Day 60 – Moissac to Saint-Antoine (30,1 km) – Thuesday 29.08.2023
I got up at 7:20 a.m. and went to have breakfast. There I immediately met a pilgrim who will travel on by train today and then walk the Northern Way on the coast of Spain in the next few days. I, on the other hand, still had a lot of distance to go. Since my cell phone could no longer be charged from the power bank and I had to go to an electronics store that only opened at 9:30 a.m., I was able to enjoy my breakfast thoroughly.
I left the hotel around 9am. First I looked at the city church.
Half an hour later I ran into a cell phone store. I bought a new cable there and that was actually the problem. Afterwards I was able to charge my cell phone properly again and continue my journey.
Since it was now almost 10 a.m. and the museum for the city’s well-known monastery was supposed to open at this time, I decided to go there at short notice and take a look at the old buildings.
I marveled at the old cloister and the various works of art on the columns and arches of the facility.
Half an hour later I finished the tour and set off again.
After I left the city, I walked almost 13 km along a river. The not very varied route was easy to walk and so I made quick progress.
I took a break and made myself a coffee at the only table on this route. I was joined by an older woman and a boy of about 8 years old. As far as I understood the older woman correctly, she was working as a volunteer for an organization and was taking the boy on his first pilgrimage on the Way of St. James. At least they managed a few kilometers every day and it seemed as if the boy was having a lot of fun too. He was also very interested in my small gas stove, which I use to make coffee.
After I finished my coffee, I said goodbye to both of them and set off again.
After another few kilometers along the river I finally reached a place. There I sit down in a small bistro and treat myself to a sandwich and a cola. Then I crossed the river and walked through fields again.
In the evening I took another short coffee break in a pilgrim accommodation. There I met two pilgrims again. One was from the Netherlands and the other from France. Since they both spoke English, I chatted with them while drinking a cup of coffee. Since both of them were staying overnight at the accommodation and I wanted to walk a few more kilometers, I left both of them after about 20 minutes.
There was another bridge over a river and then a short climb to a small town.
I picked up a stamp again in the beautiful church. Afterwards I bought food for the evening in a supermarket and left the place behind me again.
It continued up and down through meadows. After almost 30 kilometers I found a suitable place to sleep tonight. I quickly cooked myself something to eat and enjoyed the rest of the evening with a beautiful view.
Day 61 – Saint-Antoine to Lectoure (35 km) – Wednesday 30.08.2023
The night in the tent was very pleasant and I slept well. However, it was very cold in the morning. The temperatures had dropped to 13 degrees overnight. After dismantling my tent, I made myself some cereal and enjoyed a warm cup of coffee.
Then I started hiking. First it went downhill briefly and then uphill again. Most of the time we went through grain and sunflower fields, which looked particularly beautiful in the morning. Again and again I came through small towns with beautiful houses. However, it mainly went through agricultural areas.
In between there were old castles and broken churches to visit.
After almost 28 km I arrived in Lectoure. Most pilgrims used this city as a stopover destination. But today I wanted to spend the night in nature again and quickly left the city after a short sightseeing. But since finding a place to sleep turned out to be difficult, I had to walk a few more kilometers. At least after almost 35 km I found a suitable meadow to pitch my tent for tonight.
Since light rain was reported towards the evening, I set up my tent relatively early today. In retrospect it turned out to be a good decision. Because at half past seven it suddenly started to rain and the rain kept getting heavier. Actually, a small rain shower was reported at 8 a.m. But today it just rained all evening and I was happy to be able to sit in my dry tent.
While I relaxed and listened to the rain, I read a book again and then went to sleep early.
Day 62 – Lectoure to Condom (31,4 km) – Thursday 31.08.2023
I also slept well in my tent today. When I woke up and looked out of my tent, all I could see was fog everywhere. While I took down my tent, moved it and the sun rose, the fog slowly moved up and I got a view of a beautiful landscape.
In the morning I walked through fields and meadows for a long time. I met few people and spent most of the time walking relaxed through the landscape.
