Day 17: Stage 14: Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat

23 km, RAIN AGAIN!!!!😱 14°

Lovely Estelle!❤️

I must say it was very quiet in my accommodation last night. I had some interaction with my host when she brought me my dinner. That was quite an experience worth sharing. she came in with a plate of food. A delicious pâte of some sort with some bread. I thought this was an interesting dinner and I waited while she went away to bring me a glass of white wine.

As I’d waited about 10 minutes, I began to wonder if I was ever going to get my glass of wine. I hadn’t started the plate of food because I was waiting for the wine.😅 She came back into the kitchen where I was seated with another plate of food.

It was cassoulet! I must’ve looked at her quite surprised because she told me that I had walked a long way and that I would have to walk again the next day. She also brought dessert. Homemade dessert.

I didn’t think I’d be able to eat everything, but I did. It was all very good!

After dinner I’d hope to do some reading, but decided that I’d better make some more accommodation reservations. The standard process in France. On this particular walk, if you don’t make a reservation, it’s unlikely you’ll have a bed. You can’t just walk in to a town and expect to have a bed waiting for you.

It was a time-consuming and frustrating process last night. I had no luck and most of the places I contacted said they were full or to call back today. Sigh.

Knowing that it was going to rain heavily overnight and rain much of today, I again designed a route that partially included the traditional chemin and other roads. It was sometime after midnight when I finally fell into a restless sleep.

I woke up early this morning and shortly afterwards my phone began beeping. It was my friend Hil telling me that she was leaving her accommodation in about 10 minutes. You might recall that she was 2 km further down the highway in the actual village. I had thought to depart a little later today an effort to avoid some of the rain and because this wasn’t going to be a long stage. I was concerned about waiting in the rain for hours to access to my accommodation if I arrived too early.

I eventually decided that it would be nicer to have company walking on somewhat busy roads during a heavy rainstorm. So I got up, geared up, drank the glass of orange juice left for me and headed out into a dark wet morning. Yuck! I almost instantly regretted it.😂

I guessed that I was probably over 3 km behind Hil, and figured that I probably wouldn’t catch up to her anytime soon. In spite of her heavy large pack she’s a very strong walker.

It was initially just too wet to take any pictures so I have nothing to post from early on. I would get the occasional text from Hil telling me which highway she had turned on to. Ok, I thought figuring that there was almost zero chance of me catching up.

I crossed over to the other side of the bridge, big trucks passing me as I went over.😑 On the other side standing under the trees was Hil. I think that I had only caught up about a kilometer, but she told me that she had also stopped at a couple of places trying to find a cup of coffee. Reminded me of walking with Annemarie and Rob!

We both now had some company which is nice on a crappy wet day. At least you can joke a little bit about the situation as you walk. Parts of the road were a little dangerous because some of the curves were very blinded and there were some big trucks and fast moving cars. It was a good thing to have two people with lights flashing.

Occasionally the rain would ease a little bit, allowing me to take a few photos. Even in the rain it was pretty country and I wondered what it must look like under full sunshine. I’ll never know.

We had plenty of good company.

We came to a town that Google maps indicated how a place where we couldget a hot drink. I’d missed my tea this morning, and I was hopeful that the café would be open. It wasn’t. It’s hard to understand how on a Tuesday at 9 o’clock in the morning you can’t find a café open in this part of France. Unbelievable.

So we walked on. I connected with my host for tonight, Estelle. I had sent her an email last night asking her how early I could get into her gîte given the weather. She replied to me while we were walking and we exchanged messages. The outcome was that Estelle told me that she would be going out this afternoon, but that she would leave me a key to her place and my room in a lock box. That was wonderful news and I thanked her profusely! Like I said, I was concerned about hanging around in these wet conditions.

We did pass more beautiful locations. Even though the cafés are closed, it’s unfair to criticize the whole area for this reason. I’m very selective about where I choose to distance walk, and so far I’m really enjoying walking here. Even with the damn rain.☔️

I was thinking as I walked today just how good my rain gear has been performing. When I arrived at my destination both feet were completely dry inside my boots. So far I haven’t met any other walkers who have fared quite as well. Hil’s boots were damaged somewhere along the way and she will try to have them repaired tomorrow. She tells me that her feet are perpetually wet most days. I’ve tried to encourage her to replace her shoes tomorrow in Limoges. Her choice of course.

On the way into town, we passed this marker for a French resistance fighter who was killed in 1943. I’ve seen a number of these on my various walks in both France and Italy. Very moving.

We eventually arrived in Saint Leonard just before noon and we stopped at the grocery store I’d spotted while planning my route. Hil is travelling a further 7-8 km down the road and needed provisions for her meals. I’m staying in this mediaeval town and I will return later to the grocery store to get provisions for my dinner tonight.

While looking for a place to finally get a hot drink, we spotted something a little more interesting. No samples today, but it was fun checking out the inventory!

We found a bistro that was open and we went in for tea and coffee. As there would be no further food until 7:30 tonight we decided to also have the plate de jour for our lunch. A lot of locals were in the restaurant so we figured it was a good place to eat. It was.

The chicken plate was definitely much better than the KFC we sampled in Bourges.

It came with the traditional French bread. Always good!

I will be eating much lighter tonight…🤣

After lunch, we walked through the old town to the church in order to get a stamp in our credentials. A church with a lot of add-ons I thought. Clearly the construction had been done over long periods as there were several different styles evident.

The centre of this mediaeval town is quite cool, and I’m staying in a building much like this one

The window shopping here is pretty good as well!😋 I suspect that Annemarie will also enjoy looking in these windows, and she might even purchase something!

After I post this blog edition, I’m going to walk back to the grocery store to get a few things. It looks like it might have stopped raining, and if I see some more interesting parts of this town, perhaps I’ll post the photos tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, it’s going to be a fair bit cooler before things begin to warm as the week progresses. Rain is in invariably part of each daily forecast. Hopefully this should ease as we head further south, and based on the long range forecast, it will get somewhat warmer. But definitely not hot. Annemarie should be delighted! I understand that she has trained pretty hard, and hopefully she will make a smooth transition after she arrives.

Since arriving, I have made a number of phone calls and secured accommodations for next weekend in the two difficult towns I was working on last night. I was even able to negotiate the rate down from what it usually is. I felt pretty good about all of that because next weekend is the long holiday weekend with Monday the holiday.

Lastly, I thought you might like to see the the precipitation radar map from my weather app.😱