Day 38 October 3 Navarrenx to Lichos

15.9 km 225 ascent 238 descent 3:46 hr. 24⁰C

Breakfast was a bit of a zoo with all the people, and the host getting tea or coffee, etc. There were several boxes of cereal, which Russell managed to empty before I got a chance at any of them, and then the fellow said, either take some cereal out of your husband’s bowl, or I have some muesli if you like. The alternative was chocolate puffs or all bran so I was very happy it had run out.

I wanted the host to talk to the baggage transfer fellow about us getting a ride Wednesday morning, but he pointed out just talking to the driver doesn’t work. It could be a different driver. He thought we should call La Pelerine, but said he would call if we wanted. I said I would call La Pelerine later.

I did manage to catch the baggage transfer fellow when he came for the bags, but he was unilingual French and gave me the card for the taxi company. He did say it could be arranged though.

We did some sightseeing in Navarrenx before leaving. We wanted to wait for a bakery or something to open to get lunch, but it was Monday and absolutely everything in this town was closed. Monday in France for a tourist is worse than Sunday.

Navarrenx was a Bastide town. We visited the amphitheater, which was built into the ramparts. There was an escape tunnel in the rampart where the inhabitants could run if the village was besieged.

We finally came to realize that no stores were going to open, so went to a restaurant and we each got a ham and cheese sandwich to take away. I thought when I saw them we should have only gotten one, but forgot about 4pm snack time.

It seemed in the end that we were the first to actually leave the city. Between the meet and greet at the church and staying at the Relais, we seemed to recognize all the pilgrims in town, who were also milling about sightseeing.

Just like coming in to town, the houses were lovely going out of time. Seems like Navarrenx is a going concern.

We saw a very stunning flower 

and a Pom pom tree 

leaving town.

We entered a forest and saw signs saying Attention – Pompiers; and, Pompiers – Silence. We weren’t too sure what that was all about so looked it up on the internet later. They were catching pigeons!

Going through the woods we came upon a lady from Australia who was sitting on the ground airing her feet, which were covered in dressings. All preventative she said. She had started the Camino from Le Puy in May but got foot inflammation and had to rest for two months (she didn’t go home to Australia). She restarted and will go as far as she can to Santiago.

Further on, we passed a blonde lady, who talked about how magnificent the journey was. She had a very British accent and spoke perfect English, but said she was from France.

There were no services shown in the guide today the whole way, including where were stopping tonight. So we were very happy to go by picnic tables outside a farm, where the fellow was selling cold drinks and several of his farm products. This consisted mainly of pates (with without mushroom): deer; foie gras; duck; pigeon; etc.

We stopped for a drink and shared one of our sandwiches. There were lots of pilgrims there, and the Aussie lady and French lady each showed up while we were there. From the conversation, I asked if they were companions on the journey. They said they had just met on the Way, and were going more or less the same way and speed, so were staying at the same places. The Aussie lady removed her boots and socks again while there.

We carried on, and very close to Lichos we met up with the German (water) pilgrim again. We all exchanged greetings and kept on.

We noticed today that were several occasions when we passed the same pilgrims sitting about at picnic tables. I suppose if you stay at gites which don’t open until 3pm, you might as well take your time.

We found our B&B for tonight. It was a beautiful place. Very elegant and clean, and nicely furnished. There was another pool, and it was quite warm today, but the lady said she had closed it for the season at the end of September.

We sat outside, where we took off our boots and left our poles, and she gave us a beer. She told us her husband had fallen out of a tree, 2 metres above the ground, last year and had hit his head. He was taken by helicopter to the hospital and hasn’t been the same since. He can’t talk, read, or write, and wanders off and gets lost. It has been very difficult for her. This was all communicated in French, her English is slightly worse than our French.

There are four or five rooms upstairs, with one bathroom (it says on our accommodation guide that tonight has shared bathroom facilities), but we are the only guests. We have a lovely balcony off our bedroom, but it was right in the sun and there was table out there, so we didn’t use it for anything but our laundry.

I called La Pelerine and Alexiane said she would arrange everything and e-mail me. She did as promised and I thanked her. Unfortunately she asked for a confirmation of receipt of the e-mails, and the internet connections we get here won’t usually allow outgoing e-mails to be sent.  This has my outlook totally hung up now, trying to send these confirmations, and they’re not in the outbox where I can delete them. Grrr.

It was an excellent supper; tomatoes with soft mozzarella cheese and hard boiled eggs; ratatouille and a veal chop (smothered in paprika, we think); cheese; and the famous Basque pie.

Her cell phone had decided not to work and this was causing her a lot of grief, so asked us about it – who knew nothing- and then called either her son or son-in-law. There was a lot of marching about, with the husband intow and there small dog. It was quite hilarious really to watch them all file around one after the other. At one point she went off in the van with the son, leaving the husband with us. He came in, picked our knives, wiped them off with our napkins, and left again. He has a few problems all right. But seems like a very sweet person.

I asked the women if they had a farm, and she said no, her husband was a functionary, working at the Marie (city Hall).

I had one my best sleeps here. It was pitch black, very quiet, and the idea of bed bugs never entered my mind.