We would have like very much to spend the morning attending mass with Gregorian chant in the monastery of En Calcat, just up the road from the convent where we were staying, but the weather forecast predicted heavy rainfall starting at noon, so we hit the trail as early as possible, and took a few shortcuts in order to get to our destination early. The Grand Randonée 653 zig-zagged across the countryside, so we cut out a few of the zigs and zags by walking on the shoulder of the road. Traffic was light early on a Sunday morning and so it was not too unpleasant. On one of the stretches we did walk on the trail, we passed a field of flax, just beginning to flower after last week's warm weather.
The trail then cut through a wheat field to the medieval town of Sorèze with its half-timbered houses and former abbey, now a luxury hotel complex. It began to sprinkle with rain and we stopped in the shelter of the tower to put on our raingear.
But luckily we arrived in Revel before the rain really started coming down. There was no-one at the pilgrim gîte yet, so we took shelter in the town square, which - luckily for us - is home to France's largest covered market. There was no matket on today, it being Sunday, but there were some chairs stacked in a corner, so we helped ourselves to a few and ate our lunch, watching the rain dripping off the eaves of the roof all around us. The lady at the Office du Tourisme managed to call the volunteers who are running the hostel at the moment - from the Confraternité de Saint Jacques - and they agreed to open early for us since it was raining.
Once installed in the hostel (as the French put it), we chatted with the volunteers over a cup of tea and then took a walk around the town during a break in the rain.
Dourgne - Revel 15.5 km
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