Our Walk Along the Via Podiensis (GR 65)

A Night in the Cathedral Via Podiensis GR65 Thru Hike Today we reluctantly got up at 5:30 AM and left our lovely air-conditioned room behind, after a quick breakfast of chocolatines and instant coffee.  It was a beautiful morning, although already 22 degrees when we left half an hour later at 6:00 AM. We had a short stretch of road walking to meet back up with the Via Podiensis , and then were quickly back in the fields, walking between vineyards and corn fields as the sun rose. The walk was actually quite varied, including a short forested stretch.  In this stretch we came across a gigantic beetle on the path, equipped with pinchers large enough to give even an ecologist the shivers. This was not the first one of these creatures we had seen, but it was the first one that was still alive and kicking! Lelin-Lapijolle France Around 8:00 AM we came to the village of Lelin-Lapijolle, where we stopped for a picnic of raisin buns and water outside the church.  We were ...

Bakeries and Bull Dodging on GR65 Via Podiensis Hike across France Today was filled with pleasant surprises, and a reminder to accept and not expect.  Our English guidebook made the walk today sound like it would be a shade-less inferno with a mediocre town at the end.  Happily, we did not find this to be the case at all! Chocolate Croissants and Coffee We got up, feasted on some delicious chocolate croissants and instant coffee made with tap water, and then headed out around 5:30 AM.  The town was relatively quiet as we left, which was quite beautiful.  We were soon walking through the countryside again, and around 6:30 we were treated to a gorgeous pink sunrise. The walk from Eauze to Manciet, which we reached around 8:30 AM, was more covered than the guidebook led us to believe, although perhaps there would have been less shade if the sun were higher overhead.  There were a few short stretches of road walking between fields, but much of the path was along tr...