Well, a ride did not materialize to get me home from the town, so I hoofed it back to the Gite, about 4km/ 1hr. Lunch was worth it though. On return, a group of French ladies from Paris had checked in, 8 of them and another American from New Mexico. We were 14 at dinner and the Gite people put on a nice dinner on their outside terrace. My room was huge and had a shower and sink, but oddly the toilet was a long way down the hall. Anyway, ok nights sleep and up just before 7:00am to hit the road before the heat. I suspect that Walk the Camino miscalculated my distances based on the idea that the Gite was in town not 4km before the town. This made today insanely long. Temperatures started out reasonably, but by noon were into the high 80s. When carrying a heavy pack, this makes a big difference. As usual in France and on a Sunday not much in the way of places to stop and eat or get refreshment. There was one Gite that had a self service area, Mille Bornes and it was a life saver. Other than that, the trail today followed a Voie Verte, these are decommissioned railway lines that have been turned into bicycle and walking trails. It makes for easy walking, but lots of pavement.

Got an early start out of Condom today as once again it was forecast to get quite hot after noon. Fairly easy walking through farm fields and rolling hills. As I checked it turned out that my Gite is a little over 4km from the actual town. This is a little annoying since that is at least an hour of walking. When I arrived I ran into Monsieur, who gave me the usual, “we don’t open until 3:00pm” spiel. At which point I explained that I was aware of that but would like to leave my pack and get town for some lunch. He tried a number of taxi companies, who all declined, and luckily the wife was up for driving me to town. After some chatting she dropped me at the best of the two restaurants in town which resulted in a fabulous lunch, Potage, Pate, some Duck and a side plate of mushrooms finished of with tiramisu dessert. The town of Montreal was a fortified town and is now pretty sleepy with a pleasant town square. I ran into a Canadian, Colleen from Toronto and we shared a drink and chat before she headed of to find her Gite. Now, to get back to the place I’m staying hopefully without the hour walk!

Got together with some fellow pilgrims for coffee this morning and then walked a little ways to the edge of town with them, Vincent, Roxane and Laetitia. We’ve been hanging out together at the end of the day for a few days now and I was sad to see them go as we have had a fun time hanging out. After doing a bit of the tourist walk around, I found a sign for an Armangac place and that turned out to be gold. After a private tour of the cellars, a short film and some tasting I was taken over to the chateau to taste a few of the really old things. Turns out the owner is Raj Bhakta from Vermont and his person in charge, Amanda, British, is passionate about Armangac. Got a small taste of a 1904! After a Bun Bowl for lunch it was down for a nap! My Demi-pension puts me at the same restaurant tonight as last night, but it was good. Tomorrow, 17km to Montreal.

Last night in La Romieu was a lot of fun. Hung out in the plaza with some fellow French pilgrims one of whom turned out to be tango dancer. We took turns drinking Rose with ice, and dancing and eating things from the nearby epicerie. Then back to the Cles des Champs gite where Madame had been cooking, duck fat potatoes, roast chicken and a salad followed by Flan. One of her friends who runs a limousine company in Paris came by, and Tony and Judy, Aussies from Brisbane were also in the house. Apparently she was double booked, I found out later I had her room, a little tricky for a tall person up under the roof with exposed beams. Somehow I managed not to crack my head during the night, but just about the only places I could stand up were under the skylights. No matter, she was absolutely charming and it was sort like staying with an eccentric French relative. Out the door before 9:00am this morning with Condom, the capital of the Armangac area as a destination. I was told it was 13km but now that I look at the guide it says 16km, more likely. Beautiful walk through fields etc. and finally some vineyards. Condom is quite a decent sized town, even big enough that after finding my hotel, checking in and showering I was able to get lunch!! Normally I only get to watch others eating lunch. An excellent pork with a lovely lemon type sauce. After lunch, a quick stop in the visitor center, and then on to the petite train, a common tourist thing where they tow you around with a train replica to show you the sights, at 8Euro including an Armangac tasting it seems like a good deal and as the only passenger I got the VIP treatment. It is extremely hot here almost 90deg. And in another Frenchism, the air conditioning is turned off for the hotel. Apparently A/C in France is determined by the date not the temperature. This is the country of the 3 musketeers but for some reason there are four in the full size statue near the cathedral.

Found a coffee on the way out of town and then what seemed like a fairly long 17km to the days destination. Lovely fog below the city, then hiking through farm fields. Eventually after an hour, an actual cafe with coffee etc! What a treat. Encountered some French ladies and we walked a bit together. But I continued at my slow pace ahead of them, only to rendezvous for a drink at the plaza in town after I had checked into my BnB. Turns out one is a tango dancer, game on…. It got very hot today, but fortunately arrived in town just after 2:00pm ready to have a shower and call it day. This particular Gite, Cle des Champs, has put me and other guests at the very top of the house with lots of beams. The only place I can stand upright in my room is under the skylight. I predict that I will locate a few of the beams during the night!

A really nice dinner last night in Miradoux with myself and another guest being the only patrons at the local restaurant, L’Etape. chicken confit, ratatouille and frites all well prepared, hit the spot! Off this morning on a short but scenic day to Lectoure. Another hill town with a long climb in to town at the end. Excited to arrive at 1:00pm in time for lunch and a big enough place to have lots of restraints, all unwilling to seat anyone at 1:00pm. Fortunately a cafe had a salad, but another one of those really annoying paradoxes in France: you can see everyone else eating good food, you are not allowed to have any. Of course my Gite had a sign that it wouldn’t open till 2:30pm, and a call to the owner elicited not a whit of helpfulness of sympathy, she could have easily given me the door code to get in and leave my bag. 2:30pm came and no sign of her. Lucky for me a baggage delivery guy drove up and had the door code, come to find out she was already inside….Only in France! Anyway, booked a massage at the local hot spring, we will see how that goes, was forced to buy a speedo, as French people contract diseases from bathing suits unlike in the rest of the known universe. When in Rome……. All right, will go and sit in the hot springs before scheduled massage and report back later.

