Larrasoana to Pamplona

A short walk of 18.2 km - 11.3 miles, going up 183 m and down 354 m

I slept better last night: at last my cold seems to be on the wane. However, I am now suffering as a result of inadvertently eating fish. Last night at dinner we think that what I thought was mince on my pasta starter was probably Tuna. So today I have paid the price. Spain is a country that eats a lot of fish so I will have to be more vigilant in the future and ask if things contain fish or not.

At 8 just as we were setting off the lady from the town hall came to kick out any stragglers. We had hoped to get breakfast at the bar where we had dinner, but unfortunately it was closed. It was to be another 10 km at 10:30 before we were able to break our fast.

Our walk started in mist and took us along the banks of the Rio Arga. We then had to walk along a stretch main road and I was grateful for my hi-vis hat. As we walked the mist burned off into brilliant sunlight. We then walked over a hill and down the other side to reach the Rio Arre and the town of Trinidad de Arre, where we were able to get our breakfast of coffee and bacon and red pepper rolls, which may sound strange but are delectable. Our hunger having been sated, we continued on.

The town of Trinidad de Arre is basically a suburb of it's bigger neighbour Pamplona, but obviously has it's own identity and was preparing for some sort of celebration. Fair ground rides and stalls were being set up. Along the road we walked in on, they were beginning to install some heavy duty barriers. The uprights were about 8 ft tall 6" by 6" beams, these were set into the ground in permanent sockets. Fixed to the uprights were 6" x 2" planks all carefully numbered with a 3 or 4 inch gap between each plank. My guess is that they were preparing for their own bull run, similar to that of Pamplona's. I have read that many towns in this part of Spain have bull runs, but that Pamplona's is just the biggest and most famous!

As we walked from Trinidad de Arre to Pamplona, we passed a computer shop. On the off chance that they might have an iPod lead, I popped in, luck was with me and I got the last one in the shop! We were back in business again.

We continued through the streets following yellow arrows painted on lamp posts and blue and yellow scallop shell symbols painted on the ground.

When we got within a couple of miles of the city centre, we were hailed by a local man. I went over to see what he wanted. He told me that we could take an alternative and much nicer route into Pamplona by following the river path, and that it would join up again with the Camino a little later on. We decided to take his advice. The path took us all the way into the city following the Arre on our left, while on our right were a number of Market gardens.

At one point we came across a quirky pedestrian bridge over the river (a photo will eventually be added!).

Just by the bridge in a field were 20 or 30 miniature horses, some with foals.

We then crossed by the Puente de la Magdalene. At the foot of the bridge is a cross with the figure of St James upon it. Sadly though it has been vandalised and St James no longer has a head.

After crossing the river the path climbed into the city through the ramparts and up to the Cathedral.

In this part of Pamplona major works are being carried out to the utility infrastructure, making the whole street a building site. As a result the way is very uneven with raised manholes and all sorts of other trip hazards. Coming the opposite way to us was a burly builder walking very slowly, with a very frail old lady on his arm. He was Carefully helping her through the hazards and bending his head to listen to all she had to tell him, and treating her with the utmost respect.

We eventually arrived at the Cathedral and got our pilgrims stamps. We had decided to try a new hostal that Lucas had told us about, built in an old church, the Jesus & Mary hostal. It has been built into the church without affecting the fabric. It is very clean and has been designed by someone who has thought about the needs of pilgrims. The bunks although in four long corridors, are in bays of four or six. Each bunk has it's own power point for charging equipment. There is a large laundry area with free washing machines, basic Internet access, and a kitchen.

After showers, we filled a machine with washing and headed off for lunch while it went through it's cycle.

In the centre of old Pamplona is a large square, which has cafes on all sides, we picked one and had lunch sitting in the sun.

We had decided that our main task for the afternoon was to get haircuts. We set out to find his and hers hairdressers. However, hard as we looked, for the first hour we just couldn't find any. Eventually we came across a shop but it was closed. By this time it was getting towards 5 pm. We now discovered more and more hairdressers but each shop we went into, told us the same tale, they were about to close.

We then discovered a barbers and so I dived in and got my hair cut. We continued to look for somewhere for Lesley but to no avail, the only open hairdressers were for men. It was now nearly 6 and we decided to give up the search and look instead for an Internet cafe, where I could download pictures from the camera. We bumped into Lucas who told us that there was an Internet cafe in the main square. We went to look and instead found a hairdresser that advertised that it was open to 8 pm. We went in and were told that if Lesley could wait for an hour she could get a cut. I went off to do some chores and then came back to a nearby cafe, where I wrote my blog while I waited. At 7:20 a coiffured Lesley appeared - our mission for the afternoon had been accompanied, and we now both look a lot less shaggy.

It then was food time. We headed across the square to a paella restaurant, we had spotted earlier, and sat down to a tasty chicken paella and a bottle of the local Rose. As the food was being cooked to order, I wandered off to post yesterday's blog. As usual I was immersed in my task and when our food arrived ignored Lesley's waiving and gesturing only being called back to reality by a piercing whistle from our waiter.

After our meal we headed back to the hostal before the 10 pm lock in.

I don't know if we will get much sleep tonight as we are next to an Olympic champion snorer. I can even here him with my ear plugs in! He puts my dad's snores into a very poor 10th or even 20th position and dad is a loud snorer.

