Lescar to Anoye, 35 km
I set out at 0815 in glorious sunshine – although it was chilly. Definitely time to switch out the toque and gloves from the quick access pocket in my sac à dos and replace them with sunscreen and sunglasses! Sadly the route did not match the weather: leaving Lescar (a town which has essentially merged with the better known Pau) was a long plod through residential suburbs of reasonably recent single family homes. The pathfinders have done their best: we went past the zoo (although I only saw the aviary part) and past the hippodrome (didn’t see any hippos, but maybe they’ve been moved to the zoo). I missed a turn and ended up cutting through the hippodrome carpark to get back on track. It’s a huge carpark and it’s almost completely covered by solar panels. Intriguing! Imagine how much solar energy could be generated taking the same approach with Canada’s giant parking lots.
Eventually I broke free of suburbia, but the drone of the A24 autoroute was a companion for much of the morning. Too bad, as one of the highlights of the walk so far has been the amazing bird song, both in Spain and now in France. Maybe walking in spring helps. I did meet a German woman in the forest heading towards Somport pass. We had the ritual exchange of trail and albergue intelligence, but I did notice (I could hear her coming before I could see her) that her distraction was playing a podcast (presumably. My German is worse than my French) over her Bluetooth speaker. Everyone does their camino their way I guess!
Outside of suburbia, the trail passed through the “Forêt domaniale de Bastard”. I don’t know who de bastard was, but I suspect it was the hunting forest for some royal, aristocrat, or cardinal from pre-revolution France. Now it’s a public resource, and it’s magnificent, with bike trails, walking trails and even designated horse trails. It’s about 300 hectares (+/- 750 acres) – a bit smaller than Stanley Park
Being a nice sunny Saturday, the ride-on mower brigade was out in full force, the aroma of which made walking through the semi-rural parts quite pleasant. In the genuinely rural areas, numerous farmers were ploughing, and the smell of fresh dirt was also very agreeable. Less agreeable, however, were the farms that decided to use the occasion for dung spreading 💩
I had planned on a long day to make it to Anoye. As it’s not an usual stop based on the various app itineraries, it was recommended by other pèlerins. I figured it was about 38 km. But a missed turn had me adding another 1 km to that. Towards the end I could see a village on the far hill, so imagine my surprise ( elation even) when the village in the valley had a sign saying “Anoye” . I was not in the least bit annoyed! ( Predictable pun I guess). It’s a very small albergue, not locked, and the volunteers come at 1730 to open the enclosed little food kiosk so that you won’t go hungry ( actually, it seems that the locals also buy provisions at it as well). The anxious aspect was that I hadn’t received a reply to my email requesting accommodation a few days ago. So at rest stops during the morning I had been sending WhatsApp messages to confirm. I didn’t depart the previous town until I received such confirmation. Sleeping in a barn is not part of my Camino!
There was another albergue along the way, but it’s not listed on any of the apps. Too bad, it also looks like a gem:
And from the shelves of the kiosk, real French cuisine without restaurant prices.
2saunter 