Day 32 September 27 Arblade Le Haut to Aire sur L’Ardour

25.2km 199 ascent 272 descent 6:00 hr. 24⁰C

The breakfast was interesting. There were 8 pilgrims spread over 6 tables in a room not much bigger than our kitchen. It was almost impossible to get to the buffet table, which had all the food, as well as the coffee, tea, hot chocolate. But it was a nice breakfast, and although we were the last to arrive, we were the first on the road. I think everyone else went up to their rooms after breakfast to get packed. We came down with our suitcases and backpacks all ready to hit the road.

Breakfast was at 7am and we were on the road a bit before 7:30am. It was still dark. It really didn’t get totally light until around 8am. I think from now on we will go to breakfast at 7:30 and leave at 8am. Walking in the dark is no fun, and it would be too easy to twist something.

We walked to the end of the historic road and hit the D931, a very major highway with a steady procession of very large trucks passing by. You really have to stop and brace yourself when those big trucks pass, they almost knock you over. All that truck traffic reminded me of the 401, except the D931 is only 2 lanes. It was also where we got back on the GR65, so even if we had not deviated from the GR65 yesterday, we would have been walking along the D931. There was, thankfully, some effort to have us behind guard rails, or tramping through fields. We walked about 1km along that highway, and made it alive to the junction of the D6 and D931, where we turned on to a country road. Russell said we were about to do 3 sides of a box to get off the highway, and I said ‘hallelujah’.

I’ve noticed over the last few days we have walked along a lot roads, as opposed to being on paths though fields or woods. Plus, there is less opportunity to walk on a soft shoulder. Either there is no shoulder, or it is on too large a slant, or the ground is so uneven you risk twisting your knee or ankle. This is having a cumulative effect on my foot, and it is getting to be quite sore, to the point of keeping me awake at night. But it is still not unmanageable. I have never yet resorted to wearing my heel protector.

Again today we experienced a deviation in the route of the GR65. Our Micheline guide indicated there were no services along the Camino today. However, we deviated shortly after Lanne-Soubiran and ended up passing through Lelin-Lapujolle. Russell noticed that the GR65 indicators were taking us off his GPS tracks, causing a bit of distress, but the signs said there was a public WC this new way, so it was the hands down winner. It was a lovely little village, with picnic tables, a beautiful church, clean and lovely public washrooms, and a restaurant-store. The proprietor of the store reminded us of the train-man in the Matrix.

He was standing outside as we went by, with dread locks and a big welcoming smile. I said something to him in French, and he responded in excellent English. I said ‘oh, you speak English’ and he said ‘not at all’. I think he’s an American in France. We got two pieces of pizza for lunch, which he was explaining to us was all vegetables. Then I noticed this lovely cake he had, and I asked what kind it was, and he went on about how it was a fruit cake, with no eggs or milk, totally vegan. I asked him if he was a vegan and he said ‘you can’t make a body like this being a vegan’. He was quite the character. Perhaps whoever prepares all the food for the store is vegan.

Around Manet we got back on the GPS GR65 track. It was all along roads from then on in that you could see going on and on (I hate that).

We were walking through Saint Mont vineyards today. Large clumps of ripe grapes were hanging off the vines, looking very ready to be picked. They had several large signs saying: Dear traveler, taking the Via Podiensis you cross the vineyards of Saint Mont. Ancestral local grape varieties originating in the Piedmont Pyrenees have been handcrafted by our winemakers for generations.

We then turned onto a road running right along a railway track (although separated by trees), that you could see going on and on for kilometers. However, there was quite a production of bins, tractors, and trucks working up ahead. They were harvesting green beans. Once again, other than the drivers of the machinery, no humans were involved.

A bin had just been filled up with beans, and a tractor loaded the bin onto a carrier and then hauled it down to a waiting truck, and transferred it to him.

We stood by and watched all this, because the road was narrow enough that there was no room to pass by. It was very entertaining though, so we didn’t really mind the delay.

We also saw a very interesting tree along there. It is an evergreen, but most unusual. Perhaps someone can identify it.

