A bitterly cold night was had by all. Autumn is giving us a little taste of what’s to come and Alissa and I are planning how to change and cope with the colder nights coming up. Not much sleep was had by us past about 4am.
The distance for us to Moissac is too far to complete in 2 days so we decide to take 3 and evenly space out the days. This means a stop tonight at a gite in the little town of Montlauzun.
Zipping out of Lascabanes is easy and it’s rolling fire roads or single tracks through the paddocks. Nice walking and the boys tear off ahead not to be seen until 10kms later in Montcuq.
Montcuq is important as it’s a lively town with several cafes around a square and a castle on a hill. For us it’s also cause for celebration, it’s halfway between Le Puy en Velay and St Jean Pied de Port. Half way across France and a quarter of the way on our total journey to Santiago, about 380 kilometers of walking total.
To mark the milestone and as we’re in the countryside with no obvious camping options, we book a stay at the only gite in Montlauzun ‘Ancien Presbytere’ (actually if you ask nicely in advance they may be able to hook you up with a camping option but we’re ready to be warm after shivering through last night). It breaks our stage up nicely without overwhelming distances to make up.
The walk to Montlauzun is straight forward – flat roads and tracks through quiet farms and paddocks. Nice and easy, super pleasant. Dinner and breakfast are included in our stay, but the best part of staying in a gite is undoubtedly the people you meet. There is an impressive Australian couple who have just completed (and do routinely) a 33km day. How?! And they list an enviable collection of multi-day hikes they’ve completed worldwide. Alissa’s eyes light up. I see my future.
Although language abilities at the table are divided roughly 50/50 English and French, dinner conversation is temporarily dominated by a lively older French women walking for two weeks with her much more reserved husband. She interrogates loudly in rapid French (mostly just curiously) how the children are out of school for so long. This is a bit of Groundhog Day for us. We have this conversation on the daily with varying degrees of interest/shock/judgement at our response. We do understand why. Alissa bears the brunt of this tonight due to my limited language skills. We also meet a father and son Maxim and Pascal from Brittany who have also been walking for two weeks, with two days left. Next year they’ll return to pick up where they left off. Eventually together we manage to steer the conversation elsewhere. Overall a fun night and a nice change from our solo camping routine.
Ancien Presbytère is exactly what it says, an old converted rectory from the 13th century made into a pretty charming accomodation for pilgrims. Heavy stone walls with old frescos painted on the vaulted ceilings mixed with modern heating and kitchens. Comfy leather sofas and winding wooden staircases with low beams, head hitting roof lines. We haven’t ceased to be wowed as we find people literally living in places with such a long history, a common timeframe for a building or home in Europe is almost unimaginable in New Zealand.
Next | Camino day 27 – Montlauzun to Dufort-Lacapelette
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