Heavy rain during the night; heavy rain at 8:30AM when I started; heavy rain until 1:30PM when the rain became sprinkles and eventually the sun broke out. Rain predicted for tomorrow. My luck on having no rain days had run out.
Yiannis, my taxi driver, picked me up promptly at 8AM and delivered me back at the Penguin by 8:30AM. His parents migrated from Greece. Yiannis is French through and through, Alternating between French and English, we talked about French politics, and most importantly, our favorite French cuisine. He loves Gascogne food. He likes Armagnac. Fine tastes.
I was launched for the day. The first stop was the mairie with its breast cancer awareness display. I have to ask someone about the pink umbrellas. They appear to be part of the display in most towns and cities. Later, you will see an exception in Navarrenx, my destination.
The Chemin went along a ridge and then plunged into my first valley. At the bottom, another monster machine confronted me. Risk management, I was thinking. Can you imagine getting that close to big machinery in the US? No way. Road signs would have blocked the road until the work was done. But here life carries on.
The heavy rains created a sublime moment while on the bridge crossing the Pau. I was thinking whether my iPhone could capture the beauty of the gray blue light that I have seen in Jean Baptiste Camille Corot’s paintings. I think it did a good job.
By 1:30PM, I was wet from wearing my rain gear and wanted some warmth and relief from the rain. I was a bit more than halfway through the stage. I passed the Abbey of Sauvelade from the 12th Century, now a local church. I made a hard left turn and there within 200 meters was an oasis that was open.
Jef met me with a big smile and invited me in. I ordered the local craft brew and a sandwich of omelette natur. Just what I needed. I stayed inside for 30 minutes to warm up and dry off. What a brilliant decision. The rain had tailed off while I was inside. Within 30 minutes, I had my raincoat off and was able to have the wind whisk away the wetness on my t-shirt, and rain gear. It was good to feel cool and dry again.
It was 2PM and I still had eight miles to go with an unknown number of valleys to cross. I went as fast as I could. I made it back to my hotel at 5PM on the dot. Heavy rain was predicted to start again then.
I need to digress for a few paragraphs. Three encounters require some attention. The first was during a major downpour a driver of a small truck called out to me. He said that he could drive me 3km down the road which was the GR65 route. I respectfully declined. He wished me good luck. We high-fived before he drove away.
About two minutes after that, a car tooted me. On this entire trip, no car honked at me. I interpreted the sound to be friendly. The intent was clear when he gave me a five finger wave.
The final encounter was with the gendarmerie on a single lane road by a duck farm. I wave at every car that goes by. Two young gendarmes in their crisp uniforms pulled up in a small SUV. They might have thought I was waving them down. We exchanged bonjours and çavas. They asked where I was from. I told them the US walking the Chemin. They were very cordial and smiling. Then, I used the Ron Yoshida oo-la-la. I asked if could take their picture for my blog. They politely declined. They smiled again and drove off. My first encounter with law enforcement on any of my walks.
Back to the day’s sequence. Navarrenx recognizes Breast Cancer Awareness on their main street not with umbrellas but with ….. I wondered how these displays would go over in the US. En pointe, no?
When I arrived at my hotel, the door was locked. If you need assistance, please call this number, a written note on a blackboard next to the door stated. I was told to keep my key to unlock the front door and my room’s door when I checked in. Yes, I was told this but I thought that it meant if I returned late at night.
A good samaritan who was a guest of the hotel came out and called the number for me. In a few minutes, the owner opened the door and gave me my key. However, when I returned to lobby area, it was closed and did not open until 6PM.
During this trip, I encountered signs that reception was closed until 2:30, 3:30, and once 4:00. At the larger hotels in cities, someone was available at the desk during daytime hours until 9:00 or 10:00. Keep this custom in mind. No early check-ins and no night clerk in this part of France.
Dinner commenced promptly at 7:00. Today’s menu was fish soup (a richly flavored creamy broth), a filet mignon of pork with puréed sweet potato (I still don’t know where farmers kept them, the pigs, that is), and three squares of dense chocolate cake.
The quality was excellent and the quantity was just right.
Instead of wine, I tried two beers. The first was a blanche (meaning a wheat beer) from Affligem, a Belgian producer. I must admit wheat beers are not to my taste. Nevertheless, I did not leave a drop.
So that you don’t embarrass yourself if you order bier blanche in France, blanche is not pronounced like our current Attorney General’s name. You need to give the “a” a more nasal sound like in aunt, not ant. This is not trivial distinction — like your tomato and my tomato.
The other beer was local artisanal. Excellent. I did not catch the name. It tasted like an ale. It came in a Heineken glass but that it was not.
Off to bed. However, at 3AM, I “watched” the 9th inning of the Dodgers-Braves game. The outcome? I can sleep in peace for the next few nights.
