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27.6 Larressingle to Lamothe
We got up at 5.30, no hangover as Alain had guaranteed, and knocked off the first 12 km in 2.5 hours, not bad going. (John's calf muscle is getting back to normal.)
Did not see anyone on the trail today, how nice. By lunchtime we reached our destination at Gite Le Repos du Pelerin, run by Fritz, a German man, where I had stayed in 2009. He still cooks the same dish every night, of which he has the leftovers for lunch! So much for a varied diet.
Later in the afternoon a group of 6 arrived. By then the temperature in the shade had gone up to 38 degrees, well into the 40's in the sun. It was impossible to get comfortable inside or out and we had sweat streaming off our bodies during dinner. The night was hot too, a short lived storm crossed over in the early hours of the morning, it came and went, no rain and did not affect the temperature at all. It was still hot in the morning.
Lamothe to Le Haget 22 km
Fritz had prepared his famous breakfast of Bircher muesli and home baked whole grain bread before 6 am, so we could get off before the heat struck.
We left around 6. 45 am and stopped in Eauze, a quaint busy little town, the capital of the Armagnac country, to have coffee. The weekly market was in full swing, huge and we could not resist the olives in salted lemons, sheep cheese and delicious apricots for our lunch boxes.
We stayed a little longer than intended, but still made it to Le Haget, a farm, with converted stables for accommodation. The place is really geared for equestrians. They have 40 horses in the paddocks. I had stayed there in 2009 after walking through a whole day of pouring rain and thunderstorm.
The dog, who is now 10 years old still likes to play fetch, tirelessly. Covered in tics, blind in one eye now, he still keeps on. If you ignore the bits of stick or rubber balls he puts in front of you, he taps you and if after 3 taps you still ignore him, he moves on to the next person.
Marcus, a Swiss man, who had stayed at Fritz's last night turned up, hot and bothered and ended up sharing our room.
The temp was down to 33 degrees in the shade by about 5 pm and dropped further over night after a little rain.
We had dinner under the barn roof. Not one of the better meals I must say, although the salad was good and there was an Armagnac aperitif and plenty of wine. The owners ate separately from us, Marcus had told them that he was vegetarian and did not eat meat, so he ended up with no meat, but no alternative either, for him it was just chips for dinner, we had leathery chops to go with them.
Anyway we had a good rest and a better sleep due to the lower temperature.
John here: I rather liked this place as it was obviously a functioning farm. Dinner was late because the priority was getting hay bails under shelter before the rain hit and the children had to be picked up. We had to fit in with the real work of the day.
29.6. Le Haget to Dubarry 22 km
Coolish and no sun, nice walking through woods and fields.
Coffee in Nogaro. Suddenly we feel close to Spain, the first bullfight arenas and farms where bulls are bred for the bullfights.
We stocked up for provisions and I had a hissy fit in the bank, where after visiting 2 banks in town and waiting in a queue for at least 20 minutes, they would not change a 200 euro note. You have to have an account, pay the money in and then they give it to you in different denominations. I couldn't believe it. So last century. I said so as I huffed out of the place and by now I am sure all of Nogaro knows we are running around the countryside with 200 euro notes.
The other day a woman in the tabac shop would not accept my 50 euro note as it did not have a stripe down the side, it had some other symbol. The notes came from our bank in New Zealand and must be genuine as other people have accepted them without question.
What a hassle.
I managed to calm down after an hour or so of visions of being robbed at knife point by the local yobbos and we arrived at Gite Dubarry around 3 pm after 7 hours on the trail.
Weirdly slow today with John's leg giving him trouble again.
Veronique and Phillipe welcomed us warmly, we are the only guests tonight.
They told us that a group of Australians had stayed recently, who had read my blog and hence decided to book in. Something like " Bouche á Oreille"...which translates into word of mouth.
