Palmiers to Montegut-Plantaurel

Kilometers walked: 20.2
Flights: 28

Today it rained, starting at 10:00 am and continuing until late afternoon. This rain kept us moving quickly...we made time,  faster than ever before... walking, especially up hill, keeps you warm.

We left our beautiful hostess Anna at 9:00 am and trudged through to the Palmiers farmers' market where we bought bread for lunch. Yesterday we picked up some cheese and yogurt directly from a farmer...the cows were so clean and beautiful, the dairy products had to be good, no? Where in America can you find dairy cows and fresh ought and cheese from the farmer? I am sure it can be done, but here it seems more commonplace. There is even a word in French, I do not know it, that explains this concept.

With our hostess, Anna

In downtown Pamiers we ran into the farmers market an bought a loaf of pain complet. That is whole wheat bread...but what we actually bought was spelt bread that weighs two pounds. Laura very cleverly suggested that we cut this loaf in two pieces so that we each carried one pound. What a sacrifice!

Bread lady at farmers' market --- she is happier in this photo than we remember

Sandwich made with local farmers cheese and two-pound bread --- lunch at kilometer 9 on a rainy day.

We trudged upward outside of Palmiers and ran into our friend Bridgitt who we hadn't seen for a few days. We passed an Appalachian style farm with dogs, pigs, ducks, geese, farm equipment, rubble piles and all manner of anything you can think of in the expansive yard. We've seen a lot of dogs, some on leash, others not. They seem to all back down if you merely face them. These particular dogs were for sale..Pyrenees. I suspect a breed of sheepdog based on the population here.

It began to rain as we moved upward and we began to see hunters. they were driving up and down our road ..one even asked what we were doing there and we explained Jacques de Compostello. There  were dogs in some of the trucks running up and down the road. Occasionally we heard barking dogs and French men shouting in the woods. Finally we saw a truck sporting two very dead fawns.

It was raining hard, we were soaked, we were walking all the way uphill, and we kept our heads down, hoping we would soon arrive at our lodging. Once the road headed downhill, the rains subsided a bit and we heard the landing of bells. There were sheep below us, sheep above us, sheep in the far distance, and sheep very close. I was transfixed by the sheep, I was living in a three dimensional Richard Scarry book....moving objects everywhere.

Just past the sheep we found our lodging, another converted farm rowhouse dedicated to the care of pilgrims. There are three rooms for us, so we all get our own, although mine is a bottom bunk. Our hostess Celia made an amazing meal for us in the fridge...an appetizer of depuy lentils and smoked salmon (I know, but it was delicious), Chicken curry with rice, and a chocolate pudding, not from the grocery store.

Oh and our hostess brought a box of the local, from the village, wine. Laura, Bridgitt and I had a lovely dinner together and afterwards played on the internet, discussed French pronunciation, listened to the bucks fighting outside, and so on.

Good night.

Vals to Pamiers

Kilometers walked 21.7
Flights climbed: 48

This was a hard day, although made much easier by last night's early dinner and private cubbies at Cafe du Vals. Our hostess, a single mother, runs a restaurant in the tiny city of 91, but also rents bunk beds with half board to pilgrims. Thankfully she let us have our dinner early so we could spend extra time in bed. It seems that bed is second only to food in this pilgrim world.

Enough said, we started the morning visiting the Eglise rupestre du Vals, a very old church which was first built in the 1100s out of rock and then added to over the centuries. We then began our trek through beautiful farmland, through medieval villages, and past well cared for horses and cows. We got lost a few times due to poor signage, but didn't get too far off track.

Mural in cafe du Vals based on murals in the church which was closed

Eglise rupestre du Vals

By the afternoon we were spent as the trail persisted in direct sunlight. When we finally found a shady spot we stopped, drank, and took a brief nap. Oh heaven.

Our final hike into Pamiers was interminable because it is a big city (15,000) and its outskirts are not quant medieval homes, but roads with cars and tiny sidewalks. We eventually made it to our lodgings, a "donation" lodging that provides half board of dinner and breakfast. The property is lovely with a pretty, but cold swimming pool and our hostess gave us each our own room! She served a lovely simple but filling and very French dinner. I am now too sleepy to write any more, Bon nuit/

Eglise rupestre du Vals, cave entrance

Our lovely home in Palmiers

My little room is lovely.

