Some days are harder to get moving than others, today is one of them, the kilometres must be catching up with us.
Dufort is a very small town really, no boulangerie, just some baguette at the bar and an eclectic collection of canned goods, but also coffee, which we spend far too long drinking before getting in to the day. Temperatures are coming back up and the guide claims it’s a 19km trip to Moissac, so waiting for it to heat up a bit seems like a mistake.
It’s a lot of road walking today, mostly fairly quiet roads, we aren’t forced on to anything major without a path, but it means Tom is up on my back most of the day however much he wants to walk. Alissa’s feet are firmly on the path to health with her new shoes which really is a Camino miracle and the boys have a day where they truck along. Max has also become intent on perfecting his card tricks, with us as his captive if not willing audience. Whatever keeps this vehicle moving.
There are very few villages to pass through, just roads heading mostly downhill and we pop into the outskirts of Moissac in only about 4 hours which seems a bit quick for us. Guidebook could be a bit off I suppose, but we’re in town by 1:30pm, which makes everyone happy. Moissac is an easy town to like, the abbey and cloister are in the centre of the old town, inside the abbey is particularly impressive.
We are staying at the Ancien Carmel, an old cloister on top of the hill that’s been converted into accommodation for pilgrims. Run by a really nice team of characters that make the children welcome and create space for us. A cold drink on arrival and home baking for the boys it is really something special. A lot of people come here due to its history and there are a heap of rooms. But we are camping in the back garden. For a fee they also wash and dry all of our clothes. So good.
As we were here early we get time to wander around the town in the hot part of the day. Perfect. Being a bigger town it’s also necessary to do a few errands. Alissa has realised no matter how convincing the ‘Bivouac’ retail staff in Tauranga were, two pairs of (admittedly icebreaker merino) underpants just do not cut it. She splashes out by more than doubling her cache. It’s the little things, literally. Her pack weight creeps up an additional 25 grams. She survives.
We also bump into Maxim & Pascal who are finishing up today. The Camino (or Chemin while we’re still in France) is full of goodbyes. They encourage us to go see the Cacor canal bridge, and one of us is keen but for love nor money Alissa cannot convince these kids to voluntarily walk across town, no matter how impressive the bridge is – Don’t be like us, go see it if you’re there. Another special feature of Moissac is the Pilgrim’s welcome society, go see them, have a cuppa, a biscuit and stick a pin in your home country.