At lunchtime I passed by a larger town that had a museum with an old monastery complex. As a pilgrim I even got a reduced rate. So I looked at the old facility and admired the architecture of the time.
Afterwards I had lunch in a small shop and then went for a relaxed walk through the hilly landscape. I kept meeting pilgrims today and so the following kilometers were very varied.
I finally reached Condom around 5 p.m. I took a quick look at the city’s cathedral.
When I picked up a stamp from two volunteers, I immediately received tips for my trip and they were very happy that I had walked all the way here from Germany. Unfortunately, I didn’t take up their offer of a free medieval campsite an hour away. Instead, I also ran to the local campsite and quickly set up my tent there. By the time I had shopped, showered and eaten, it was almost 8 o’clock. Shortly afterwards the sun went down and I lay down in my tent to read.
Day 63 – Condom to A Guiron (31,3 km) – Friday 01.09.2023
Unfortunately it was loud next to the campsite for a long time and so I couldn’t really fall asleep until late. Nevertheless, I got up at 7 a.m. and took down my tent again. Then I ran and left the city.
We went through fields again to Larressingle. The medieval mountain village was completely built into the old castle. In addition to restaurants and bars, there was also a church in the old city walls to visit. Next to the castle was the medieval campsite that the two older gentlemen recommended to me yesterday. But the 5 km I had covered up to that point would have been too much for me last night.
After I had visited the old castle, I continued again. As before, there were long paths through fields and meadows.
I should be celebrating another milestone soon. I passed a pilgrim bridge. Before the bridge it was 1000 km to Santiago and after that it was only 999 km. So I only have a three-digit number of kilometers left to cover. I was very happy about this number and continued running happily.
I made good progress and soon reached Montreal. By then I had covered 17 km. I sit down in a restaurant and order a lunch menu. The food was very good, but it always took a while until the next course was served. So I sat in this restaurant for almost 2 hours and ate one course after the other.
I actually wanted to do a few more kilometers to Eauze today. Due to the delay, I wouldn’t have gotten there until around 7 p.m. So I decided to do a slightly smaller tour. Nevertheless, I still had to walk through meadows for a long time.
After more than 31 km I finally reached a campsite. It was so big that I was taken by car from reception to my parking space. So today I had the first car ride since the start of my trip.
When I arrived at my campsite, I set up my tent and went straight to shower. Afterwards I cooked myself something to eat and then it was almost time to go to sleep again. Around 9 a.m. it started to rain again and the predicted thunderstorm slowly approached.
Day 64 – A Guiron to Nogaro (30,8 km) – Saturday 02.09.2023
Strong thunderstorms passed over me tonight. I felt safe in my tent at the campsite, but I could hardly sleep between midnight and half past two due to the strong thunderstorm. Thunder sounds louder in a tent than in a house. When I took down my tent again at 7:30 a.m., it was still raining lightly. Luckily the storm had moved on.
The first 7 km today went through the same landscape. A small road led through a piece of forest. Walkers kept coming towards me. Because the path was very flat, I was able to walk quickly and therefore covered the route in a short time.
When I arrived in Eauze, I looked at the city’s cathedral. Otherwise there wasn’t much to see so I quickly moved on.
This was followed by meadows and fields again. Later I moved to vineyards more and more often. The grapes looked really nice, but so far they weren’t particularly sweet.
When the weather was rather cooler, I quickly walked through the vineyards. Since strong thunderstorms were reported again this evening, I booked a room in a bed and breakfast. I still had a few kilometers to walk until I got there, so I continued on at a brisk pace.
In a small town I saw a bullring for the first time on my trip. This would also make it clear to me that I had already walked a long way towards Spain and the border couldn’t be too far away anymore.
At half past five I reached the destination of today’s stage. In Nogaro I first looked at the historic church and then walked to my accommodation for the night. I immediately felt at home in the historic house. After shopping at the supermarket, I ran a warm bath. While I usually prefer showering to bathing at home, I particularly enjoyed the warm bath today and stayed in the warm water for some time.
Later I went to the Italian restaurant next door and had a delicious pizza with extra cheese. After dinner it was 9 p.m. again and almost time for bed again.
Leave a Reply