Carcassone to Arzens

Km walked: 20.6

Floors: 15

Our first day of walking began along the Aude on a Carcassone jogging path and then veered into the countryside. We walked through a few small villages and rain stopped us for lunch in Lavalette under a bus shelter. 

Mural on tourist center in Lavalette.

We almost immediately began partaking of the all-you-can-eat buffet that is rural France in the Fall. On this day, it was grapes...we were surrounded by vineyards, but many had been mechanically harvested. We actually observed the harvesters picking along the rows and then dropping into giant tractor wagons for delivery to the wine processor. At any rate, these pickers miss quite a few grapes, so we ate from the bottom of the vines. We later asked people about eating these wine grapes and they said, oh no, they are not good for eating, they are for wine! Hah, they be dead wrong, they were delicious. I think those in the photo are merlot.

Laura gleaning grapes that were missed in the harvest

I must add here that when we arrived in Arzens, I was visibly limping. Twelve miles and a pack were a bit more than I’m used to. 

Road sign for the pilgrimage

French Flag, Rooster, Julie and Laura on Day 1

Carcassonne

A repeat. In 1975 it was still beautiful, but less filled with tourists. I can compare because it was the same time of year...mid-Septembr. Then we toured the city and Roger and I sat up on the ramparts gazing out on the countryside. This time there was a fee to walk the ramparts and the old city was filled with tourist shops. Last time there were people practicing Middle Ages crafts, this time tourist shops. We did not eat out, but I can tell you that last time we had a great meal with a bottle of rose. I did not drink much at the time, so it was quite novel and fun.

I still have the hand crafted basket that I bought there...it is in my kitchen.

This time we spent the entire three days looking for information about the walk. You see, there is no information in the USA, and I couldn't even order the book on the internet. Laura purposely booked us in a chamber d'hote with a glowing review by Rick Steves for its friendliness. Hah, tepid and snarky. When the wifi wasn't working, she told me it was because my phone was on airplane mode. I said, 'non,' but she insisted. It turned out they had changed the password. My thought to myself, very chauvinistic, was 'didn't we invent the internet, wifi, iPhone?'

Enough said!

The tourist office lead me in the right direction by sending me to a bookshop to by a book about St Jacques de Compostello. I bought the book, the lady was super sweet and accepting of my limited French.

Later we walked to the old cite and found the other tourist office where they were initially cool. The lady got her assistant to print out a list of places to stay on the pilgrimage and she eventually became very enthusiastic about our trip. Truthfully, in the rest of Carcassone, it seemed like a secret. Anyway, she eventually opened up and told us to go to Notre Dame de l'abbaye. well,that was the golden ticket. They sold us both a 'credential,' a document that you get stamped at each stop to prove you've done it, and reservations for a three course dinne that evening. Okay, so this would be our first, in five days, meal out in France, the culinary capital of the world, so I was all in.

There were only six of us at dinner...Québécois, French (pilgrims) and Brits (an artist couple, he paints royal horses in Kentucky). The dinner was pretty amazing for 13 euros: unlimited wine, leek quiche, salad, bloody steak (huge), and potatoes, and mango cake. Wow!

At any rate, we met one fellow pilgrim, Bridgitte, and one pilgrim at the end of her trip, and learned a few things. Tomorrow we begin.

The lovely ladies at tourist office.

Night view

The bridge

Marseille

Le Panier, the old city

Vanille noire glacé 

 Forty  years ago, we were warned by other travelers to avoid Marseille. It was apparently overloaded with criminals and scaliwags. I even recall shedding tears when a train conductor threatened to kick us off a train in Marseille. I was convinced if we disembarked we would immediately be robbed. Looking back, my fears were quite overstated, particularly given that I was living in Philadelphia at the time!

Marseilles is quite lovely really. It is on the Mediterranean Sea, has a sweet harbor and Vieux Port --- hometown to sailboats. It is multiethnic with an African market for vegetables (remember the Philly Italian market?) and a gorgeous old city with miles of brick streets in willy nilly directions, the buildings decorated with stunning graffiti.

There is also a swimming beach right next to one of the city's two protective forts.

Gina Snyder, our Philly connection here in Marseilles

Loving the grafitti in the old city 

From our budget hotel window

Vieuxport Port

Cathedrale la Major