Well we’ve had over a month of blistering hot weather and not a drop of rain has fallen. The ground is hard and dusty, lakes and rivers are low, streams are dry. At 6am this morning it starts pouring down and it doesn’t let up. The tents are soaked. We are soaked. There’s nothing in Mirmont and we have a schedule to keep so walking in the rain it is.
Craftily, a variant is spotted which cuts out 3 or so kilometres. After navigating some pretty intense terrain in the rain we arrive at the humorously named village of Pimbo. We spot a cafe, but they are prepping madly for some event and we refrain from dirtying their white pressed tablecloths with our mud and rain soaked bodies, so Alissa quickly grabs a standing shot of strong black coffee. We are definitely not ready to continue on yet and we see our only other option is to shelter in the church vestibule. We huddle together eating our sandwiches as a tour group stands umbrellas aloft just outside the entrance to the church. Their group leader explains some points of interest to a bunch of bemused French tourists and we realise we make a somewhat strange sight. We awkwardly try to keep out of their way, while being very much in their way when they head on through to the church.
With some fuel in the tank spirits are lifted, from here it’s only 6.5km to Arzacq and a gite to let us dry out everything from this rain. Tom is quite happy in his backpack with the raincover on, the boys have good jackets and we get through a short, tough walk without too much damage. The gite in Arzacq is run much better than the one previous and we are squared away in a dry room quick smart.
It’s Sunday here today and as as usual, except the pub, virtually nothing is open. It becomes difficult to achieve the simple targets of getting food and cleaning clothes. Eventually we solve the two and pizza for dinner and a warm bed work their magic.
Next | Camino day 40 – Arzacq to Pomps
Previous | Camino day 38 – Aire sur l’Adour to Miramont-Sensacq