Day 32: Stage 27: Bourriot

31 km, cloudy and warm, 22°

Then There Was Music! 🎶

We had a lovely evening with our hosts last night, LuLu and Dany (her). We arrived on time for dinner at 7:30 only to find libations prepared and waiting on the outside table. Happy hour! It starts much later in France than at home.

We talked and shared lots of information about ourselves, our families and our work lives. The party moved inside for dinner where more wine was served. It was a four course meal with cantaloup and prosciutto starting us off. If you’ve never tried this combination, you should. It’s one of my favourites which I discovered for myself in Italy a couple of years ago.

From there, we moved onto the main course, a vegetarian lasagna, which was very good!

This was followed by the usual cheese board which was also very good. And then there were fresh strawberries that were really sweet! Of course the wine continued to flow as did the conversation. It’s amazing how much can be communicated with the use of language translator apps and a little bit of each other’s native tongue. We even discussed politics which was pretty interesting. They brought a different perspective to some of the European situations, but we were all on side about not wanting Trump back in office next January!

We ended the evening rather late, but I think we both agreed that it was a highlight. Home to bed!

This morning we were back in their home for breakfast and to have our credentials stamped.

A hand drawn or unique stamp is always a prized possession! These are the ones that you always remember.

We returned to our caravan to put on our boots, and it was with a bit of sadness that we said goodbye to our caravan…

…and also to our lovely hosts.

From there we walked back into the village, turned south and when the highway intersected the bicycle path, we continued on our way. Like governments everywhere, they always want you to know just how much of your money they spent on a project. Hence the sign.

And to nobody’s surprise, the trail was exactly the same as it was yesterday. A long narrow tunnel through the forest.

To the untrained eye, this looks like a wonderful walking route. And in a sense it is. However, these sorts of paths can quickly become rather tedious. Always looking nice, but seldom changing.

From time to time we caught glimpses of the outside world.

At one point, we even passed one of the original train stations. It was nice to see that it was still in use in another capacity.

But for most of the walk, it was a straight shot through the forest. Lulu told us last night that this whole area used to be a big swamp, but Napoleon ordered the trees be planted throughout the swamp. This changed the swamp into a much dryer environment, but with so much rain I’m sure it was pretty wet these past weeks.

After perhaps 11 km I announced that I could stand it no more, and I pulled out my earbuds and turned on my music.🎶😎 Once I did that the redundant scenery began to look a little more appealing. It’s funny how music can change these sorts of things for me.

Straight as an arrow
A very long dreary stage
Then there was music😊

To make matters a bit more challenging, there were really no appropriate places to stop for a short rest. Annemarie did the best she could by leaning against the occasional ‘comfy’ tree, and overall she did very well today. It’s interesting how the body can adapt, I think that’s what is happening or perhaps it’s just mind over matter!🤔 Annemarie has a strong force of personal will!

This long green tunnel process went on for something over 20 km. If it hadn’t been for the music, I think we just might’ve both lay down on the path and stayed there.

Very quickly we left the forests behind. We found ourselves transitioned to an extremely flat environment where the soil was largely sand.

About this time, we began catching up to other pilgrims. First, a fellow from Ireland, walking with his godson from Germany who started just two days ago. The Irish fellow started his walk 10 days before I did in Vézelay and he appeared somewhat surprised that I had caught up to him.

Next, we caught up to a nice couple from Genova, Italy who are walking from Paris to Lourdes. They too had passed through Vézelay about 10 days before I had started. Next, we caught up to Ralph, a solo German, who had started walking from his home. I’ve often thought just how amazing that would be. Simply step out your door and begin walking the Camino to your destination. That’s exactly what Hil did from Amsterdam.

We transition to another environment very soon after. It was probably the most beautiful part of the day, walking wise. Beautiful trees standing alone and bracketing our pathway. It was quite lovely.

The colours were quite amazing with the different green textures in the grass.

We finally arrived at our town just after 3 PM, but were unable to get into our accommodation until 4 PM. We decided to stop at this little church where there was an outdoor bench and a washroom. I’d been carrying our sandwich all day as we looked for a lunch spot. We immediately devoured it!

We met up with all our road companions at our accommodation where we all sat around waiting for the 4 o’clock whistle. Then everyone walked down the long driveway to be greeted by our host and his pet horse, a very friendly horse. He was hanging around just outside the window of what turned out to be our room.

We all sat together at the back of the house and had a welcome drink and chatted about our day. We walked over 8 km further than anyone else today, but that could’ve been avoided had we been able to find beds where they had all stayed last night. We had earlier made our decision to adjust for the fact there were no beds at that location, and our inability to secure beds a couple of days ago at the Abbey forced us into this change. We knew we would have one long stage in this section and it turned out to be today.

That’s about it for today. In a half an hour we will be having a group meal which should be lots of fun. Everyone seems to be really nice. Hopefully our good weather will continue. It won’t be long until we get close to the Pyrenees for a close look! We will then have to make our decision about crossing them.

Bon Chemin

Geoff🎶🎶😎🍷