lamothe to Nogaro – 28 kms

Wow, we’ve been walking over four weeks now.

Today we planned a short walk of only 18 kms, but then we found out breakfast was at 6.15 non negotiable. Seriously, 6.15? We’re not ever up that early.

The first town we arrived at was Eauze, pronounced like Ooze, just after 9am. Eauze had been having a party for 3 days and the streets oozed of urine and hangover. In fact, the entire town smelt like a big toilet.

We stopped briefly and had a juice, then continued on.

We arrived at the gite we had chosen to stay at, at 12 noon. The gite didn’t open until 4pm! So we continued on to Nogaro where my sisters are staying.

The afternoon was hot and our pores oozed with sweat. We took every opportunity to dip our hats in cold water to cool ourselves down.

Not much of an exciting walk today. Lots of forest trails, lots of mozzies and flies.

We are staying at gite communal where the wine is 2 euros a bottle. We cooked up some macaroni, tuna, garlic, and camembert for dinner. Was yummy.

Larrasingle to Lamonthe – 20kms

Today was an easy mostly flat walk. We stopped at Montreal for an hour and drank coffee with sister Susan, then continued on and still made it to our gite by 3pm.

We’re staying at a nice gite in the middle of nowhere. Lynda would have liked it as the menu was completely vegetarian. We had the most delicious lasagna and I didn’t realise there was no meat.

We stayed with 4 other guys we have met on the trail.

A pleasant evening watching the sun set.

La Romieu to Larrasingle – 21kms

I’ve been living in an up down world. Yep, the tracks have been going up, then down, the back up again, all day long.

Today was a real drag after the previous days 30km. There was more mud. The Trees of Shade, which were once a haven from the heat, have now become the Trees of Mosquitoes.

I dread walking into a shaded area knowing we’re about to be viciously attacked by flying monsters.

We passed a stream that had hundreds of freshwater crayfish, then along the path were many carcasses and shells of them where something had eaten them.

After about 16km we arrived at a town called Condom. It’s true, it’s really called that.

I was about to give up for the day and check into a hotel, but Mike talked me into going the extra 5km to a fortified town where my sisters were staying. After a coffee, a juice, and some lunch, I perked up s bit, snd the extra 5km was a breeze.

We had a wonderful dinner at the gite and enjoyed thw best sangria ever.

Castet arruoy to La Romieu – 30km

Yep. That was the phrase for most of the day. The rain last night caused us grief on the path today. At one stage I’d gotten a boot full of mud, then I walked on some straw, and next minute I had a straw pattie on my foot.

Today I saw a yabbie walking slong the path. Not sure if he was doing the dame walk as us.

It was a crazy 30 km walk today so we went out for dinner where our feet ached so much, we neefed wine to kill the pain.

Auvillar to Castet arruoy – 22 kms

Another easy walk today apart from shitty hangover. It was a sluggish start, the morning spent needing coffee but not finding any.

Then, 3 hours into the walk an oasis appears at the top of the hill. Not only is there a flask of coffee laid out for hungover walkers, but there is a cherry tart too!

As we sat, sipping our coffee, me enjoying the view and Mike enjoying his tart, we had no idea my sisters had stopped at this exact same spot just one hour earlier.

We are all staying at the same gite tonight. There was confusion amonsgt the ranks as to who was eating in and who was eating out.

When the thunder storms and heavy rain started, the decision was made to eat in, while the hard core amongst us (Susan and Lynda) decided to eat out.

And that was today. Tomorrow we have decided to keep up with my sisters by doing a 30km day. Hmmm, I think we’re a little crazy.

Moissac to Auvillac – 18km

It was a pretty easy walk along the canal today.

My sisters left 40 mins before us but we managed to catch them at lunchtime. Then Susan said we should all walk together for a bit, then promptly took off while we were eating our lunch and we didn’t see her again until we arrived at our final destination.

I stopped at a fruit stall to buy an apricot, and he gave it to me for free. Yummiest apricot I’ve ever had.

In the evening we bought a 1.5 litre bottle of wine and drank the lot. Now I have a headache.

Today was rest day number three. We started the day by going to church to listen to the nuns sing.

Then we did a gentle stroll along the canal, then the river.

We hired an electric boat with Jenny and Lynda, and cruised down the river and back up again.

Then we had an afternoon nap, played some Bridge, then cooked dinner.

A relaxing day that hopefully my feet will love me for.

Lauzerte to Moissac – 28 kms

After three days of long kms in searing hot sun, we have finally caught up eith my sisters in Moissac. We are all here for two nights.

We got an early start, 7am, to the walk as it was forecast to be 36 degrees. It didn’t matter. One hour into the walk we were sweating like pigs.

We’d ordered a picnic lunch to take with us today as there weren’t many shops along the route. The previous evening at the gite we’d enjoyed an amazing moussaka for dinner. I said how much I loved it and surprise surprise, the host had put a tub of moussaka in our lunch box for me!

There were lots of little places to stop and rest today. Some days we can walk all day and not see a seat, and can only hope for a rock to sit on.

We went out for dinner last night then playef some Bridge. Jenny had already guessed my blog post name for thd day, so I had to laugh when I got dealt a 2C opening hand.

Our little picnic

Picnic

My moussaka. Yum yum

Looking back on where we stayed last night

Lascabanes to lauzerte – 24km

We had breakfast a 7am and were away by 7.40am, an early start to try and beat the heat. It made no difference, it was gonna be hot no matter what time we left.

37 degrees was forecast for today and it was hard work with alot of the walk being done in full sun.

Every time we found a tap, we filled our hats up and poured them over our heads.

Thankfully today there were many water stops as well as drinks stops. We saw a fridge in the middle of nowhere, so we stopped and had a juice.

In the afternoon, a lot of the route was in the shade of trees, and I wrote a little song about how much I loved them. It’s called, ‘The Trees of Shade.’

We are closing the gap on my sisters. Last night we stayed only 9 km from them. Then today we were only 7km from them at one stage.

We hope to catch them tomorrow, but doing so will require a 28km walk in ridiculous heat. We have to catch them as we are needing a game of Bridge.

Tonight we are in another lovely gite that was recommended by last nights hosts. Again our own room, double bed, and bathroom.

Wonder what we’ll have for dinner tonight?

Dinner was cold soup, meat and salad, an amazing moussaka, cheese (I’m loving goats cheese) and an amazing desert.

Fridge in middle of nowhere

Trees of shade

Desert tonight

Mas de Vers to Lascabanes – 32 kms

It’s now been three weeks since we started our walk and we’re well into the swing of things.

We got up and had breakfast, narrowly missing the green bus people. We had to deal with their mess though. Lids left off jam jars, yoghurt pots thrown in with food scraps, and their plates and cutlery all in the wrong places.

We decided to take a variant to the route, skipping Cahors. We’d both been there before so felt no need to go back. This means we are now only one day behind my sisters.

The day was hot with very little shade and no water stops. We had to stop twice and knock on peoples doors to ask them to fill our water bottles. Thankfully they didn’t mind.

We walked a massive 32 kms today and are staying in an amazing gite just outside of lascabanes. Again we have our own private room and bathroom.

We had a delicious three course meal which included red wine so we’re happy.

The hosts here have walked all the way from Lyon to Santiago, so they know what walkers want at the end of the day.

Mike had a massive blister come ip on his heel, do I suggested he ask them what he should do. Turns out the lady is a nurse, do she got out a sterile needle and burst it, then wrapped it with some gauze and lavender oil. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery.

We are totally off the grid tonight. No wifi or cell phone coverage.

Drinking his morning coffee

Yummy freshness