Eauze to Aire-sur-L'Adour

April 27 - Eauze to Aire-sur-l'Adour (so named because it sits on the Adour river)
We decided to take a bus today because we are continually behind ourselves as usual. The bus stop was literally just on a corner a few blocks from our albergue. There was only one bus a day and it left at 10:48 and the cost was 7.50 Euros for just over 50 kilometers. The regular bus is much more expensive than travelling by the baggage pack people (although still quite reasonable).

We arrived in Aire-sur-L'Adour - population just over 6,000  in about an hour and sat in a funky cafe with tea, nursing our colds,  to try to determine where we wanted to stay. We had seen a sign in our last  gîte which recommended a certain hotel so we looked for and found the Hotel de la Paix which turned out to be fairly close to where we were and had rooms with breakfast for 13 Euros. We thought we would be better off if we kept our colds to ourselves and no doubt others would appreciate it as well. As it turned out the owner was run off her feet when we arrived and as cranky as could be so taking that into consideration and then looking at rooms and hallways that were definitely on tilt we wondered what we had gotten ourselves into! The whole hotel had definitely seen better days although it had a more recent addition of a shower in the corner of the bedroom- without curtains or any other kind of privacy it was just there - very handy for sure but somewhat strange. The toilet though, was down the hall and a half floor lower or higher - take your choice!

It was one of those days. Since we both felt so lousy everything seemed to have a bit of a grey cloud hanging over it. We wandered around and looked for a place to have lunch and ended up at a bistro that had only their menu of the day. They had run out of the usual meal, however, and offered to feed us rabbit but we declined. In the end they gave us some really nasty deep fried old pork roast. None of this helped how we felt and no doubt our colds made everything seem much worse and we expected to have a terrible night's sleep by this time.

We went to bed early expecting the worst but ended up having an excellent sleep and to our surprise both of us felt MUCH better in the morning. The breakfast was tasty and the owner was friendly and interesting in the morning.  We had noticed that most of the pictures on the walls were to do with a   yearly animation and graphic design competition and exposition in Aire that seemed to attract people from quite a distance. As it turned out the owner herself was a keen graphic designer and was instrumental in helping set up the exposition. There was clearly some good talent taking part.

We had ended up the night before buying some lunch things before the stores closed so we left Aire-sur-l'Adour in a good mood and feeling relatively healthy again. Just as well as it was a long hike uphill to get out of town!

Aire-sur-L'Adour to Miramont-Sensacq

April 28th -  Aire-sur-L'Adour to Miramont-Sensacq
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'.

Montréal-du-Gers to Eauze

April 26 - Montreal-du-Gers to Eauze
We got a really late start today, almost 9:00 because we both had colds and were feeling terrible. I was SO tempted to stay at Montreal but our hostess said it was an easy day of walking so we decided to head out. We walked the 16 km to Eauze on fairly flat terrain that was not particularly interesting except for the fact that there were miles and miles of vineyards. We had thought to stop at Lamothe and eat our picnic lunch because we knew there was a picnic table there. But when we arrived there were 14 Belgians all vying for a space at one table and 4 French people crowded under the church porch (who did over to make room for us). In the end we sat on the grass and enjoyed our packed lunch.

Somehow between the rain and my cold I must have been a little spaced out because I notice that I took only one picture all day..!! The walk was uneventful and uninteresting and we were feeling a little sorry for ourselves as we continued our walk into Eauze - a town of about 4300 people where we stayed at the Communal Gîte. This spot was a former Roman colony and was the Gallo-Roman capital at some point. A Benedictine priory was formed here in the 10th century and the Benedictine monks built the church of Saint-Luperc in 1521 out of local stones, rubble and brick. The church contains two 17th century confessionals.

Here are some pictures of Eauze from Google Images which unfortunately have no credits attached. Thanks to whoever took them.

From Eauze we took a bus to L'Aire-sur-l'Adour.

Condom to Montréal-du-Gers

April 24 - Condom to Montreal-du-Gers
A hot day today with little variety in the scenery as we walked a shortish day of about 16 km. and apparently I wasn't inspired to take pictures as I have only four.

We are definitely in grape country. There are miles and miles of grape orchards, all planted neatly rows and  kept cleanly plowed in between the rows. It is interesting in France to see how neatly things are planted. Rows are precise whether they are rows of grape vines, collard greens or trees. I saw nothing planted randomly, either by accident or on purpose. The forests are planted in neat rows, the decorative or shade trees alongside houses are planted in neat rows, hedges and gardens are planted in neat rows and so are flowers. The English country garden with its casual, wild look must drive them crazy. Maybe that's the foundation of their inability to get along in the past :)

The fields are plowed early in preparation for the spring planting and the wheat is well on its way to being ready for the first harvest.

The blooming trees provide a wonderful burst of colour in a very green landscape

 These wooden houses are a very uncommon sight in this part of France. Most houses are made of stone or cement. Montreal-du-Gers is a small town of about 1200 people though big enough to have all of the necessities.

About 10 km into the walk at Eglise de Routges we passed the oldest church in the area. It was a couple of hundred kilometers off the road on a very hot day but I wanted to walk up to it because I was out of drinking water and churches always have water for some reason. There was a gardener working in the yard so I asked her (probably a local volunteer parishioner) if the water was potable and she said 'oui' so I filled my water bottle. Sweet relief. It's such a drag running out of water. One interesting thing about this church is that there was an outcast population of uncertain ethnic origin in the area. They lived very segregated lives form the rest of the population until the end of the 19th century because they were believed to be leprous, syphilitic or just generally unclean or, at the very least, bearers of all types of evil. As a result they were apparently only allowed to enter the churches by a side door after everyone else was in the church. It seems like every country in the world has shameful, discriminatory parts to it's history - including ours.

We stayed at a wonderful gîte - Le Relais de Saint-Jacques - in Montreal-du-Gers with hostess, Anita, who was originally from Germany although she had lived in Spain for several years. She had walked parts of the camino herself so was well aware what was needed and did her best to provide it. She spent a lot of time making us a filling and tasty meal and put herself out to be helpful to everyone who asked. The gîte was originally a large family home which had subsequently been turned into a space for pilgrim walkers. The atmosphere was cosy and welcoming.
 

La Romieu to Condom

April 23 - La Romieu to Condom
A short day today of only 12 or 13 kilometers of relatively little altitude change although lots of ups and downs. We passed through many farms and villages of only two or three houses. It was a beautiful day although still somewhat cool. I'm not sure what this building is but presumably some of it is underground - making it a root cellar no doubt. It's interesting to note that many of the location names are actually just names of the major or only farm (family) in  the area.

 This countryside is full of rosemary bushes.

 Lots of frogs in this stretch near the lake who all stopped croaking as we walked near them.

We got to Condom - population 8000 - early enough to visit the cathedral and isn't it lovely!

And then we wandered around town buying a bit of a snack for the next day and seeing the sights. This statue below is apparently D'Artagnan and the three musketeers by the sculptor Zurab Tsereteli. According to the locals, D'Artagnan of the musketeers was born here. For a small place there are a surprising number of fairly good restaurants here in Condom.

As well as being famous for being able to claim these guys of perhaps more interest to many is the famous brandy Armagnac,  France's oldest brandy with the first written record of its existence said to be 1411.
And we also had what was probably our best meal in France at this cafe below.

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.