we had finished and came out of the Church, the black spaniel decided to come with us, it obviously knew the route as it would range all over the fields in front of us, and then would be waiting at the turns in the track, almost saying to us "it's this way, come on you slow coaches". We told it to go home, and that it's owners would be worried about it, but it just wouldn't leave us alone.

(At this stage I had visions of our holiday walking the Corfu trail when a couple of stray dogs latched onto our group, and raided a chicken coup, resulting in an irate woman chasing after us and demanding compensation. When the dogs and some friends tried to follow us the next day, we thwarted them by blocking the exit to a pedestrian bridge over a fast flowing waterway with some pallets).

The dog had now been with us for over 5km but if we shouted at her all she did was slink and cower. The town of Lectoure was rapidly approaching and still the dog kept with us, as we got to the town she continued to lead us onwards.


As we approached the Cathedral, she went around a corner at the same time as we spied a nice little garden where we could have our lunch. We darted in, sat down and lunched, we had lost her at last! Perhaps she had now gone home, I didn't think she was a stray as she had a collar and tag, and seemed well fed as she did not try and beg when we had our eleven o'clock snack.

Over lunch we reviewed our options, should we stop here in Lectoure as planned or should we go further tonight and press on to Condom to pick up my iPod on Friday instead of Saturday. The decision hinged on accommodation at Marsolan, Lesley made a phone call, yes they had beds, so we decided to press on once we had explored the town.

Our first stop was the Cathedral: obviously it had a thriving congregation and was a much loved and well used building. Whilst in the Cathedral I discovered why I had been a bit uncomfortable walking this morning. Each night we wash out socks and underwear and then the next day, if it's not completely dry, we attach it to our rucksacks with nappy pins to finish the drying process. I discovered that I still had a nappy pin attached to my underwear, hence the discomfort!

After I had adjusted my hose, we then had a look round the rest of town. We then decided to have an Orangina before continuing on our way, so we popped into an open air bar we had seen. Unfortunately someone else had got there before us, the black spaniel! Should we turn tail and run, or should we sit down and have a drink? We decided to brave it out and ordered our drinks. Was the bar one of her regular stopping points (as she seemed quite at home?) Would she follow us again when we left? All these questions went through our minds, however, just before we planned to leave, the black spaniel trotted off never to be seen again.

Relieved, we continued on our way through vast rolling fields to the village of Marsolan to our Gite. When we arrived, our host explained that had been going to share our room with a French chap who had passed us on the road, but that he had changed his mind and upgraded to Chambre d'hote, (I didn't think we smelt that bad - after all we do take regular showers and wash our clothes). His decision worked to our favour as we had the room to ourselves. It was another hot day and we were able to get a lot of washing dried and settle down to relax in the Gite garden, before another fantastic meal. 15 of us sat down to eat and a very friendly Frenchman kept on plying us with wine so we slept very well.

On the Camino in France

Pommeric to Miradoux - A stay a difference

23.8 km - 14.8 miles - up 428m down 305 m

After three long days of walking our feet were beginning to pay the price, so we decided to have a shorter day. After a breakfast of Croissant, Pain au chocolat and bread we set out.

The day was warm, despite a thick mist which obscured the view. After an abortive attempt to find some bread, we set off, first crossing the canal and river Garonne. We then started uphill to the lovely town of Auvillar where, because we were in search of bread, we missed seeing the Market Hall which is supposed to be a bit special.

Our route then took us through rolling countryside with massive fields, where corn or sunflowers had been growing.


We passed through a secession of beautiful villages with wonderful old buildings.

By 1 pm the sun had come out and it was getting hotter. As we passed an isolated house, the lady of the house called "hello" rather than the usual "bonjour". After a couple of steps it registered: we stopped and had a chat. They were ex-pats living in France who confessed that they knew very little French. Like the other English couple we met, they asked if we needed anything and if they could help in any way, which was very kind of them.

