Day 10: Stage 8: Juzet-d’Izaut, 21 km,☀️☀️+30°

Best Laid Plans. Poof!!🔥

So where do I start today’s post? Things didn’t happen quite the way they were supposed to. I am at my destination where I had expected to get to today, but my journey was anything than what I expected. Of course this keep the walk unpredictable. Generally a good thing.

I guess the place to begin is last night. I went down to the restaurant for a lovely dinner with a lovely meal of trout, vegetables, black rice, and a nice cold local beer. 

After dinner, I went back up to my room looking to have a quiet couple of restorative hours to recharge my battery before going to bed. I was getting ready to settle in to read a book when I noticed a black spot just below my right knee on the inside calf. On closer inspection I discovered that I had a tick burrowing into my leg! 

I could tell the tick was still alive, or at least I thought it was. I got out my first aid kit and sterilized my biggest needle and my nail clippers. Then I carefully remove the tick. I was pretty sure I got it all because it was still slowly moving around. I took a photo of it and sent it to Caitlin our family nurse and expert on these sorts of things. She wrote me back quite soon after to tell me that I needed to get medical assistance because of the threat of Lyme disease. I knew that was a potential issue. Caitlin said I had to get a specific prophylactic to prevent an infection from starting, which would then minimize any risk of picking up Lyme disease in the future. By the time we finished all this chitchat it was heading towards 11 PM, and I was pretty much done. Correction, I was completely done!

So while I try to get a few hours of sleep, my medical team at home was figuring out where a pharmacy on a weekend in France might be open. There had been some discussion that I might be able to get this prophylactic from a drugstore without a prescription. I was quite doubtful of this because my prior experiences suggested otherwise. However, the team sourced out where there would be a pharmacy open at 9 AM the next morning. 

After some sleep, I woke with a few brain cells still functioning. I decided that I would go down stairs and talk to my hosts and see if they could help. They didn’t have very much English and it was difficult even with the translator to get the message clearly across. They said a taxi would be very expensive because nobody in the village would drive me. They even suggested that I hitchhike. Not very helpful.

They told me that when people get tick bites here they wait three days to see if it gets infected and then they deal with a doctor if it does. Caitlin had carefull ywarned me about this and said that I didn’t want to go down that road when on a long distance walk. I agreed completely, at least I think I did?😅

Things with my host were not going quite as I had hoped they would. Then in walked a woman who stopped to have a cup of tea. She listened to our conversation, and I asked her if she spoke English. Magic! She had lived in Edmonton for many years and then returned to France about 25 years ago with her husband. She had enough English to help me through. What we finally arranged was for a taxi to come at 9:30. The taxi would have had drive there from quite a ways away because everything around is just small villages. In the meantime I would call the pharmacy at 9 o’clock. I went for breakfast as things look like they were moving in the right direction.

After breakfast, I went up to my room and at 9 o’clock I called the pharmacy and ended up speaking to a young student who was clearly working there on a weekend shift, but spoke some English. He consulted with the pharmacist and told me that I could not get a prescription filled in France unless it came from a doctor. He said the only place I could go to was Saint-Gaudens where there was a hospital. There they could treat me, though it might take many hours. Having no other obvious choice, I went down to the taxi when it arrived from wherever it came, and my new friend from Edmonton just happened by again and made sure the taxi driver understood where I needed to go. By the way, Caitlin had explained that I had to get this prophylactic into my system within 72 hours of the bite to be effective. This is why I didn’t really have a whole lotta choice considering that I was going on and walking to other small villages.

So here we are, my friendly lady taxi driver, who spoke no English, not a word, and myself with a little bit of French. It was a wild drive over the Cole, and she was a good driver. I got to see the top of the Cole where the Tour de France often passes over!

And I also got to see the memorial to the Italian racer who died on a steep descent in the 1980s going down from the top. I know that the Tour de France racers to this day stop at this memorial during the actual race to pay their respects.

We continued on our descent a long long way down. The mountains were spectacular, but I was unable to get any pictures. I said to myself that it is what it is, however, there was a little twing of sadness that I was missing this experience on foot. However, life doesn’t always work out the way you plan. No problem. Move on. 

My driver gets me safely to the hospital about an hour later. When we got into the cab, I’d asked her how much it would cost and she quoted me a rate of €100-150. Because I was sitting in the front seat, I didn’t realize there was actually a meter in the rear view mirror. The fee was just under €100. 

I walked up to the emergency entrance, expecting to be able to walk into reception. However reception is a two way intercom. I explained my problem as best I could and they actually let me in. The receptionist spoke English and she took my particulars down and told me that emergency was only for real emergencies and that she was sending me through the hospital to see a general practitioner to have a look at it. Perfect. I found my way there and into a little room with other people who were coughing and waiting to see the doctor. Fortunately, I was third in line.

I finally got in to see el doctoro and fortunately he spoke a bit of English. He told me that he often hikes and rides bikes and has had many tick bites over the years. He said in this area that the tick/Lyme disease issue isn’t as big a problem as elsewhere, particularly in south western France and Corsica. I took that as good news, but I still asked him for the prophylactic antibiotic. We discussed that for a little while, and he agreed to do so because I told him it would calm my possible future anxiety a little bit and help make the coming weeks better. And it would make my daughter happy. He was a nice guy. 

I figured out where in the city I had to go to find an open pharmacy, and set off to find it a couple of kilometres away. Drug in hand I just got my business done before they shut down for the day. It was just coming up on noon.

It was pretty hot, but I decided that I could walk the 20 odd kilometres back up to my accommodation for tonight. Up was the keyword!😂 I roughly figured out a route and set off.

It was fairly easy-going in the beginning. We had dropped a long way out of the mountains and into the low lands.

But then smaller hill!s started to show up. Beautiful views of the mountains behind the lower front hills.

The day wasn’t a complete bust. I got to see some really pretty towns, and something that I hadn’t seen very often. A river running alongside of church, with the church foundation actually in the water.

As the saying goes, one door closes and another opens. It sort of felt like that today. I couldn’t complain about the scenery as I got higher. A little less heat would’ve made the journey a lot easier. I reminded myself to be careful what I wished for. The weather is going to change very soon, and when I’m walking in the rain, I will wish I was back walking in the heat!🤣

I came upon a number of nice looking cows. They were lying in the grass, looking very comfortable, and I remembered walking last year amongst the cows. Last year, the cows would come to me in herds and follow me along as I passed. I don’t know what’s in the water here, but the cows here never do that.😄

After a pretty steep climb at the end, I finally made it to my destination. A little worse for wear, but I had accomplished all my goals today. If that mattered. What mattered more was that there was a fine restaurant at the top of my climb where I was able to stop for a cold Coke. They saw how soaked in sweat I was, and one of the other women working there jumped up from her lunch and brought me a lovely pitcher of cold water. What a joy!

So here I sit, on the porch of a small cabin, built on the side of my hosts property. It’s gonna be a little hot in there tonight, but there’s a fan and a spot where I can get a very cold shower before bed!🤣 That’s exactly what I did when I came in.

So there’s a long winded version of my last 24 hours. He will appreciate perhaps that I wrote much of this as I walked. It helped to keep my mind off the hot pavement.

I’m out to that same restaurant in the village for dinner tonight. It’s highly rated, and also the only place in town that I can get a meal. That’s in an hour from now.

Tomorrow is another solid stage with two good climbs. But that’s tomorrow’s story.

Bon Chemin!

Geoff🚿