Abbaye Sainte Scholastique to Castres, 21.8 km
An interesting day, as with no phone for navigation, I had to trust the accuracy of the trail markings, and concentrate on actually seeing said markings. I had my phone shut off completely so that the few remaining battery percentages could be deployed if I missed a turn somewhere. The path was very convoluted, and there were a couple of sections where you are required to tiptoe along the overgrown verge of a busy road. Not fun.
The countryside was unremarkable, but Castres is a very pretty town. It’s not that big – about 42,000 inhabitants, but despite its size it is home to one of French Rugby’s Top 14 teams (who have at least one Canadian and one former All Black on their roster). For the first time since arriving in France, I was in time to partake of the lunchtime ‘menu du jour’, and there were a couple of likely looking restaurants near tonight’s gîte. However I decided to head to the gîte to drop off my backpack, and Madeleine, who runs it was home, and within 5 minutes I had a cold beer and she was reheating leftover shepherd’s pie for my lunch. With wine, cheese, coffee and home baking!
Then I went for a necessary long walk around the town, before returning for a siesta!
Madeline asked if I wanted to eat in, so after the awesome lunch, how could I say non? Pumpkin soup (leftovers apparently) which I’ll need to try to replicate, salad, chicken & carrot casserole ( she insisted that I eat seconds, and when I declined thirds she decided that I need to take what’s left for lunch tomorrow. More cheese, wine. Apple cake fresh from the oven. Food coma territory! She should be running cooking classes for the pilgrims who stay with her! She’s a legend on this Camino route for a reason! With the apple cake she asked about desserts, so I was trying to explain pavlova ( she doesn’t speak English, and my french is virtually non-existent, but we got by with some occasional assistance from Google translate! We found pavlova recipes online – in French – so I suspect she may add it to her repertoire! I feel well fortified for tomorrow’s long day!
2saunter 