06/09/12: Leguevin

Getting onto the camino proper, as it were...

I woke up in the morning feeling great once more - the first days of badly hurting feet and tiredness now a distant memory (time is a funny concept out here, especially since a) I don't wear a watch and b) I have two months of daily walking ahead of me).

When it became clear over breakfast that the slight discomfort in my right foot was in fact a blister that had formed underneat the blister patch that I had placed there as a prevention, my host very kindly and efficiently treated my blisters ready for the day's walk. After breakfast he took me back into Toulouse and, at my request, to Le Capitol to where I had walked the day before, and then accompanied me to the recognised point of departure in Toulouse, namely L'Hotel de Dieu Saint Jacques:

He then explained that since his organisation wsa responsible for the waymarking he felt he'd like to see how well this stage was marked. We spent a pleasant 40 minutes walking through Toulouse together, chatting about the route. We parted company on the Rue Grande Bretagne and I headed off into the western suburbs destination Leguevin.

Here along the Avenue Grande Bretagne, where they're installing the new tramway system, I was somewhat shocked to realise that this particular section looked more like an architectural rendering than anything "real"...

The marking was difficult in the sense that the most common indication was now a small blue square with yellow shell, most commonly stuck on lamp posts, above head height. This took a lot of focus to keep searching for clues at junctions and roundabouts. I passed through St Martin sur Touch, with its pretty church (locked):

 the morning went well and by midday I was leaving Colomiers (nothing much to recommend it) and heading to Pibrac.

Here at Pibrac I found another ancient church (also on the pilgrimage, but closed so I didn't wait) and the equally impressive Basilica of Saint Germaine:

 

It was while at the church that I noticed the foyer had candles burning. In an unprepared moment I decided to purchase a small candle, which I then lit for my friends - i.e. you lot. It's still burning there in the church as I write this. I felt I wanted to repay all the kindnesses already received, and that seemed at the time like an appropriate gesture. So here you are - this candle is (was) for you :0)

I then passed through Pibrac quickly and picked up the path just north of the town. As I gained the path I noticed a small shrine by the side of the road. This turned out to be the fountain of Saint Germaine, and the plaque above the door invited pilgrims to take their fill of the water. I did this gladly, as it was not only very hot outside but the water was cool. In temperatures like today I find myself drinking up to four litres of water while walking, which means refills (much like the earlier refill in Colomiers, when I asked a lunchtime gathering at a restuarant, and was delighted to be replenished with bottled mineral water, by an especially attractive blonde!)

Waymarking was now mostly by means of the shell - a typical example here:

 The rest of my afternoon was uneventful - which one should take as a good thing, since it meant no diversions or delays. Isaw the following item as I passed into Colomiers so thought I'd post it here in case anyone could tell me what it was:

 Passing out of Colomiers (the signposting is very difficult here, and I took a slight diversion) was probably the least interesting path I've yet walked on:

 I arrived in Leguevin around 16:45 and found the communal "house of St Jacques" which is maintained by the association and which offers (I'm writing this from my bunk) a clean, spacious gite with cooking and washing facilities, and a decent bathroom.

But my adventure was not quite over. I met my first fellow pilgrim!
For those of you who have lived here longer, you may appreciate this story. When I arrived there was one pair of boots already in the rack. The shower was running. I removed my boots and chose a bunk, putting my rucksack beside me. When he entered the room and I introduced myself, I was very quickly introduced into the 'interesting' world of Jean.

After the briefest of conversations, which finished with him asking me where I was from, he announced gravely that while he loved the Irish, and admired the Scots, and liked the Welsh, he really didn't like English people. Oh well, it takes all sorts. Anyway, we conversed a bit more and he seemed to soften his original stance somewhat when he realised that I could do more than simply order beer in French.

After the 'manager' had come to stamp our passports and give us a little information about the route ahead we got to discussing food and options. I decided to visit the local Casino (that's a chain of small grocers) to buy pasta and suchlike to prepare in the gite. Jean was quite adamant that he was going for crispy duck in the local Chinese. So, for security, I went out shopping while he waited, after which he was going out to eat. I arrived back from the shop with the pasta and sauce, some grated cheese, a melon and some orange juice. I told him that since I couldn't eat a whole melon or drink a litre of orange juice, he was welcome to share it.
He then arrived in the kitchen, surveyed what I had bought, and started asking me "where's the meat? You need protein. Where's the butter to put with the pasta?" Since he'd spent half the evening ribbing me about being English, I replied that since I was indeed English, we did things a bit differently in the kitchen. He then said that he was going to go to the same supermarket and buy the missing ingredients, after which there would be a proper meal. That made me smile.

So I cooked the pasta, heated the sauce, and he insisted that melon was a starter and absolutely not a dessert. So, we started with the melon, added frankfurters to the Forestier sauce, and put butter on the pasta. He'd even bought chocolate deserts.

By the end of the meal he was busy laughing with me at his stories of traveling in Ireland, and as I washed the dishes, he said (I thought somewhat affectionately) "not bad cooking for an English person" :0)

I couldn't help noticing that Brax and Leguevin are quite close together! I wonder if they share the upkeep of the verges?

So, having also gained a lot of knowledge from him about the camino (he appears to have walked all of them, more than once!) it's now the end of another fascinating day. I'm really looking forward to the following days and weeks, now that I'm on the "camino proper" as it were.

More soon....