We had a lovely dinner with our hosts, prawn head bisque, followed by lasagne and a fresh garden salad decorated with grated beet root, followed by a millefuille based strawberry tart on a vanilla pudding base. The berries were fresh from mother's garden. John here: We had our first taste of the local wine which was new for us - based on tannat grapes - a rich red and strong tannins. Our host's friend who made the wine has preserved 29 varieties of grapes, 9 of which are the only specimens in France.
John and I decided today that 4 weeks of walking is ideal, one gets a range of experiences and a decent workout, after that it all turns into a blur and an exercise in " getting there".
We have been walking for nearly 5 weeks now and have another 11 days to go.
John's leg is packing it in intermittently and yesterday afternoon I confess to feeling a bit over it myself, the bank thing today really got under my skin big time.
30.6 Dubarry to Aire-sur-l'Adour 14 km
We were given breakfast with a candle mounted in an apricot as it is our wedding anniversary today.
We got to Aire just after 11 after a short walk on the flat. It was Saturday and the market was in full swing and the little town heaving.. John got a haircut to make himself look respectable for the day. We checked into Hospitalet St Jacques, where Andre and Odile hosted us. I had stayed there in 2009 and the place is still strongly adhering to it's philosophy of being a pilgrim's hostel only. They accept reservations only within 48 hours of arrival, only take walking pilgrims, who carry their own packs, no groups with car support and no groups over 4 people. Andre and Odile express disappointment about the fact that the "way" has become somewhat touristy over the last few years. They are also very disapproving of the crossing of the Pyrenees via the Route Napoleon a route which takes you over the top to the mountain conveniently via Auberge Orisson, who's owner has 2 other gites which link up with each other. The traditional route was via Valcarlos, at a lower level, much less dangerous. People have perished on the Route Napoleon in bad weather (as did the young man in the film " The Way"). However we are still planning to take the "high route", weather permitting.
I cooked a simple meal at the Gite from market produce and we had a bit of a bad night's sleep, a German woman in our room rustled endlessly with plastic bags and the French guy snored on and off. Some locals decided to race their cars up the road and threw an empty whiskey bottle into the street. The German woman got up at 5.30 to get an early start, much pacing and rustling later she left the room and when we went down for breakfast she was still there an hour later, talking to the host!
Sometimes I am astonished at my level of intolerance.
1.7. Air sur L' Adour to Marsan 22 km
Easy peasy walking, we passed the yobbos on the way out, they had parked cars and vans behind a hedge and were wandering around in an out of it and drunken state, I was pleased to walk past without them taking much notice of us to be honest.
Quite cool today and a few specs of rain first thing. We picnicked at Miramont next to the church and then 3 km later checked into well deserved luxury. We had an entire 3 bedroom house next to a farm complete with kitchen, laundry, TV, couch and terraces to ourselves. The farm shop sold ready made bottled meals of duck with haricot beans, pâtés, bread, cheese, fruit and wine, so we had our anniversary dinner in style. The bill for the accommodation, dinner, wine and breakfast was 65 euros for 2. Unbelievably good value.
This region is altogether noticeably cheaper than anything up to Moissac. We used to have to pay 1.50 euros for a coffee and here it is 1 euro.
2.7. Marsan to Arzacq Arrazeguiet 14 km
Our low point from a couple of days ago has passed and we no longer have this overwhelming feeling of wanting to get the walking over with. We really enjoyed our walk today, lovely undulating wooded countryside and a delightful village, Pimbo, on the way. The very helpful woman at the tiny tourist office let us use her computer and I got all my emails and banking done.
By lunchtime we arrived in Arzacq and checked into a little pavilion at the Gite communal after a lunch of a fresh warm crusty baguette with locally produced liver pate and a cheese made from raw sheep milk, followed by sweet and juicy apricots. We had a little wine left over from last night to go with it.
I am now sitting in the garden typing my blog. John has offered to do the washing, so I might take him up on this. After the luxury of a washing machine and dryer yesterday, there is not much to be done, as the short walk did not really get a sweat up.
John Harré
46 Kiwi Road
Point Chevalier
Auckland 1022
Phone: +64 9 8497805
Mobile: +64 21 02672606
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