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

We keep meeting people that we have met before and it’s like we’re old friends. This is what Le Chemin is all about.

For example, last night we dined with three couples. Two of them we had met on the path that day, the others were strangers to.

Then at the communal dinner tonight, we dined with the two couples we had dinner with the previous evening. It was funny as we were like old friends, happy to see a familiar face.

And then the couple we kept meeting on the path today joined us as well.

None of them could speak very good english and we couldn’t speak good french, but we still had a good laugh.

This is how the whole trip has been and its been brilliant. And often I find myself thinking about the people I’ve met and what they’re doing now.

Thankfully the green bus people sat on a separate table.

One of the men took a photo of a kangaroo outside of Paris. There had been a storm at the Paris zoo years ago, and some animals escaped. See photo below.

Food tonight was amazing:

Delicious starter. Vege tarte tatin

Om my god yum

Man showing us his kangaroo.

Varaires to Mas de Vers – 15km

A short day today as we did a few extra kms yesterday.

We keep running into the green van people. They are a bunch of noisy middle aged people with no respect for others, the same people who woke us up at 5am the other morning. They are touring around with a green van. The van takes all of their luggage, including an electric chilli bin, while they walk. One woman had two huge suitcases!

Everywhere we go, the green van seems to arrive. Yesterday we tried to book into a gite, but it was full up with green van people. Then we’ve seen it a couple off times, hanging out with them on their lunch breaks.

And guess what happened today when we arrived at our gite? Yep. Green van.

It was an easy stroll today in 30 plus temperatures. We found a nice spot to sit and eat lunch but when we brought out the meat we’d bought for lunch, it turned out to be bacon and required cooking. So we had to open our emergency tin of tuna and made a fishy mess all over ourselves.

We arrived at out gite just before two, but they didn’t open until three. So we chilled in their nice garden while we waited.

The kind owners let us in just after two which was nice of them.

We never really know what to expect when we arrive at a gite. Will we be sharing with weirdos? Will there be enough bathrooms for the 20 people staying there? So far there have been quite a mixture.

Tonight we were pleasantly surprised. We have our own private add on to the house with private toilet and bathroom.

Here’s our little house:

Our house

And inside:

And funky bathroom complete with hairdryer:

Lunchtime nap

Dreaded green van

Cajarc to Varaire – 26 kms

Today we were awake at 5am thanks to the people in the next room banging about.

We got up early, keen to avoid the heat, but the patisserie didn’t open until 7.30. So we sat at a bar and drank coffee until it opened.

With a baguette, two pain au chocolates, and some cat sick from the butchers, we were on our way.

It was hot, Hot, HOT!

Today we saw a snake and a fossilised foot, but Mike reckons its just stones.

We had only planned to walk 18km today but we arrived at our destination just after 2pm and there was nothing to do in the town. So we decided to push on another 7km to the next place, and it was much nicer.

We had one of the best meals yet, but unsure whether we’ll sleep as it’s so hot still.

.

Looks disgusting but is delicious

Beduer to Cajarc – 18km

Today was a nice easy walk through undulating terrain in the full hot sun.

Not so much road walking today so that was good.

We arrived at out gite at around 2pm, found our private room, then went into town to find some shoe supports for me. The rest of the day was chilled, not wanting to do too much because of the heat.

While we were cooking dinner at the gite, one of the french girls offered us something resembling cat sick. Of course I refused, but mike tried some and really enjoyed it. Of course I then had to try some and he was right. It was delicious.

After dinner we went for a walk snd saw a bloody llama stopped at the pub.