Navarrenx was a pleasant town with a few cafes and a nice feel to it. Today was the Ascension, so another holiday in France. This resulted in extremely crowded walking, at one point I counted 30 pilgrims! To understand this, it is part of May in France that everyone “faire le Pont” or makes the bridge. If a holiday is on Wednesday and or Thursday you can take the Friday off and end up with 5 days off only using one vacation day. So, I think part of the crowds had to do with that. Lovely weather today but still lots of sucking mud. Got up and just trudged along, beautiful mountains in the background. Eventually after a stop for a snack, got off the trail to Charritte le Bas where the Gite owner picked me up promptly. Spectacular property with a wedding for 40 people this evening, so I’m sure that it is going to be an experience. 23,000 steps.

La Ferme de Bicatou had 15 people for dinner last night and did a good job with duck pate followed by a green salad and some roast chicken. Slept reasonably well in very narrow twin bed, but comfortable room overall. Was out the door at 8:00am for long day today. Pleasant overall and di not get rained on. First day of the trip that I didn’t get rained on, but there was plenty of mud and at one point I diverted off trail to avoid an enormous mud puddle. Today was lots of steep up and downs, fortunately mostly not of long duration, but definitely got the blood flowing. After a few breaks made it in to Navarrenx around 2:45pm. This is a fortified town with many of the walls still intact. A few cafes and restaurants and I’m in a modest chain hotel room. All good, but was definitely ready for a shower and a break on arrival. 33,000 steps.

The Gite at Boulangerie Brousse in Arthez did not disappoint. Bertrand put on a great meal for 18 hungry pilgrims including a heart vegetable soup. A fish and lasagna combo over vegetables and an ice cream cake for desert. He is a true character and has the hospitality gene in a big way. My plan had been to have him drop me back in Pomp, but on rising it was raining quite hard, so I decided to split the difference and have him take my only 5km back to Castillon which would still result in a solid day. Luckily the rain abated a bit and an hour and a bit later I was back at the bakery having a second cup of coffee. Then headed out after dire warnings that tomorrow is a national holiday and NOTHING will be open. (Not much of a contrast to my daily experience of rural France, but I keep hoping). Anyway, bought part of a sausage at the butcher, who did happen to be open. Then a lovely walk on a forest road with no cars. Joined a local walking his Border Collie and we walked and chatted for a good half hour or so before he turned back. The promised bakery towards the end of the walk was of course closed. Anyway, arrived tired but reasonably dry at the La Ferme de Bicatou in Maslacq, the local deli being closed from 12:30pm-3:30pm because who would possibly want to buy food at lunchtime? The owners gave me my room a nice little room at the end of the courtyard. Did some clean up and now awaiting the 3:30pm opening of the deli to venture forth and stock up on something for tomorrow. Off and on rain all day today but thankfully mostly not too heavy. You know how Charley Brown always fall for Lucy pulling the football away at the last minute? That’s how I feel about finding a store, cafe, restaurant or anything else open on any day at anytime in Rural France. I keep expecting that something will be open, and I keep getting suckered. Someone actually explained it to me the other day, here’s why it is so bad: In France in the country most of the people own the premises, eg. They are not paying rent. So, it is cheaper for them to close than to hire an employee to remain open. Ergo, they only work when they want to and close the rest of the time. In the USA most businesses are paying rent and any time there are closed represents lost revenue that can never be recovered. 24,000 steps.

An excellent night in a comfortable room! Was glad I was safely back as a pretty solid storm came through. Nice having a lot of space. Had an amazing breakfast including GF bread and then walking in the light rain. Eventually, about 2 hrs in there was a little place for coffee run by some Argentines. They were very pleasant. Continued walking until about 2:00pm and then arrived in Pomp and made a beeline for the epicerie, which managed some cheese and some ham. My lodging for tonight was booked considerably further, so a phone call produced the owner, Bertrand in a bakery van, who turned out to be a true character. He gave me a quick, and I mean that in the sense of speed, tour of the area before taking me to his sprawling Gite. This place was a bakery and still does some of that but seems to have a dormitory, private rooms, and I was given a little studio apt thing. Not terribly fancy but all amusing and many pilgrims around. A quick walk in to the town of Arthez de Bearn produced pretty much nothing with no bar, cafe or anything open. Many cars jetting around at top speed. Did find a working ATM on the second try. Still, it is looking like it will be an entertaining evening with at least a dozen people here if not more. 31,649 steps.

Here is a piece that I wrote yesterday since I had a short day:

Grit

Some thoughts about grit. At its simplest, grit could be defined as the willingness to stick to something when the going gets tough. Obviously for many things in life, including long distance walking, this is a useful thing to have. You need to be able to tough it out when your pack is feeling too heavy, there’s a big hill, it’s cold and your getting rained on. But, looking at it from another perspective, it is obviously possible to have either too little grit and/or too much grit. Many of us have one or the other of these depending on the situation. Sometimes we give up when we shouldn’t and sometimes we stick things out when we shouldn’t, both inappropriate uses of grit. In my own life I can think of plenty of examples of both types of grit application, deficient and excess. In either case, there is regret. How do you decide what is the right amount of grit to apply? I’m not sure I know the answer to that, but I can think of an example where I feel that I did apply just the right amount. I was walking across Spain on the Camino Frances, and had come towards the end of the Meseta, the table lands an incredibly flat and long section across the middle of Spain. I done a week of very long days. As I got to Sahagun, I had a pronounced limp and a golf ball sized lump on my right Achilles tendon. After consulting Dr. Google, I was convinced that it was probably Calcaneal Bursitis. I opted to take a few rest days in Leon. It was cold and rainy and after two days I was not showing huge improvement. I decided that while I could continue to limp along, I didn’t want to risk permanent damage in pursuit of a short term goal. So, that was the end of that camino, and I took the train down to Seville where it was Easter week, Semana Santa. An absolutely amazing annual occurrence in Seville. No regrets on that decision. Likewise, I could give some examples where I stuck it out too long and some examples where I undoubtedly quite too early. This may be one of those things that is always in play, but probably evaluating short term versus long term consequences and results may provide a better way to decide whether or not to stick something out.

