Mileage: 11 miles Elevation gain: 756 feet Rain: all day except 30 minutes

It was so hard to leave the Gite this morning, watching the rain pouring out of the sky. We did leave with smiles after a good breakfast and a thank you to Fabian for a wonderful stay.

Rain all night, and all day today is forecasted. And Tracie with Swiss cheese on her back! Soon to change however…

After a sandwich purchase in Navarrenx we headed out of town and walked through the arches to a bridge. We found a couple of old pilgrims as well and did a mandatory selfie!

We avoided the first section of trail due to rain and mud, so walked along a road that didn’t have too many cars.

When the road ended and we met back with the trail, we had our only real stop of the day. This place had a nice big cover but no service other than coffee and soft drinks and lots of pate. I asked for an espresso and he poured some coffee into a small pitcher and handed it to me. It was like warm coffee in a tiny pitcher with coffee drips all over the outside. What can you do? I drank it…

We sat with our Aussie friends and talked politics. We discussed politics in both countries and I have to say it sounds like Australia has their act together. No gerrymandering there and voting is mandatory. There is a small fine for anyone not voting but everyone wants to vote. 95% vote. How different we are!

We arrived at a beautiful Gite just before Aroue. It was so well organized – amazing! Set up for pilgrims as it was built from the ground up for this purpose. The host family included their two teenage children who helped serve the meal and relay information. Very sweet.

It was still raining when we arrived so all shoes stayed outside. Ours were wet but they had newspaper to put inside the shoes to sop up the wet. I took my orthotics to my room. No private room today but close. We shared the room with Veronique who we’ve seen for a few days. She speaks decent English and did well in conversation.

As we sat outside taking our shoes off, the bag transfer van pulled up with Christian in the passenger seat. He’s sick with a bad cold and doesn’t want to continue. His friend Pierre was at this Gite and the plan was for them to meet tomorrow in Ostabat-Asme and drive home. I’m not sure where they live but life-long friends they are. They were both so nice!

The first people we saw as we entered the Gite were Winnie and Joe. We will be off schedule from them after today so will say goodbye in the morning.

Dinner was cold creamy carrot soup, pork, salad, a small potato cheese quiche and mashed potatoes with carrots and cheese, plus a creamy dessert similar to tiramisu without the coffee but with added fruit. I was too full to finish dinner but had a little room for the dessert. I think I ate lunch too late to have room for dinner. Lesson learned!

All day it rained fairly hard and finally we had about 30 minutes of no rain, even some sunshine. And then it began again.

All in all it was a good day. We only have 3 more days until we arrive in Saint Jean, a rest day there and then 3 days hiking over the Pyranees. I’m excited, a little nervous but looking forward to all of it!

#GR65inFrance viaPodiensis