yet another grey day... it had that threatening rain look but actually except for drizzle it was not too bad..i woke early because of my room mates. I had expected this. My plan now is from what ever time I wake up to try and get going with in an hour...for each hour awake brings me closer to being tired..so better get the walking out of the way...i got going by 8 am after coffee and breakfast with the german group..i hit the road while they lounged around...they were hoping for the day to clear a little and the drizzle to stop ...there was this french man who had joined the Gite the night before... he had left before me but seemed to be walking very slowly...he tried to talk to me in french but I told him I did not understand... then I passed him...i arrived at this town which had a sign for a food store so I veered off the path to go check it out..since these occurrences seemed so rare... I got a pastry and juice there and set on a wall and ate... I saw the french man again he seemed to have the same idea... he seemed to keep walking...but when I started up again he seemed to be there again... I got the distinct impression he was kind of waiting around...because I have yet to meet a man who walks slower than me... I thought it a bit sketchy but thought also he seemed pretty harmless...today was not a lot of kms only 16... although it did not really rain my feet got wet a bit from all the wet grass I was wading through... I am not the only pilgrim with frequent wet feet, it seems to be happening to everyone... the moisture usually gets in through the top of the shoes or through the socks on down...my feet seem to get sore early..usually I have a few hour grace period before this happens..i think the frequent under-sleeping is one of the reasons I seem to feel it sooner.. eventually Ms Ulm caught up with me and we walked together into Castres..at one point the other two german woman caught up too, and the french man was with them... perhaps he had been waiting to walk with those two? . Me and Ms Ulm,we talked about gender and what it does or does not mean, and now it impacts our lives..always a very intreging subject..she had some medical nurses perspective... nd both being female bodied it does impact who we get treated as we travel around the world... also of course about this pilgrimage business we seemed to be involved with. The last few kms were at a much quicker pace and on the road..which apparently is worse for the feet...but I kept up... we came into Castres around 1.30 and made a b-line for the nearest cafe and hung out a long time talking more... I found the contrast of returning to a more urban town after mountains and small villages striking...for one thing so many stores, and most of them actually open...also the people in the cafes appeared so much more polished and wealthy as if they never stomped around in dirt... Ms Ulm and I talked more about pilgrimage. She had actually started from her home town and had gotten a lot of enthusiastic reaction from the germans...so much so that when she crossed over to Switzerland and France the reception seemed cooler...she was still waiting to feel the 'specialness' of the pilgrimage...she said most people reported that they actually start thinking new thoughts they never had before...as if old thinking patterns drop away... I also dont think I have experienced this on a noticeable level...we then wound our way to the tourist office and tried to have her call the Gites for a place to stay, the one place did not answer and for some reason the other place she was not allowed to call for some reason, it was not in her book...in fact it all seemed kind of dodgy there... since we did not get answers we decided to let her show us on a map where the Gites were and we walked to the closest... we rang the door bell and just then, a man in a car came up and handed us the key...we had auspicious good timing..we entered and the man soon came in to give us a tour of the place and codes for the door.. he was renovating the top floor and showed us proudly the plans.. there was a little yard with a cherry trees... he had art pieces from former pilgrims like a stained glass window and welded gate... he seemed cheerful and scatter brained, he was a math teacher about to retire... he told us of a free internet place, we headed that way, we dinked around there till closing...then we found a chinese restaurant and had very simple meals..from a friendly owner ..there was commotion outside because international soccer matches are in full swing. The older french couple showed up at the Gite as well, but they had their own room. So there were only two of us in the big room... slept fairly well...
oh, after thought, I did not say much about the town..i think sometimes i am too tired or maybe caught up with the mission of finding a place to stay to pay much attention.. Ms Ulm has a guide book she actually can read and Castres used to be famous for it's fabric dying and the narrow house along the river used to be where they did the dying...this is more info than i have about most towns!
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