6-3-10 St Gillis du Gard to Vauvert day 60

6-3-10 St Gillis du Gard to Vauvert day 60
a good nights sleep .. I was slow getting out again... stopped at the church and when I tried to pay..since there seemed to be an entry fee the lady who remembered me from yesterday...said something about my credentials and let me in for free...there was again a crypt bellow ground..there were a couple of markers but one was for st Gillis..who I think was the man person entombed here... I stayed for a while absorbing what I could then started my walk... I had water and snacks for the road.. I stopped at the tourist office and got little information on the actual path..just were the trail started... so the way out of town was clearly marked ..follow the white and red strip marker and the shell when ever it appeared...then once I got on the trail..the marker seemed to stop...i just assumed it was because there was no turn offs that would confuse and therefore like other times the markers just ceased...after a while though I realized that maybe I should see something to tell me I am on the right path.. I tried to flag down a car, but it would not stop..i kept walking..then I saw a marker I was not suppose to see..the yellow one..last night the lady expressly told me not the yellow one but the red and white... so I figured something had gone wrong.. what to do... then I came across a channel..there were two men fishing.. I asked them for direction: Vauvert, the main man hesitated..the other one pointed in a direction ..finally they both agreed.. the main man, i'd been addressing..indicated that he was confused but now had it sorted..yes go that direction but it was 20km... I had already walked 5 kms and the whole walk was suppose to be only 16 so I knew I had gone off the wrong direction... I walked along the channel for a while... maybe an hour, then I saw a sign showing st gillis, the place i'd started from this morning, was 7kms in one direction..but there was a second sign, saying it was also 7kms in the other direction... did this channel travel in a ring around St Gillis???, I checked the map...it could be one of two waterways, neither of them circled St Gillis... I was perplexed and frustrated...then I saw another sign...this finally indicated a town on my map...it was a town I should have hit a while back had I gone the right way..but it gave me hope... I came to it and moved away from this waterway... in town the only thing open was a restaurant I tried to ask the young waiter there directions.. I know how to ask in french but if you give me a paragraph answer I am lost...so I just paid attention to his hand movements, thanked him cheerfully and followed the waving hands... it brought me out to a main road.. and from there the large scale map I had sort of coincided with the info I had gotten last night from the lady..so I took a chance... walked counter to the street signs and off road again..and sure enough found the right channel to walk along it...and the white and red markers that had failed me before, reappeared... I think my pride was a bit pricked because the idea of getting this lost after two months of doing it alone was a deflating.. I definitely felt that this stretch would be better done with more people who had more eyes..so if one missed a sign the other would catch it... the trail turned into fruit orchards...and sometimes the trail marker was hidden under shadowy trees... I missed the mark at least once... and had to Back track.. at least now I knew if I did not see a sign for at least ten minutes I had missed something... the trail kept turning too, at right angles so there was no intutive sense of going the right way... finally the trail left the orchards and crossed an old tarred road..the markers just stopped... I first went left... frustrated no sign of marker... a car came by I asked he send me on opposite direction I walked towards that but it seemed to lead just to a farm house... then I tried the final option... after chancing that for twenty minutes I finally saw a marker again.. I had already lost my sense of humor...about two hours ago I had seen a sign saying seven kms left...which should take less than two hours.. now I saw a sign saying I had four more kms to go... how bad did I screw up? Well at least I was seeing signs again...for most people st gillis is a halfway point of the day...for me it was a whole day's walk... I was worried about not being able to find someone for the pilgrimage place if I showed up too late.. I think it was sixish when I got there.. I went to the usual oasis 'the bar'..since I had run out of water again two hours ago..not having expected the day to go so long... and the bartender there mercifully spoke english and better yet had the phone number for the man in charge of pilgrims on speed dial... I had a mere ten minute wait when the man showed up..he was friendly, short, sixty something man who spoke english and took me and my stuff to his car.. .a quick ride up the hill and I was in a giant room that was the multipurpose room for the catholic school from what I gather … there were collapsible cots in a closet.. a kitchenette...shower adjacent..and bathroom out side of hall... all had their keys..he told me all about the keys...were to get food for dinner and stamped my credentials... I paid a five dollar fee.... he seemed actually happy to hear I was american..apparently he had worked in oil fields in africa and the persian gulf..he had worked with american companies... he warned me that no one in town spoke english, because the way they teach english in france, does not help with speaking...i've had the same experience learning french in the english school... he complained that after several years of school-english he had found it useless in working with english speakers...he had to teach himself... he left me and wished me luck... I was a little amused at my giant bedroom... I found a corner to set up my cot..showered and lay around for a while.. I forced myself to dinner just cuz...melty camenber and bagette chips was not a meal... I went to the restaurant he had mapped for me and got a salad which was meal size...then back to the room... I tried to sleep in the cot...but my hips hurt...i found a mat on-top of the closet and a blanket and slept on the floor instead with much better results...