Another day walking with Anne and Marie-Helène. They are great company - besides forcing me to practice my French and teaching me songs, Anne likes to stop and chat with all the people we run into along the way, making the day more interesting! This morning we stopped at the local bakery and coffee shop in Vauvert for breakfast, and struck up a conversation with Pierre. As soon as he saw our backpacks he offered to buy us coffee, telling us his wife had walked the pilgrimage to St Jacqes de Compostelle. Pierre comes from St Christol, which may be the next stop on my itinerary, and he gave me the name of a lady who has rooms for pilgrims there.
Fortified with strong coffee and pain au chocolat, we set off on our last leg together. When we reached Gallargues we had lunch in the local café, then my new friends accompanied me to the pilgrim hostel before heading for the bus stop. They have both been all the way to Santiago before, met on the Camino, and are spending the week redoing a small section. As they do not have much time, they want to take a bus to Montpellier, visit the city and then continue hiking the next two legs after that, which Anne assured me are particularly beautiful. So we said goodbye and au revoir, and I checked into the hostel, in a former infants' school which is also used as a cultural centre - there was a painting class going on upstairs when I arrived! And there seems to be a music school as well... I have had plenty of time to wash and dry some clothes, darn my socks and buy some groceries for my evening meal.
Only 1600 km to go!
I may even go back to the village book-share and find something to attempt to read... in French!
Vauvert - Gallargues-le-Montueux 14.5 km
Lazy day today, but I stopped here because there's a municipal pilgrim hostel - only €10!
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