Finally, we crossed over the train track, at a point with a house right beside the track. I said to Russell it reminded me of the movie The Triplets of Bellville. He said it was probably the crossing guard’s house. I turned around for another look at the house, and saw in caste iron letters the word ‘Costefort’ on the house. This was a ‘place’ on our guide.

I was having a difficult time reconciling the Micheline guide distances with the GPS. I wasn’t too happy to think that we were at Costefort, because the guide showed another 8 km to go, and the GPS was saying we had already gone 19.

Shortly after the turn at end of the railway road, we crossed the D935 highway. I was a bit concerned we might have to walk along it for a while, but we carried on into a field, and then turned and walked along another long straight road through the field. This time we were passing through red cattle corn, which had just been picked, and there was a huge bin sitting there full of corn.

We got to Barcelonne-de-Gers, a big city, just after 12:30pm so everything was closed for siesta. We had brought our lunch though, and stopped at a set of picnic tables as we entered to eat. It just would have been nice to be able to get a cold Perrier, but we survived.

There was a covered water trough there. 

This was something we had seen in many places in France, and we didn’t really know what it was. It turns out that is a Lavoir. This is a place where people would do their laundry in the day. Many of the picnic sites we have had our lunch at have had a Lavoir. Now we know what that is!

It was very creepy walking through Barcelonne-de-Gers, there wasn’t a soul around. Every restaurant in the area was permanently closed, and everything else seemed to be for sale. It was like a ghost town. We walked for a while through the deserted town, then ended up on a rather grand boulevard. Al least that seemed a bit more on the up and up. We were diverted onto a foot path through a field, passing behind a residential area that looked quite nice, so we must have just hit the ‘bad’ part of town coming in.

We crossed a highway, got back on the big boulevard, which was the D931 running into Aire-sur-l’Adour. We then walked past a large Carrefour. Today was the day I was planning to dye my hair, and this looked to me like my only opportunity to buy the dye. It was closed for siesta until 2:30pm. It was 1:30pm. I had no idea how much farther to our hotel, and I voted to camp out there for an hour. Russell insisted we didn’t have too much farther. We had already gone 24km. Taking the distance from the Micheline guide, from the Costefort sign we might have had 3km more to go. I really didn’t feel like walking 3km and then having to walk another 6km to get back here for hair dye. Russell won out and we kept going. Thankfully, the hotel was only 1km further on. Russell, who was determined not to sit around waiting for the Carrefour to open, was way ahead of me and went sailing past the hotel. I was calling to him, but with all the truck traffic he couldn’t hear. He finally heard me and turned back. Our hotel was well before the Aire-sur-l’Adour city centre.

The bags were here and our room was ready, so we got all settled in, and I had a shower. At 2:30pm we went back to the Carrefour. We passed the separate pilgrim that had been at the Gite last night arriving. We never did see the other 5 pilgrims again.

I wanted medium brown dye, and there wasn’t anything with medium brun on the box. I asked a lady, and she said I wanted Chatain. So I bought that. My hair turned out pretty much black. I looked chatain up on the internet and it said ‘dark blonde’. Oh well. I felt like I had gone into a hotel and disguised myself. Ohh. No one will recognize me now.

The restaurant here is a gourmet restaurant. Not only was our meal last night the best we’ve had on the Way, but one of the best we’ve ever had in a restaurant. Everything was in a lovely position on the plate.

We had chicken, crusted with sesame seeds, and there was a grilled tomatoe and all sorts of other vegetables. Delicious! For the first time in my life he wanted to know what we wanted for dessert when we ordered our meal. He said the desserts were very time consuming to prepare. I had a an almond and rhubarb cookie with a liqueur laced pudding. Russell had a cake with various berry coulis and raspberry sherbet. It was really sophisticated.

We also blew the wad and ordered a 25 euro bottle of Saint Mont ‘lost vines’ white wine. It was unlike any wine we’ve had before, so very difficult to describe. Maybe like a cross between pinot grigio and gewürztraminer, but really, really nice. Well worth it, and hats off to Saint Mont.