We walked for about an hour up a steep hill this morning as we were leaving Aire-sur-L'Adour which definitely gets the blood stirring first thing in th emorning. But the rest of the day was quite flat with only a couple of exceptions - one being the last 20 minutes into Miramont. With the exception of about an hour, the whole walk was on pavement again - somewhere between 16.5 and 19.5 km depending on whose book you are reading. The view was fairly closed as well so again I was not inspired to take pictures.
An interesting history though in connection with the farms. Apparently this area at one point had a lot of little farms, none of which were able to be very productive or viable. Through a process called rememberment (I think that's the correct term) they changed all the little farms into fewer larger farms without even a hedge in between them. Somehow through all of that they were able to make them more financially viable for everyone, presumably through sharing equipment etc. Sounds like a coop to me but it may be different.
Just before we entered town we stopped at the Madelaine church which was unusually light and airy and although simple in design compared with most of the other churches it was very beautiful. Apparently the priest had a firm policy that he wanted the church to be open and accessible to all, and certainly the church had a warm feeling about it.
We arrived at Miramont at about 3:00 so had lots of time to relax. The welcome by the woman hospitalera at the gite was very warm and welcoming. She was clearly someone who took her volunteer duties seriously and did everything she could to welcome us including making us tea. When the male hospitalero showed up it was quite a different story. He did not want to have anything to do with us since we aren't French and don't speak very well. It was interesting to watch him during dinner as he performed for the hierarchy of people in his head. Male French people are at the top of the hierarchy, then males who speak French. After that it's French females and the Females who speak French. People like us who stumble with the language were clearly to be excluded from all conversation. This was the only time we had a French person act like such an ass to us as we tried to speak the language. Everyone else was very patient and considerate.
The dinner provided by the gite and cooked by the woman hospitalera was very nice - a delicious vegetable soup, duck thighs and legs with noodles, cheese and fruit salad. Although Miramont is a very small community of only about 370 people, they clearly have taken put a lot of effort into providing a pleasant gite for passing 'pelerins'.
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