The gite noises got going around 6am as usual but it seemed that people were packing a lot but not leaving in a hurry...there was definitely tension about the up coming trail... people had gotten lost the day before... and we too had had a challenging time with the markings at times...and we'd been warned it would be challenging at points ... the french man from the couple helped explain the photos and charts on the wall again since we were short changed on the transmission the night before...we hoped it would be enough...we got going after seven...... we moved direction countryside and recognized the first land mark from the photos..but it was unclear how to proceed from here, the french couple showed up and the man thought he knew the way...which was again different from what I had thought the instructions had been...we fallowed his cue and sure enough we came to the next marker... there were patches of clear cut in the wood and the markings were not always clear or missing... but somehow we fumbled through always finding the right path again... the french couple and us kept passing each other on breaks...eventually the woman who was a lot shorter than the man developed foot pain in the arches and they had to cut their hiking day short... they had just started their pilgrimage so they were going through the usual adjustment period that seems to be common with this kind of walking... we ran across french men hunting for mushrooms in the forest, I took the mandatory photo of one of the pretty ones they'd found...
and on we went... mid morning we ran into the american pilgrim again.. he had started out at least two hours before us... he'd gotten lost again..which is not surprising since he had missed the instructions... and also had ignored one of the warnings that we were able to give him the night before...but he seemed to be the type of man who could very easily live with his mistakes... he told us of having gone to rome once with a group and having gotten separated from the group without having the hotel information on him...and that he spend three days looking for the hotel..even though he had no name and had never been there.....he was eager to reach Santiago for the July 25th jubilee and he seemed surprised when I told him, that I walked too slow so that I would not make that dead line... it appears he did not know how far it still was by foot...but I do think it put fire under him to plow forward ...later we heard that he intended to walk through to Auch that day a total of 40kms...which to me seems crazy far away for one day...around midday we ended up in a town L'Isle-Jourdain ...we rushed towards it for fear that the shops would close for lunch...but we arrived at the bar and realized everything would stay open for a while..my friend asked at the bar if we could leave our bags while we went and did a little shopping... I was a little tired and hot and not that food focused but went and checked out the farmers market with my friend... I got a slice of pizza and she, supplies for sandwich we returned to the cafe and as is common in france ate our just bought lunch there the owner was both kind to us and gruff...for some reason she had thought my friend had snubbed her at first so they had to clear the air...then she insisted we had to call the gite in advance to make reservations for the night..although we were not even sure we would make it the other 17kms... but she let us use her phone and to our surprise the man running the gite was a german.. we took a long break at the cafe in hopes of waiting out the sun a bit... and got going around 2.30 I fretted a bit about the number of kms still to do so late..but we comforted ourselves with the thought that worse case scenario we could camp along the way... on the way out of town we passed a lake that looked quite swimmable... we made the hard choice not to stop there as well or else we would never make it.... again, in the afternoon finding markers was a serious team effort and without the notes my friend had from her book, we would have had a harder time of it.. the landscapes right now seem to be a little less spectacular or perhaps it's the heat that makes things seem more blah...there are lots of sunflowers that are grown here, sadly not in bloom yet... I asked my friend what they are used for and heard the sad story of force-fed geese...who then get a very fatty liver which intern makes a much thought after pate....sad to know that such pretty flowers would be used to such cruel ends..makes me look at the landscape a bit differently...around six we found another town with provisions..we got beverages and some food... we both downed a liter yogurt drink and some water on top of that...later we would regret that choice as our swollen bellies rubbed against the backpack straps for another two hours or so of walking... two different french people outside chatted us up about the walk... I get translations later... I guess my friend sounded a little lack luster about the current walking trails...and the two locals were a little defensive about it...but I thought also after getting the translation...that people want to hear romantic things about pilgrimage and they dont want to hear that sometimes things are just mundane and you could have a crappy or bland day...
as i've mentioned before, the best time to usually arrive in a town if your staying in gites is between three thirty and five thirty..after that you can run the risk of not finding space or not finding the person who runs the gite...this is especially important since we dont have cell phones to call in advance... but ironically I notice I walk best and strongest after four pm... and today too I had had a hard morning as I tried to adjust to heat...but then late afternoon I started feeling quite well... and actually quite fit.... luckily we already knew that today we could arrive late.. and we did... 8.30... the gite was a farm house on a nice piece of land... it was a totally pleasant relaxed atmosphere..our swiss friends were already there.. a german man and a french woman ran the place..they were both friendly but not invasive...later I heard that he thought we were the most low-maintainance pilgrims he'd dealt with..the swiss couple had been there for a while and offered to cook us spaghetti dinner... I had no energy to worry about food so I was really happy that they would do that..we had a nice little pilgrim's dinner ...we have slowly gotten to know each other over repeated meetings at gites, so that it was almost like family feel, as we were hanging out like this...
After, we all pitched our tents outside since this was cheaper and also it was a really great place to camp...but it was dark..and I did not choose the best spot as far as ground smoothness...also there was a full moon...so we all reported the next day having had a short nights sleep...
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