La Lectoure to Le Romieu

The lack of wifi access is a little frustrating for me as it's amazingly hard to remember the details of what happened two or three days ago! Don't we get dependent on our technologies?
The distance between La Lectoure and Le Romieu is about 19 km and the altitude change is only about 20 or 30 meters although, of course there are lots of little ups and downs. This first picture is a lovely tree just as we started out of town. Doesn't that look like a beautiful yard for some lucky family!?

We continued out of town, down steps and onto yet another paved road but we were soon onto a grassy, dirt path and crossed the river Gers. We alternated back onto a paved road and then back onto a grassy path between what almost seemed like hedges. A bit further along we saw these balloons take off from a farmer's field.

We passed several farms and the village of Marsolan where we saw this large wayside cross.

 

The rolling hills and scenery was beautiful as we passed through this area and another 10 km or so to La Romieu which was apparently named after the romieux (pilgrims. I wish I could capture the feeling of these rolling hills and beautiful views in every direction. La Romieu is a fairly small village but it has a huge church built in the 14th century by one of the Avignon popes. The seemingly disproportionate size is apparently indicative of its former importance.

We stayed in a private gite which had been a former convent - Le Couvent de la Romieu. We had our own bathroom but our room was the size of our two beds squished together with about a foot on the outside of each bed. Friendly people but way too small. 

There is a story about this town and cats - well two stories actually. The is copied from the southweststory.com website (thank you)

"La Romieu is also a … cat lover village. There are cat statues in the centre of the "bastide" and the legend says that the village was, in old times, … twice saved by cats, first when the crops were so poor that the famine came into the village houses and the peasant had to eat their… cats to survive and later, when ALMOST no cat was left and the crops, that improved, were threatened by rodents, the cats kept hidden until then by the village girl Angeline saved again the community by destroying the rodents!
Each year, in mid -August, La Romieu celebrates The Festival of Cats." 

 You may have noticed by now that I'm somewhat taken with the wisteria!

 And we leave La Romieu with a population of about 550 people.

Castet-Arrouy to La Lectoure

A very short day today for some reason - only a little over 10 km. and a fairly easy walk. We decided to stay at La Lectoure which was unfortunately closed so we didn't get much of a sense about what the town was really like. When these towns are closed up they are closed up solidly and everything looks really dead. There were a couple of restaurants open fortunately and we stopped for lunch at a kind of gourmet place. I'm not sure exactly why they were open since they weren't really planning on serving food, but they were very accommodating and the chef offered to put together a cold plate for us which was really delicious. And of course we had our cafe au lait so all was well. We spoke with a family from New Zealand who also came in looking for food. They were taking a few months off and travelling with their children because they thought it would be a good experience for them. They insisted the children use French as much as they could and always when saying please and thank you. It was very charming.

We decided to stay at a place called L'Etoile Occitane which was owned by an  'ancienne' who was a former pelerin or pilgrim our guide book said. She was in India at the time, however, and the place was being 'looked after' by two people who were presumably her friends. The house was filled with Buddhist sayings and could have had a nice feel to it in spite of its age but with the two people who were looking after it, it was a disaster. Everything was dirty and the whole atmosphere was one of a lack of welcome towards everyone  who was staying there. We felt we were interrupting the latest television show and really they would have preferred that we be somewhere else. It probably hadn't been cleaned since the owner left. Rather unfortunate all around but not horrible. We had dinner at a little spot across the road which only offered chile con carne and a couple of other dishes that included tripe and something else that didn't sound appealing even in French. I was expecting the worst but actually it was delicious and the people were very friendly and nice - and spoke some English as a bonus for us.

La Lectoure itself had some interesting looking buildings and I wished we could see it on an open day. The city, with a population of less than 4000 has been declared a "town of art and history" by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. It has a huge church which indicates a more important part in history than in the present. Apparently the repairs and modifications can be traced back to the 12th Century.

Auvillar to Castet-Arrouy

April 21
After the flatness of yesterday we were to spend most of our day today going either up or down all day. The elevation difference on the map was not that great - from 74 to 204 meters- but it turned out that the map was just a general guideline and, in actuality, we had to do that several times. As it was a day of over  21 kilometers we were glad to finally reach our destination of Castet- Arrouy. This day was somewhat better for my feet as it wasn't all paved and actually had thirty percent or so on a dirt path. If I ever walk this way again I will make sure I have shoes that are good for pavement walking along with me. Now that's a challenge - is there such a thing? Maybe the MBT brand?

We passed through the small commuities of Saint-Antoine, Flamerens and the larger Miradoux to get to Castet-Arrouy. Each has its own charm even though they're quite different from each other. Check out the intertwined plane trees in the fourth picture down. And speaking to the last few pictures, (which look as if they could have been taken in Ireland) the camera just doesn't capture the beauty or the vastness of the rolling landscapes in France. What a beautiful country this is in so many places!.

 

Moissac to Auvillar

April 19
After our almost two days of rest in Moissac we were ready to get moving again. We had 20.7 kilometers to go and from our guide it looked like the elevation difference was only about 100 meters. We took what's known as the canal route as opposed to the mountain route. It was peaceful and quite lovely all along the way for the most part, but paved the whole way. Why can't I be happy walking for miles on pavement? I don't know but I just can't or won't or something. Part of it is that everything - feet, knees and hips hurt - and part of it is bone-headed stubbornness. Being a Canadian  country kid (and please don't blame any other Canadian for being like this), I think of a path as something made of dirt, rocks and grass or some combination of those - but not pavement. And the GR65 (the Le Puy route) seems to be mostly small, paved roads with the odd path joining them together. And I know there are reasons for that and many people like it that way. Okay- enough or maybe too much said.

It was definitely peaceful walking along the canal. We stopped a couple of times, once for a café au lait and once for some food -another ham and cheese sandwich of which there have been many, too many. But it was filling and the breaks were refreshing and apart from my grumpiness about the pavement, which by now I keep to myself for the most part having whined endlessly about it, the day was undemanding with the exception of the last kilometer or two which seemed to be straight up. That took us to us Auvillar which is officially known as one of the most beautiful villages in France. It has a huge central market area which was originally a grain marketplace apparently but which is now used as a farmers' vegetable market for certain days. It looks circular but is apparently made of triangles. At any rate, it is quite spectacular looking. The whole town looks hundreds of years old and is mostly made of a reddish brick which is locally made. And although some buildings are in need of repair, the town in general is in good shape and very attractive. To leave town you walk through the middle of the bottom part of a large clock (you'll see the pictures below).

We had planned on staying at the municipal gîte but it was full by the time we got there. The tourist office recommended the Hotel Baladin which has a great gîte area and nice roomy bedrooms and kitchen area. It is an old building but very funky and has a really pleasant atmosphere. A good recommendation from the tourist office.

 This is the kitchen area and below is one of the three beds (mine) in the bedroom we had.

This last picture is what you see (except for the name) when leaving most communities in Spain and France. The sign to enter the town is the same except for the red line and  the red line through the name indicates you're leaving. I frequently take pictures of these because when I get my pictures home it frequently helps me to quickly locate where the pictures in between were taken.