Aire-sur-l’Adour
A small village of 6,000 people divided in two by the Adour river. It will be the last of the more populated villages before crossing the Pyrenees. It has been 20 days of this amazing journey. Now the body has adapted to the adventure!
Tomorrow will be my first day off, a rest to my mind and feet. I will go to visit Lourdes, France on a bus. Now that I am here, it is better to go on El Camino. I will return to Aire-sur-l’Adour in the afternoon to continue to the Pyrénées. I am 5-6 day to reach Spain.
Today I started the day as usual. Four ladies were already dressed and ready to go by the door. I drink my first bottle of water as soon as I wake up. Try it! You will notice a difference in your morning energy.
You can ask the two ladies that stayed behind the other two, when nature called them. I passed them, as if I was not there. Going down the hill I saw the other two around 900 meters ahead. They turned to the right, then when I turned, they were coming back. They noticed that the farmers had planted sunflowers on the path. No way to go through. I just kept walking on the side of the road. The traffic was heavy. Heavy trucks and cars started stopping from both side, to let us pass. It was a pelerin’s chaos.
After that everything was normal. There was a section of the path that included 6 km in a flat stretch of a corn field. It is like one hour and a half walking. It was hot as hell today!
I found Chris in the middle of the corn field resting. I stopped, had a sip of water and we continue to the village of Barcelonne du-Gers. Chris invited me for a coffee, I just needed a beer. We passed the first groceries store, but we continue to the center of the village. There we found an amazing country store, run by an English man. The buffet was divine. They had chicken wings like at the Back Door, but they were eating the fried duck!
It is a delicatessen in this part of France. I have eaten it four times. We did not eat there, because we have one more hour to walk. I was disappointed. The place was full.
We entered Aire-sur-l’Adour as expected. I stopped by the pharmacy to get my feet tape, and other items. Chris went to the Cathedral. I reached him there and said good bye. He was returning to Germany today. I went to my gite. It was like walking home. Alejandro greeted me in Spanish. An we talked for almost an hour. He says it is hard for him to find people that speak Spanish in the area. He is originally from Valencia, Spain.
I went up took a shower, washed my cloths, and Alejandro invited me for a beer. I rubbed my feet with all the wood feet toys in the reception area.
I went to the tourism office in town to get the bus schedule for Lourdes. Later I stopped at the pub in the entrance of town where all the pelerins gather in the afternoon. I ordered a Monaco. The official drink of this trip, because is so refreshing, and go well with the heat. Suddenly I saw Chris, he could not leave town, because he will have to take the bus tomorrow morning. He stopped and he drank a Monaco too.
It was time for me to return to the gite for the communal dinner. Yum, yum, yum garlic soup with ham, first dish. I ate two bowls! Then a lentil dish with pork. Bread bread bread!!! Everything is eaten with bread in France. It is the best bread in the world. It is customary in France to serve a cheeses plate during dinner, and then a wonderful pineapple dessert was served.
The pelerins were from France, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland, and me. We spoke five languages at the table. It was a blessing! We finished dinner with tea or coffee.
Lourdes tomorrow…