Day 21: Stage 17: La Coquille

25 km, rain then later sun. 14°

Forecast…Predictively Wrong!😑 ☔️☀️

I’ve completed my walk for the day and I’m sitting in a small pizza restaurant waiting for the refuge to open at 4:30. That’s in 3 hours. The walk today was supposed to be well over 30 km, but I heard through the grapevine of the trails for the next two days are just solid mud. So when I woke up this morning and it was already raining, I made the decision to stick to the roads. Predictably the weatherman got it wrong because it was supposed to be beautiful all day today. I can’t imagine how bad it must be on the trails.

I left my little room in Paule’s house and walked into town to find something to eat at the bakery. It’s hard to believe that I left home three weeks ago today, and I still have four weeks to go. Ain’t life grand!😎

The croissants were still cooling on the trays when I walked in. I bought a croissant and a pan de chocolate to take with me on the road. So good!!

I hadn’t eaten very much in the last day, so when I got to the next village and found the bakery there also open, I immediately decided…SECOND BREAKFAST!!

Pan aux raisin! Two please!

It had been raining steadily since I left this morning, but now the rain began to significantly increase. By now I’m so used to it that I don’t even really think about it. I just make sure that my pack is covered and that everything is buttoned up, and off déjà vu I go.

I’ve been looking for something special to post for my friend Neil in Australia. I think I finally found it!

Had I been trudging through the mud I would’ve missed this bike race symbol. This is what I mean by cultural experiences versus nature experiences.

The rain became heavier, and I gambled with my phone to get these pictures.

And then some blue sky began to show. The rain began to let up.

You can see where I am by the little square in the photo below. You can also see the intense rain that just blew by me moving northeast. Sheesh!

Still lots of beautiful flowers here for Annemarie! It’s Annemarie‘s birthday today, and sadly we aren’t together. However, all of our grandchildren and our own kids are all with her today. We will go out to celebrate when Annemarie arrives early next week.❤️🥳🎉🍷

Almost in now.

And then I arrive. The rain is threatening, but it holds off and my shoes and gear dries.

And then my lunch was ready, and I’m able to charge my phone and write my blog post for the day. Still two hours to go until I can get into the refuge. But that’s OK, because I am in and I’m dry.

And that’s it for today. I have a long stage tomorrow, but I will be able to shorten it slightly because once again there’s too much mud to walk the trails. I’ve booked some posh accommodations tomorrow that also offer me my meals. I’m looking forward to that!

Happy birthday Annemarie!🎂 See you very soon in…

An addendum; I left the pizza restaurant and looked up at the sky, and it was not looking good

I walked quickly to my refuge, but found that it wasn’t going to be open for another half hour. Fortunately, there was a small cover at the top of the stairs. As soon as I got there, the sky is opened. It was just crazy with lightning flashing right over top of me! The rain came down in sheets bouncing off the ground.

I finally got in to my refuge. I was greeted by a lovely hospitalier named Brigette who showed me around and I had my choice of beds. I was the first one to arrive at the seven who will stay here tonight so I picked a single bed and I’ve already had my shower, which was great. They are so nice here.

There will be a communal dinner tonight, which will be lots of fun, as usual.

Bon Chemin!

Geoff ❤️🎉🍻