Day 36 October 1 Pomps to Maslacq

19.1 km 219 ascent 316 descent 4:50 hr. 18⁰C

The accommodation last night has seen a better day. It was very large and grand, but needed a lot of work. We had no internet connection there, which didn’t really matter that much because we got there late and were worn out from walking almost 34km that day, so we didn’t work on the blog anyway. Now we are behind in the blog, which is why we haven’t posted anything for a few days.

The couple was really nice though, we had a very nice breakfast, and this time the lady drove us. I knew that meant that it wouldn’t be a thriller ride.

The man had picked us up in Larreule yesterday. He was supposed to pick us up in Pomp’s, which we calculated would have been after 38km from Miramont-Sensacq. As it turns out, by our GPS, it would have been at least 41km. Thank God we didn’t go along with that. This morning, we could have gone back to Larreule to start, but it was raining, we were worn out from yesterday, and I thought the man was going to drive us (it had been a real adventure yesterday, and it wasn’t raining then). There wasn’t a very direct route to Larreule from Morlanne, but there was a fairly direct route to Pomp’s. So we decided to start from Pomp’s today (8km further along the Way than Larreule).

It started raining very early in the morning, and wasn’t raining too hard when we left. When we got to the drop off location, it started to rain more heavily, and by the time we got ready with our backpacks and ponchos on, it was a full out thunder storm. I felt sorry for the lady, because she was just standing out the rain getting soaked while we got assembled.

We walked in heavy rain for a while, and were in the woods (you don’t really want to stand under a tree in a thunder storm), so when we got an opportunity to be somewhat protected beside an abandoned barn, we took it. When the rain seemed to slow down a bit, we started walking again.

We are now in the foothills of the Pyrenees, with lots of climbing. There was a rather mighty steep climb up to Castillon and we decided to visit the church, partially to get out of the rain. The church lights were out. Often the lights are on a motion detector, but that didn’t seem to be the case here. Russell looked for a switch, but couldn’t find one. Maybe they were out because of the storm? Anyway, we just left.

We noticed the GR65 headed off on a 4km path through the woods to Arthez-de-Bearn, whereas via the highway, the sign said it was 3km to get there. We took the path, but it was very muddy and slippery because of the rain, so at the first opportunity, when the path crossed the highway, we took the road the rest of the way to Arthez-de-Bearn. The highway was very winding and gravelly, but it was nothing compared to the dangerous roads we walked along in Italy. We arrived safe and sound, and saved some distance.

The city looked a bit grim walking in, but improved and we passed lovely houses walking out. They had a Saturday market all set up in the center of town. We went to a bar/restaurant and got a coffee and muffin (the price of using the washroom). There was a truck cooking and serving pizza at the market, and Russell went over and got us each a piece of pizza for lunch. It was presented ready to eat, not wrapped for transport, so we bundled it up for later using the resources we had at hand. I wondered if he couldn’t have told her it was to transport, and she might have wrapped it up a whole lot better. Men hate to ask for anything.

We are now passing a lot of farms and homes with solar panels. Good for France.

We were walking on a ridge for a while walking out of Arthez-de-Bearn and saw some very big industrial plant(s) below. We’re not sure what it is.

We walked down through a forest which was supposed to pass another town called Mirabel, but we never saw a sign for it. This could be because the route was going a different way, there seems to be a lot of that! At any rate, we passed through a corn alley in the valley coming up to Argagnon. Very nice homes along this stretch, some very modern.

We then crossed a large river, Gave de Pau, walked past a very large old church we didn’t try to go into, got on to a path behind a guard rail along the busy D817 and then crossed it, and took an overpass over the A64. We also passed over railway tracks which seemed to be going to Bayonne. We will need to watch and see if we pass by here on the train going back to Paris from St. Jean Pied-de-Port.

We got to our hotel Maugouber around 1:30pm, and nobody was here. The sign said someone would arrive at 6:30pm. I then remembered I had a door code to get in. We came in, there were keys left out for some guests, but not us. We sat at some tables outside the closed bar and ate our pizza lunch we had brought. The napkin I had wrapped it in was stuck onto the cheese and very hard to remove. It probably would have been really good if we had eaten it when we got it. It was still pretty good, and we had half a bag of green olives we added to it, so I really enjoyed it.

After lunch, I started working on the blog. While in the hotel, I noticed the password for the wifi and checked my e-mails first. I had received an e-mail from La Pelerin yesterday. It said we would have to walk 35km to St. Jean Pied-de-Port from St. Palais on Oct 5, and did we want to do that or should they find us a different guest house in Larceveux? Grrr. I thought I had made it plain when I talked to them that we would get to St. Jean Pied-de-Port one way or another from St. Palais, and I wanted a room at St. Jean Pied-de-Port on Oct 5. I think the issue was that when talking to them yesterday, they said there was nowhere else to stay in Larceveux, and now it seems they had figured out there was another guest house. I didn’t have the ability to send e-mails at that point, so I called and told them to book us a room at St. Jean Pied-de-Port. She said okay. I really like the idea of staying at St. Jean Pied-de-Port instead of Larceveux on Wednesday, and want to make sure that happens.

Some village people noticed us and alerted the hotel owner, who eventually came over to see what we were doing. She apologized for her attire, saying she had been picking mushrooms. She had no record of a reservation for us. I showed her our list of accommodation and she said not to worry, and gave us a room, and said she would provide us dinner. Whew. There is no other restaurant in this town. She said the hotel restaurant is closed, but she has other pilgrims staying overnight on demi board (ie, that she has to feed).

The next issue was our baggage, which wasn’t here. She called the transport company, and left a message. We were concerned about where they ended up if there wasn’t a reservation for us here. She thought we should call La Pelerine, so I did, and told them about the problem with the hotel today not having a reservation from us, and our bags weren’t there. La Pelerine’s main concern was whether they had a room for us tonight. If not, I suppose she would have had to do something with us! Anyway, I asked her to please check into what was going on with the bags.

At 4:45pm Chantal came and knocked on our door and told us she had received a message from the transport service and our bags would be here at 5:15pm.

It’s a darn good thing we have arranged it so we are staying at St. Jean Pied-de-Port on Wednesday. If this mix-up with the bags had happened next Thursday when we have to take a train at 4pm, we would have had a real problem.

I talked to the baggage taxi fellow when he finally came at 5:30pm, and tried to find out if there had been a problem. He was unilingual French, and all I could get out of him was that there was no problem. 

There was a pool at the Hotel Maugouber we were staying at tonight. Our accommodation notes hadn’t indicated that. Our room had a lovely patio outside we were sitting at, and our Belgium friends from Miramont –Sensacq were also staying here. Soon after they arrived, they went for a swim. I had started bringing my bathing suit in my backpack on days we had a pool, but hadn’t today, because I didn’t know. Then, by the time the bags finally arrived, it was too late to go for a swim. Opportunity lost.

The supper was excellent. We began with some of the mushrooms Chantal had been picking this afternoon, served raw in a butter, herb and pepper sauce. Delicious. I was a bit concerned, but I’m sure she knows her mushrooms, and hasn’t killed any hotel guests yet. This was followed by a melon ball salad, then pork and pineapple in a cream sauce with rice, followed by almond tarte for dessert – a Basque specialty.

The room was a bit questionable, and I am probably a bit sensitive now because of Jim’s message. I put everything in plastic. Another more major problem was that the room had a very objectionable odour. This was another case where the only thing that can be opened was a patio door (which we had opened all afternoon), but we had to close it overnight, or someone could just walk in. I really didn’t sleep well.