The evening at La Barraque turned out to be highly convivial. It turned out that apart from the four of us there were seven 'pilgrims' in the adjoining house (basically a part of the same house in the photos). So there were eleven of us for supper plus Joanna.
The setting was simple - a long table loaded with plates and food. Our fine host had prepared a pumpkin gratin and a very fine beef stew with onions, figs and several types of mushrooms she found in the forest.
We ate well, ended the evening with homemade cheese and bread and again I slept very well.
We set off the next day in great humour, ready for a fairly long stage to Maubourget. The morning was cool and misty (although this was not to last) and it gave some beautiful light for painting:
The guidebook was showing around 27km and in an attempt to save some wear on the feet, we took some information from one of the other group who had a military map with him which showed the "historic, ancient route de St Jacques" which promised to be five or so km shorter. We agreed that we would take this route and arrive at Maubourget in good time. The first thing we came across was the church outside St Christaud. I realise that this blog may seem rather loaded with churches, but they are a prominent landmark and so varied that, when it feels appropriate, I tend to take a photo, especially so if it happens to be open and one can view the interior:
As it turned out the shortcut wasn't finally such good advice! What should have been a fairly easy day turned into 30km of hot slog among kilometre after kilometre after kilometre after kilometre of maize fields. Not very interesting viewing, and very tiring. The length of our walk was due to the fact that in trying to save distance, we ended up going out of our way by an hour or more. Thus the day ended up being not only longer but more taxing than it might otherwise have been. However it did contain enough highlights to be worthy of recording, like the edges of this pretty little garden that someone obviously loves:
Approaching Monluzat the guidebook noted the ruins of a castle nearby. In themselves not terribly interesting (especially considering the condition) but when it went on to say that it had been built in 983, I felt obliged to take a picture!
There also happened to be mile after mile of maize planations which made for some very hot but rather uninteresting walking:
The last village before our destination was Sauveterre, and again the church was a photogenic feature:
There was a decent view across Gascony from outside the church:
When we arrived in Maubourget the church was open and I was able to pop in for a couple of photos. An interesting building from the eleventh century:
We stopped by the tourism office to pick up the keys to the campsite, which was otherwise closed, and stayed at the communal "gite pelerin" - another of the buildings or facilities set aside by local communities along the route for the exclusive use of pilgrims. There was a small supermarket nearby so I was able to buy some cold beer and the morning's breakfast. We went to the local restaurant to eat and got a surprisingly good quality and substantial meal for the fixed price of 12,50 euros.
The setting was simple - a long table loaded with plates and food. Our fine host had prepared a pumpkin gratin and a very fine beef stew with onions, figs and several types of mushrooms she found in the forest.
We ate well, ended the evening with homemade cheese and bread and again I slept very well.
We set off the next day in great humour, ready for a fairly long stage to Maubourget. The morning was cool and misty (although this was not to last) and it gave some beautiful light for painting:
The guidebook was showing around 27km and in an attempt to save some wear on the feet, we took some information from one of the other group who had a military map with him which showed the "historic, ancient route de St Jacques" which promised to be five or so km shorter. We agreed that we would take this route and arrive at Maubourget in good time. The first thing we came across was the church outside St Christaud. I realise that this blog may seem rather loaded with churches, but they are a prominent landmark and so varied that, when it feels appropriate, I tend to take a photo, especially so if it happens to be open and one can view the interior:
As it turned out the shortcut wasn't finally such good advice! What should have been a fairly easy day turned into 30km of hot slog among kilometre after kilometre after kilometre after kilometre of maize fields. Not very interesting viewing, and very tiring. The length of our walk was due to the fact that in trying to save distance, we ended up going out of our way by an hour or more. Thus the day ended up being not only longer but more taxing than it might otherwise have been. However it did contain enough highlights to be worthy of recording, like the edges of this pretty little garden that someone obviously loves:
Approaching Monluzat the guidebook noted the ruins of a castle nearby. In themselves not terribly interesting (especially considering the condition) but when it went on to say that it had been built in 983, I felt obliged to take a picture!
There also happened to be mile after mile of maize planations which made for some very hot but rather uninteresting walking:
The last village before our destination was Sauveterre, and again the church was a photogenic feature:
There was a decent view across Gascony from outside the church:
When we arrived in Maubourget the church was open and I was able to pop in for a couple of photos. An interesting building from the eleventh century:
We stopped by the tourism office to pick up the keys to the campsite, which was otherwise closed, and stayed at the communal "gite pelerin" - another of the buildings or facilities set aside by local communities along the route for the exclusive use of pilgrims. There was a small supermarket nearby so I was able to buy some cold beer and the morning's breakfast. We went to the local restaurant to eat and got a surprisingly good quality and substantial meal for the fixed price of 12,50 euros.
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