Today started a touch annoyingly with hotel having only pastries and bread for breakfast. I grabbed and energy bar and coffee and called it good. A perfect morning for walking and I managed to transfer a few mor items out of my pack, lightening my load by a pound or so, but it made a huge difference. After a few hours came upon a lovely cafe right in the middle of the path, and the lady was super helpful. Had a local Goat cheese round and a French pear and it made up for the no breakfast. Today’s walking was generally along farm roads and beside fields. Up and down to a few hilltop towns before arriving in Miradoux. Staying in a 3 room gite that has been restored by the owners who have an apartment upstairs. After a shower, out to explore, and the local epicerie has wonderful cheeses and some great ham. That ends up being lunch, next door has a tabac that serves a glass of wine. Running in to some people I met yesterday and earlier today as they come through.

For those who are just starting to read on this blog, some background. The route I am walking now is called the Via Podiensis and connects Le Puy en Velay to Saint Jean Pied de Port, the start of the traditional Camino Frances. Just as it is 500 miles from Saint Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela, it is approximately 500 miles from Le Puy en Velay to Saint Jean Pied de Port. I have broken this up in to 4 trips, this one being the 3rd of 4. This first one, went from Le Puy to Conques, the second from Conques to Moissac, and this one started in Moissac. I’m walking roughly 200km per trip.

First day of walking today…. Always ends with being very sore! No matter that I did a reasonable amount of training, it wasn’t 5 hours/day carrying a loaded pack. I have to figure out what law of physics always ends up with my pack weighing 20+ lbs not matter how hard I try to get it down. The Hotel Le Pont Napoleon was clearly a labor of love for Gabby, the owner who had done a full remodel of the old building. The floor still had some tilt, and it is clearly an older place, but everything worked, the mattress was comfortable, the wifi dependable and he couldn’t do enough for the guests. A 2 star hotel with a 5 star attitude! Was on the trail just before 9:00am this morning and leaving Moissac it followed a canal along the Tarn. Very meditative, if you don’t consider the large collection of idiots in noisy cars conducting some kind of rally for poorly tuned noisy hatchbacks and drivers with bad throttle control. This went on all morning with some new driver being released every few minutes only to rev up and then shift with lots of backfires etc. If my car sounded like that it would be in the shop asap. It soon departed inland with 3 distance climbs and descents before rejoining the canal for a long stretch into Auvillar. Total walking time a little over 5 hours. Arrived at Hotel de L’Horloge, checked in and went straight for the shower. Of course the shower head wouldn’t stay in the mount so it ended up being a hand shower, but any port in storm. After a quick reconnoiter of town, I went back to the hotel, which has a lovely terrace. Asked for a glass of wine and was informed that the bar was closed until 6:00pm. When I said that it was just a glass of wine, the front desk person said they had no one to serve it. Apparently, pouring a glass was beyond her skill level. I will never understand the French rigidity around meal times and service etc. Just down the street, the corner bar run by Cambodians was doing a brisk business and had excellent spring rolls etc. so I came out ahead on that.

Today it was not raining! Managed to sneak in a croissant from NoGlu and a coffee at Early Bird before taking the metro to Montparnasse. Moment of worry when the train stalled out in the tunnel, but the driver fixed it in short order. Quite a hike to Hall 2 at Montparnasse from where the metro drops you. Anyway, a good train trip, sitting across from me were 2 couples, American, who turned out to be white hat Hacker Cyber security guys (SEVN-X is the company). They were extremely interesting company, and then the lady across from me ran a foundation in Africa treating gum disease. All in all the 3-4 hrs. On the train flew by, and I made my 11 minute connection in Agen with a few minutes to spare. I’m in a classic old school hotel, Le Pont Napoleon, that has clearly been lovingly restored by the owner who is also working the desk. He most definitely has the hospitality gene. Took a quick walk up into town, to buy a sausage so that I have some kind of food during the day tomorrow. As usual in France, nothing is serving food mid afternoon. Pleasantly warm here, some kind of surfing group is having a get together, no surf anywhere near. Tomorrow’s walk scheduled at 20.5km/12.5miles. I’m trying to shift as many heavy things out of my pack and into my suitcase as I can!

Not a very good nights sleep as loud drunk people were making noise in the park outside the hotel. Combine that with Jetlag and not a great night. Dinner with Linda and David, last night, partners in the fractional was great, Vins des Pyrenees, followed by the speakeasy upstairs with some live jazz. I hit the wall around 9:30pm but they stayed on. So started the day with a trip to NoGlu and then went into the Marche d’Aligre. Excellent coffee place in the covered market called Early Bird, the owner had done some pilgrimage walking and gave me a hat. Took that back to the Hotel and got a call from Oliver Gee who had just arrived at the coffee place, so turned around and went back to visit with him. His podcast, “The Earful Tower,” is fantastic and if you have any interest in Paris well worth looking through. Morning weather was light rain mixed with hard rain, but luckily it cleared up around lunch time. Following this it was lots of Metros and buses as I went to see Peter Turnley’s photos at Hotel de Ville, then to see the wrap at the Opera Garnier, and then off to Breizh Odeon for a lunch crepe. Back to the hotel before meeting high school class mate Mariko Gordon and her son for an Apero at Le Compas followed by an absolutely wonderful dinner at Le Mazenay. This may have been the best meal I have ever had in France. French food but with a slight Vietnamese touch and friendly waitress and an excellent bottle of Vacqueras. Highly recommend this place. Fairly early to bed as train trip down to Moissac in the morning.