On the Camino in Spain

A post Recreated - Roncesvalles to Larrasoaña

As you can see by the title this is a recreated post. I wrote this post the day before yesterday and thought I had posted it yesterday. However, somewhere between leaving my Ipod and hitting the Internet it has disappeared. So I am trying to recreate the work of genius previously written!

When I last posted we were waiting in Roncesvalles for the pilgrims office to open. At just after four the doors opened and we were let in. we were all handed forms to fill in with our vital statistics and were then given our pilgrims stamps. For the grand sum of six euros we also bought a bed for the night in the pilgrims' hostal. We then crossed the road to the hostal which looked from the outside like a huge barn. Inside were beds for as far as the eye could see, (our book said about 120).


We were greeted by the Hospitalaros who were volunteers from a Dutch society of St James, running the hostel on behalf of the Roncesvalles monks. We were issued with pillows and told to find bunks. After showers and laundry we headed to one of the two hotels in Roncesvalles to book our pilgrims' meal. At seven we sat down for the said meal, which started with pasta, then Lesley had fish, while I had a salad with a slice of Tortilla, this was followed with yogurt and all washed down with lots of red wine, all for the sum of 9 euros!

Following our meal we went to the abbey for the pilgrims mass and benediction, where we saw Donna the birthday girl from last night. After the mass was over I went for a nightcap with her, and she told me that we had faced 100 kph winds as we crossed the mountain.

After saying goodbye, I headed for the hostal which at 10 on the dot, was locked up and the lights were put out. After a reasonable nights sleep, at 6:30 the lights came slowly on and classical music was played to wake us all up. As a precaution, I had donned my eye patch and put in my ear plugs and at 6:45 Lesley had to gently prod me awake as I was the last person sleeping.

Before we left I had a long chat with one of the Dutch hospitalaros, who told me that they only did a two week stint at the hostal as early morning and late nights took their toll, especially if they had guests (as they had last night) who tried to get up at 4:30 to pack their bags and prepare to leave, and had to be told to go back to bed. She also told me about a book they kept with weird or unusual things that happened in the hostal. We are now in it as last night I had asked for a stamp for our Bear Gio´s pilgrims passport. Gio was their first pilgrim bear!

By 8 am we were on our way, walking through woods and meadows.

However, within a very short space of time we got lost, this happened again later in the day as well. In five weeks in France we got lost once, in 1 day in Spain we lost our way twice. After a couple of hours walk we stopped in a small village for coffee and a snack.

At about 1 we had our lunch of Chorizo and bread.


As we left the village of Zubiri the sky darkened and I said "it looks like rain" very soon after the heavens opened. We just had enough time to get waterproofs on before in came down in torrents, with great peals of thunder. Half an hour later, the sky cleared again and we began to roast in our waterproofs.

At about 4 we arrived at the town of Larrasoaña and went to the town hall to book in to the hostal. We had read that the mayor of Larrasoaña had made his own pilgrimage and knowing what pilgrims needed had set up the hostal. We had also heard good reports from our friends Sam and Martin, who had completed their own Camino a few years ago. Sadly things are now different, perhaps because of a change of mayor, the hostal has moved from the town hall to a converted garage across the road, where there must be about 30 or 40 beds all crammed in close together. The trouble is that there is only one toilet for men and one for women, which causes some log jams. However, every cloud has a silver lining and we discovered ours over beers and our meal later in the evening. It came in the form of three really nice people; Lucas from the Flemish part of Belgium who had begun his trip from his house, and had many tales to tell; then there was Gabriel a German Psychologist, and finally Jonas from Sweden, who is between jobs and fulfilling a dream of many years to walk the Camino. We had a great evening talking to the three of them, but there was also a bonus as well. Jonas had an Iphone, and when he heard our tale of woe about our charging cable, he brought his charger down to the restaurant where we ate, so Lesley and myself could recharge our Ipods. I was able to reciprocate the favour by showing him BlogPress the software we use for blogging. He was so impressed he immediately bought and downloaded it from Itunes as he had been having major problems with his blog that BlogPress should sort. this was the true spirit of the camino at its best, pilgrims helping each other with problems they face.

After a fantastic evening we headed back to the hostal contented with the world.

On the Camino in Spain

We Have Arived in Spain

We started out this morning at about 8:30 to climb the rest of the way over the Pyrenees to Ronsvalles. At breakfast we said goodbye to Seb and Anne for the last time, it seems funny that we will not see them again on the trip, as we have kep´t bumping into them for the last two weeks at the most unexpected times.


We set off with overcast sky and the wind blowing quite hard straight into our faces, the path took us uphill all the way following a tarmac road. After about 8 km the then took a track which wound up towards the boarder between France and Spain.

The wind was blowing a steady force 5 but gusting sometimes 6 to 7. We arrived at what we thought was the border, at about 11 am.

However, it was unclear to us where the border lay exactly, was it by the concrete posts with numbers on or was it at the cattle grid we walked over. We rather think the latter and so took photos.



We planned to then send a text message to the blog with a picture of the actual moment, we did this but something went wrong in translation and the picture will not appear on the post as it should, I will try and post it via the phone later as we have already paid Vodaphone their exorbitant data charges for the day.


we are now at Ronsvalles but the pilgrims office and accommodation are shut until 4 pm reports of the accommodation are not favorable to say the least, but we will be able to report properly about all this tomorrow.

Look out for the photo´s if I am successful.

From the Camino in Spain.

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