Day 29 - Shifting our Perspectives : Lectoure to La Romieu

We woke to birdsong and a glorious sunrise around 6:00 am, and headed down to a communal breakfast of bread, jam, yogurt, coffee, and orange juice. We managed to set off around 7:00 am, and got our first view of the Pyrenees! They were still shrouded in heat haze, but we could make out their outlines. As we looked out across the plains at them, two hot air balloons floated quietly over.

  
It seemed like a good start to the morning, but we soon ran into difficulties with the trail markers. The Way is marked down the main street (Rue National) of Lectoure, but the markers all indicate turns, not a straight path. This is made worse by the fact that many side streets seem to be marked as well. We followed the markers to the wrong end of town, realized our mistake, and headed back using the directions in the guidebook.

At this point we discovered that the markers along the route indicated in the book had been systematically removed or painted over. As we were deciding to navigate by book, another pilgrim from Germany that we have been staying with was wandering around and looking for the trail as well. He had a map from the tourist office, which indicated the same route as the one in our book. Together we finally sorted it out and got on our way.

After our brief confusion we had a short walk along a very busy road, and then a fairly easy walk along asphalt roads and tracks among fields. As we climbed we turned and were rewarded with a great view back over Lectoure. 

Many of the fields we were walking through were sunflowers, which are just starting to make their buds. It occurred to us that in a few weeks this trail will cut through a sea of bright yellow. I was briefly sad we would miss that, but then remembered that it is more important to be thankful for what we have. Since we have arrived in France we have been walking through a riot of spring wildflowers, and the whole countryside has smelled wonderful! This has truly been a beautiful time of year to walk this trail, but I guess every season has its special offerings.

Around 10 am we came to the little village of Marsolan. It is perched on the side of a hill, and has a very simple and beautiful church hidden beneath an absolutely enormous pine tree. We visited the church and then sat in the square in front, which is bordered on one side by the Mairie (town hall) and on the other by a cafe/chambre d'hotes. We enjoyed an espresso and croissant in the little shaded courtyard, and then continued along the way.

Around 11 we got to the chapel of Abrian, where the route divides. If you continue straight you can cut 5 km off the walk to Condom by skipping La Romieu. We had read about the church and cloister in La Romieu and decided to stay there. After a short break in the shade of a tree at the crossroads, we set off.

Our walk continued to be mostly through countryside, although at one point we walked through a forest. As we progressed down the shady earth track we passed a tall metal tower covered in camouflage, as well as some camouflaged dugouts that looked kind of strange. We scurried past, and fairly soon came to the village.

Just outside of La Romieu we passed by a large botanical garden. It had four parts, a boutique, and a tea house, and it looked very diverse and beautiful. As we passed there was a large function going on inside, and later we discovered the gardens were closed for this event.

We continued through a nice shaded park, which gave us a good view of the Collegiale St Pierre. As we were walking into town two former pilgrims stopped and asked us where we were walking from, and where we came from. It turned out the couple had walked three different Caminos, but thought they were too old now to do another. They wished us well, and we continued on to the main square.

 

We stopped for an omelette, salad, and beer at one of the outdoor cafes. There were a lot of fancy British tourists eating there as well, and people in general seemed to be very well off here. However, they were very nice to us, and it was delicious meal.

When we headed over to our gite we found the door open and a sign saying to make ourselves at home, that the owner would be by between 5:30 and 6 pm to see how things were going. This was a bit of a strange set-up, but we chose a bunkbed and set about doing laundry, etc.

After a brief break we walked across the street to the Collegiate church. It was really impressive! The church was built very quickly between 1314 and 1321, and was later patronized by the Avignon Papacy. The complex has a sacristy with beautiful 14th century frescoes, a cloister, and two towers which were used for defensive purposes and which we were able to climb. 

After our visit to the church, which lasted a couple hours, we wandered around the town for a bit and looked for the cats. This town has many life-sized statues of cats by the sculptor Maurice Serreau. These were done in honour of the legend of Angeline, who apparently saved the town from an infestation of rats that was eating their crops in the 14th century.  She accomplished this by hiding two cats during a previous famine, when people were eating them.  The descendants of these two cats were credited with controlling the rat infestation later on.

We also stopped at the épicerie to get some groceries for tonight's dinner and tomorrow's breakfast, and then retreated to the shade of the gite for a few hours rest.

That evening we received a very important and hopefully lasting lesson in the form a fellow guest at our gite.  On the Camino, both in France and Spain, as in life, there seems to exist different strata of pilgrims who walk the Camino on foot.  There are the very well off, who at times transport their bags, stay in hotels or chambre d'hotes, and may or may not book through package tours.  There are the retired and middle aged individuals who value a certain level of hygiene and privacy who carry their own bags, at least most of the time, and stay in a mixture of dormitories and occasional private rooms.  There are the more religious or spiritually inclined, who tend to stay in donativo places and usually stay in dormitories where these are not available. Then there are people who camp.  Some of these people are students who do this out of financial necessity, or by choice, and some of this group seems to be composed of people who live on the Camino more or less permanently.  There is often a strong hippie vibe in this group, and by the looks of it, quite a bit of drinking, drugs, and free love.  I'm sure there are nearly countless other strata pilgrims, but and I'm certain that the experiences within group are very different and very interesting.

Well, a fellow pilgrim whom we have seen several times along the Way hanging out with what we judged to be some of the seedier, or at least less sane and sober individuals in the camping group walked into our gite and prepared to stay the night.  At first we were a bit nervous, but we decided to try to overcome our prejudices and struck up a conversation.  It turned out he was an extremely interesting person, who luckily for us, spoke English.  We ended up sharing some of our wine and dinner supplies with him, and he shared his story and some truly fantastic photos with us. It turned out that he is the captain of a tour boat, lives in a cabin in the woods, and has some very wise perspectives on life and the world.  We were humbled and ashamed by the very clear lesson that our own prejudices and preconceptions can be a horribly limiting thing, even when we try to be open and accepting.  It was a great conversation and a great evening, and hopefully we learned a lot from it!

__________________________________________________________________________________
Practical Information:
Distance: 18.8 km

Cumulative ascent: 444 m

Cumulative descent: 443 m

Max Temperature: 31˚C

Accommodations: Le Refuge