Approaching halfway

“ Hello, I didn’t see you in the gite « Maison des Pèlerins » (at Aire-sur-l’Adour) last night.”
“No, I camped out,” the Canadian said.
“You do well to carry a tent with you all the time, considering its weight.”
“I don’t. I just sleep on the ground.”
“And for breakfast?”
“I find a shop / boulangerie in the next village.”
“But today I don’t think there is a village for miles because it’s all across country!”
This at 0815 in the morning, while being overtaken by another pilgrim.

“Where were you last Sunday when that storm broke?”
“Crouched over my rucksack with my poncho covering me and it, for 1 1/2 hours.”

I, fortunately, was a few yards from my gite – as yet still closed, as it was only 1200hrs - sheltering in the porch of a bank in Lectoure, watching the rain lash down and seeing the street turn into a river for half an hour.

The Camino / Chemin / Way to Compostela is like a river, gently flowing, bearing the pilgrims along like leaves which are stopped by obstructions (gites, lodgings, sights), but they get going again. The movement is relentless: when you re-join the current there are more pilgrims / walkers moving along inexorably. However, in France at least, there appears to be a slowing down now that September has passed. Many people stop at St Jean Pied de Port (SJPP) and will return next year to continue over the Pyrenees into Spain.

My latest acquaintances include 2 Brittany ladies walking from Figeac to SJPP, a French couple with Labrador, Antoine the Belgian, who started in Belgium and is going all the way to Santiago pulling his trailer with his tent on it, and others.

The rich pattern and variety of styles of church and villages continues. Some churches go back to Roman times, fortified villages, known as “bastides”, date back to the days of the Hundred Years War and when the English were giving the French a lot of grief in Acquitaine.

The Way (GR 65) passes through Gascogne and there is plenty of evidence of the current English invasion, properties bought in large numbers (most of the chateaux, I am told, are bought by the English).

Just before Condom (490km from Le Puy) I saw the Pyrenees for the first time. Instant boost to morale, pack suddenly 2 kg lighter! It meant I was closing in on the half way stage, but still with 250 km to do, however. This on the 24th day of walking…..
And my leg? After 6 days of rest I set out again and it has been fine. When I stayed in the convent at Moissac I managed to have my feet massaged by the reflexologist: a pleasant experience. He opined that I had strained a tendon rather than pulled a muscle. The recipe for avoiding a recurrence was to walk no more than 20-25 km / day, to drink 2-3 litres of water / day, to carry no more than 10% of my weight (= 7 kg), and to rest completely for a day from time to time. The wearing and tiring effect is cumulative.

Where am I now? At Naverrenx, some 70 km from SJPP and 650 km from Le Puy. Have had a wonderful day’s walking today looking at the Pyrenees beneath a cloudless sky and seeing them get ever closer. Expect to cross on 10 and 11 October.

A little feedback from readers would help: can I ask you to please post a short message, in English or French, by clicking on Comments below, just to say “Seen by a reader from the Yukon”, or “Jeannette de Nice trouve votre site intéressant”, or even ask a question…..