Vingt-quatrième jour - Friday 10th July, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port Massive thunder and lightning storm at 1am; glad we weren't out walking. Lazy day today. Resting. Wandering the old city and walls. No story, just a few photos. An ever so slightly social end to our Camino last night (Thursday), on the lovely terrace of the very nice Le Relais de la Nive restaurant. From left Cathy from Sydney, J, me and Simone from the UK. (Earlier that night we'd caught up with American couple

Subtitle: 5,000,000 steps Vingt-troisième jour – terminer - Thursday 9th July, Larceveau - Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port - 19.5 klms (final total approx 425) Our trekking poles are a little worse for wear, and with just a little hyperbole I made some comment that they had walked a million miles with us. Janet did some quick processing and came up with the assessment that they'd probably walked 5 million steps!! Now let's not get too precise, but if you think about it, my very first

Vingt-deuxième jour - Wednesday 8th July, Aroue (Etcharry) - Larceveau - 24.4 klms (running total approx 406.2) We were presented with options today. Head down this route to visit this town, that route to see that monument. We chose only one set of options - what would be shortest and easiest!! According to the guidebook the longest set of options turned the day into a "strenuous" walk of over 30klms with an up/down altitude variance of some 800 metres. Ah, no thanks. The sh

Vingt-et-unième jour - Tuesday 7th July, Navarrenx - Aroue - 21.6 klms (running total approx 381.8) I don't even know if "pen-penultimate" is a real word, but hey, it's my blog and if I want to mangle my English/Latin well, who cares? I've written about previously, and indeed experienced multiple times, that the last few klms of any day's walk are usually the hardest. It's a mental more than a physical thing - yes after 20 klms the feet hurt and one is generally tired (and ho

Vingtième jour - Monday 6th July, Sauvelade - Navarrenx - 14.4 klms (running total approx 360.2) Early in the walk we passed many signs with various philosophical statements or sayings. They were all in French, and whilst I translated a couple just for fun, most of them are simply sitting in my phone as a "tomorrow" project. And then today, very early into the day, I passed the sign "Another World is Truly Possible", which gave rise to today's title. It's a gentle exhortatio

Dix-neuvième jour - Friday 3rd July, Arthez-de-Béarn - Sauvelade - 20.6 klms (running total approx 345.9) There's a maxim for/on the Camino Frances that the first third is for the body, the next third is for the mind and the last third is for the spirit or the soul. Given that a maxim is a generally accepted truth, as opposed to an absolute or scientific truth, I hold the third-third-third maxim to be a pretty accurate rule of thumb. For the Camino Frances. Or the Via de la P

Dix-huitième jour - Saturday 4th July, Pomps - Arthez-de-Béarn - 10.0 klms (running total approx 325.3) The "official" guidebook (nothing's really official, you can do what you like) has recent past and future walking stages set at around 30klms/day. Whilst we've had two days approaching this number, and one to come, actually planning to have multiple days at these distances seemed like a bridge too far to me. So wherever possible I chopped them in half. It doesn't always wor

Dix-septième jour - Friday 3rd July, Arzacq-Arraziguet - Pomps - 21.4 klms (running total approx 315.3) I think I'll start today with a PPR (a Podiatric Progress Report 🤔) for the record. With 6 days and around 100 klms to go there is a possibility that the feet will actually get me to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. How's that for confidence??? Now let me start properly. Staying in a 15th C "hotel" as we did last night was a high point, trumped as it were by the meals which our ho

Seizième jour - Thursday 2nd July, Miramont-Sensecq - Arzacq-Arraziguet - 18.8 klms (running total approx 293.9) The day started with petit-déjeuner at the maison of the lovely Clothilde before a stroll back into Miramont-Sensecq (the back way, through the cornfields) and then on on. We were accompanied by the intermittent roar of the jet engines, as we had been a couple of days earlier. A bit of research tells me that the jets concerned are the Dassault Rafale delta wing fig