The switch in lodging ended up in a pleasant evening around a big table with other pilgrims. Interestingly one couple were from St. Jean de Maurienne, where I did classe de Neige two years during my time in French school. The place had numerous rooms and was a working farm. The meal plan was interesting, Madame opened her boutique and we picked out cans of different things and some wine and then all sat and shared things. I had a small can of Duck Rilletes followed by a can of foie Gras and then a jar of pumpkin soup. Worked quite well. Because I walked further than planned yesterday, today was a short one, which was just fine with me. About an hour in there was a town called Pimbo that had a little creperie that even had a GF galette, needless to say it was nice to have something to eat other than the energy bar I had for breakfast. After walking to town, the hotel was able to give me. Room right away, a rare thing. This place is a big Maison de maitre, and my room is palatial! Really nice! Washed my boots of mud, changed shirts and headed to lunch at the one restaurant that was open. Just had a salad, but not having had anything green it a while it hit the spot. 17,600 steps.

First day of back on the way…. Started with about a half hour of uphill out of town. Light rain and drizzle all of the day but got nicer in the afternoon. Generally country roads and gravel, but a little bit of mud towards the end of the day. My original booking was for a place called La Prade which would have been a few KM short of the town, but apparently the owner passed away recently and so the cancelled. Fortunately, Walk The Camino was on top of it and had me rebooked at a place about an hour further. La Ferme de Marsan, a sprawling farm type place. Quite a few pilgrims walking as compared to other times. Mostly French, and have not met any other Americans. Pleasant countryside and a wonderful moment when I came over a rise and spotted the snow covered Pyrenees in the distance. Solid first day walking, sore feet but otherwise doing well. 31,107 steps.

Started today with a little walk around Bordeaux and coffee at L’Alchimiste, an excellent coffee shop in Bordeaux. French Coffee providers still don’t get the concept that if you are a coffee shop you should be open early when people want coffee. This one opened at 9:00am, early by French standards… Then it was check out of hotel, tram to train station, then just under 2 hr train ride to Mont de Marsan, followed by a local bus ride to Aire sur L’Adour where I left off walking the last time. Back in the same hotel as before. Off in search of a late lunch, found a 3 course menu for 16 euros that included smoked salmon, duck confit, frites, salad and desert! It’s some kind of festival going on so a full 13 piece brass band fired up during lunch. Apparently performing tonight for the town! Walking starts tomorrow, unfortunately with rain in the forecast.

Headed south today. 96 bus to Montparnasse followed by 2:45 ride on the TGV at 305km/hr. Bordeaux has a very different feeling than Paris and the center is very pedestrian oriented. I headed out to my favorite Creperie after taking the tram to my hotel. Walked around a bit, had a quick nap and then tucked into some wine and charcuterie.

For some reason I woke up fairly early, so I went with it. Doesn’t mean the jet lag is over, but the sooner I can get on schedule the better. Started out by heading for a coffee at Early Bird, an excellent coffee shop in the covered market part of the Marche D’Aligre. Everything was very quiet as today is a national holiday, but luckily things picked up to near normal later in the day. After coffee, headed to NoGlu the GF bakery that does some tasty mini croissants and is only a 10 minute walk from the Marche D’Aligre. From there a nice long stroll back to the hotel via the Pl Bastille. After that, headed out to see the progress on Notre Dame, and progress there was. The Flèche or arrow or steeple has been rebuilt. Nothing is yet open to the public but it is pretty clear that major progress has happened. After a stroll around, took the bus to Rue Mouffetard and found some risotto for lunch at one of the cafes at the bottom. Then it was back to the hotel for a brief nap before heading to the Haute Marais for a walk. Seemed like there were demonstrations going on at Pl de la Republics and many many police. After regrouping, it was down the street to the Bistro Louis Philippe for some foie gras and a burger.

Nice easy flight back to Paris. Just before check in Delta offered me an upgrade to first for a reasonable number of miles, so I took it. This meant a lay flat seat in its own pod which meant I was able to sleep for most of the flight. On arrival, got through immigration fast and was in a cab shortly thereafter. Staying at a hotel across the street from my apartment, so familiar with the neighborhood. Did a quick trip to Rue de Montorgueil for an apero at Le Compas and then another bite at L’Avant Comptoir du Terre and a stop at Deux Magots. Then a night cap at Le Bucheron, my local right across the street from where I’m staying. Had a quick visit with other fractional owners while I recovered my Swiss Army knife from my cubby. Managed to stay up till reasonable hour which should help with the jet lag. One more day in Paris then off to Bordeaux and the back to where I left off walking.