We travelled on to Saint-Antoine where we stopped for an Orangina and then had a picnic lunch.


From then on we travelled in a virtual straight line to the hill village of Flamarens,


which has a beautiful castle and a church that fell down in a major way about 15 years ago (reminding me of the old church at Hindolveston). From there it was four km to our final destination at Miradoux.

We had read in our guide books about places called "Accueil Pelerin": these are private houses owned by people who either have walked to Santiago or are committed to the Idea of the pilgrimage. They open their houses to fellow pilgrims to stay for the night or just pop in for a coffee on route, all for a donation.

Planning for our day, we had read that there was an Accueil Pelerin in Miradoux and so we decided to try one. The guide book also said that this one reserved a place for those who had not reserved a place.

We approached the house that was adorned with symbols of the camino, like some 1960's commune. As we looked at the house a lady in her 60's came out of the house "can I help you?" she asked, we plunged in, "have you two beds for tonight" asked Lesley, she said yes, and there was no turning back. The lady was Therese Fardo the owner of the house. She took us through a large room with a table, lots of chairs, and adorned with all sorts of pilgrim memorabilia, and a poster about reflexology on feet, to a back room with a double bed, a sink and a bidet, and asked if it was OK, we agreed and were then asked if we wanted a drink. We took off our boots and went back to the room, where Therese produced two beers. (it was only afterwards we realised all the other pilgrims were drinking tea). Perhaps Therese knew instinctively that for Brits there is nothing like a cold continental beer to slake our thirst!)

Therese then enquired if we had any washing, we suggested that we could do it in our room by hand, but Therese insisted that she had a machine and that it would be no bother, furthermore she would be putting a basket for our laundry outside our door. We retreated to our room and asked ourselves, was this Accueil Pelerin thing a mistake, especially for us who only spoke pidgin French. But the dice were cast, so we would have to go through with it.

We showered and gave Therese our dirty clothes, we then went to look at the village and say evening prayer in the church, before returning to Therese's for our evening meal. On our return Lesley was told how our washing had been hung out in the garden.

Eventually 7:30 arrived and all the pilgrims came and sat at the table. The table had been laid with eleven places, (two short of the number who eventually sat at table) with a mountain of fruit in the middle, about four bottles of wine, some nuts and sunflower seeds, which we all tucked into with abandon. Lesley thought that Therese had said that the meal would be salad and charchuterie. The meal proper, started with Therese bringing in some large bowls of salad in a lovely dressing, this was passed around while she opened a variety of cans of different pate. (Lesley was quick to point out that one was "head pate" and perhaps we might want to avoid it!) At that point Therese launched into a chorus of Ultreia, the pilgrims song we had learned at Conques, before toasting our venture.

As Therese has said salad and charcuterie we thought that was it, a reasonable meal for someone trying to feed the five thousand on a limited budget. Once the salad was cleared she disappeared, returning with plates of green beans mixed other veg and baked new potatoes. She disappeared again and brought in a tray of roasted pork, pork ribs and chicken (this was the charcuterie she had promised, not the pate). The trouble was that most people had filled up with salad, beans and potato, so had little appetite for the meat! However, I tried to do my best. This course was followed by cheese, washed down with a glass of Floc de Gasgoigne ( a local drink that tasted like a medium sweet Sherry). As we drunk we sung another round of Ultreia, before being serenaded by a couple of French women with a French pilgrims song they had found on the Internet, (we did briefly contemplate a rendition of "He who would valiant be", but thought better of it.)

The meal finished and between us we set about washing up. After this, Therese sat down to issue us with our pilgrims stamps. As she worked, we all slipped our contribution/donation into a pot in the shape of a mallard sitting on the sideboard.

After our fellow pilgrims had gone to bed we had a chat with Therese. It transpired that due to a disability she had never been able to do the pilgrimage as such, but saw her welcome to pilgrims as her particular pilgrimage! We were both humbled by both her dedication and generosity to pilgrims on their journey.

On the Camino France