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Friday, May 3, 2019

GR653 Via Tolosana, last part: Day 7 Saint Christaud- Auriebat

There is no such thing as bad weather. Only bad clothes.
- Anonymous wise person

Stoically preparing to head out into wet weather


Today's weather forecast was for rain between 10 and 12, but when we woke up at 7 it was already raining, and it continued until about 3 pm. We donned our raingear and set off nonetheless. Because of the rain, we walked along the side of the road instead of taking the trail through the fields for the first ten kilometres. Because of the rain, we didn't stop to take many photos. Though I did risk getting a few drops on my phone in order to capture the drops on the flowers by the roadside.



And because of the rain, we stopped for a long lunch break at a bistrot in Marciac. It was impossible to picnic along the trail as usual, and we all wanted something hot - some had coffee, others soup.

The market square in Marciac

It took a while to work up the courage to put our wet gear on again and get back out there, but it did stop raining in the afternoon. We arrived in Auriebat, a village that is clearly friendly to pilgrims, as it provides you with everything you might need: public toilets, drinking water, a wastebin "for pilgrims and wanderers only", and a picnic table - all before you even pass through the town gate!




It was another two kilometres to our destination, Gîte Pélerins La Plante, where the owner Anne-Marie was about to rush off to attend a wedding and left us in the capable hands of Michel, a German travailleur de coeur, that is, a pilgrim who stops in one place and works for a while along the Camino. Luckily for us, Michel is a cook by profession, and he made us dinner and kept us entertained with his stories and views on life, in a mixture of German, English and French. He also put our laundry into the washing machine! After a week of hand-washing, and a day of walking in the mud, this was a very special bonus. One of those things that seem perfectly ordinary, even boring, at home but become a minor miracle on the Way!

Happy to take off our wet gear... 

...and sit down with a beer! 


Miam-miam...

Dodo



Saint-Christaud - Auriebat 26.5 km


Chi va piano... 
Slowly but surely! 


2 comments:

  1. You go girl! My mom always said, you are not made of sugar, you won’t melt in the rain!

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  2. You're right there! However there is a Decathlon at our next stop and I might invest in an additional layer of rain protection before venturing into the mountains - more rain is forecast toward the end of this week!

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