Quinzième jour - Wednesday 1st July, Aire-sur-l’Adour - Miramont-Sensecq - 20.7 klms (running total approx 275.1) Having left Aire-sur-l’Adour on what seemed to be an endless uphill climb, as I wondered and wandered through the morning I thought that I'd find nothing to write about. There was a same sameness to the landscape which didn't lead to great inspiration. But then, surprise surprise, two things popped up. The first is the agricultural landscape itself. It's changed a

Quatorzième jour - Monday 30th June, Aire-sur-l’Adour - rest day Our second - and last - rest day has been well earned. It's given the blisters (sadly, yes, there are a few) and the legs some respite, and moreso a chance to explore this ancient city. Not much appears to remain of its old past which goes back over 2,000 years to the Gallic Wars waged by Julius Caesar against the people of Gaul, in the '50s BC. My guide book tells me that the victorious general Publius Licinius

Treizième jour - Monday 29th June, Nogaro - Aire-sur-l’Adour - 29.5 klms (running total approx 254.4) A short post to balance a long day today. Our elapsed travel time was about 8 hours, with 6 1/2 of them actually walking. One of the things which I've been noticing and which surprises me a lot is the apparent lack of pelerins. We saw two people a little ahead of us earlier this morning, and I think that they were the same two French chaps we saw yesterday. So, two days, two

Douzième jour - Sunday 28th June, Éauze - Nogaro - 21.0 klms (running total approx 225.0) I was quite at a loss as to what to call today's blog, until I arrived at our accommodation in Nogaro. Then it immediately came to me. One of the joys of travel is that it throws the occasional curved ball, to borrow an expression from our American friends. They can come in all shapes and sizes, often in my case to do with the hitherto sight-unseen accommodation choices which are made fr

Onzième jour - Saturday 27th June, Montreal-du-Gers - Éauze - 18.1 klms (running total approx 203.9) The Roman plans evolved in a completely unplanned and unforseen way. No worries. The initial plan had been that we would take the deviation via Sèviac and go visit the Villa gallo-romaine de Séviac, which has an extensive display of a Roman villa including some 100s square metres of mosaics. But it doesn't open until 10am, which would have required a lot of waiting around init

Dixième jour - Friday 26th June, Condom - Montreal-du-Gers - 21.7 klms (running total approx 185.9) It's the little things which make a difference, like clouds in the sky, coffee and ice-cream in the town square, air-conditioned room on arrival ... The day went fully according to plan. Up early-ish, breakfast at 6:30, depart the accommodation by 7:15 (tricky that, as our delightful hostess was very chatty), off to the boulangerie for trail supplies and then hit the road at 7:

Neuvième jour - Thursday 25th June, La Romieu - Condom - 15.0 klms (running total approx 164.2 klms) Here we are in Condom. Let's start with the obvious - name clarification. Condom is pronounced, I think, something like condoh. Between my guidebook and the local tourist brochure I'm told that because it is situated between Baïse River and the Gèle Stream the town's name comes from an ancient Celtic or the Aquitanian settlement called condate-o-magos, which means 'market of

Huitième jour - Wedesday 24th June, Lectoure - La Romieu - 17.5 klms (running total approx 149.2) I had thought that I had used this title once before, years ago. I had, almost, but not quite (see Sunflower). I grew up on the music of the Beatles, and this one from George is one of my favourites. Hard to pick favourites of course. But I think for today the variation Here Comes the Cool would be even more welcome. We continue to walk through agricultural land, and the emergent

Septième jour - Tuesday 23rd June, Lectoure - rest day It's a sign that the trip is going well when you have to ask your wife what day it is, and she has to look at her watch to confirm that today is indeed Tuesday 😉. I could have figured that out because yesterday the shops were all shut, which of course meant it was Monday. But that would require some thought. Our apartment here in Lectoure is nice, even if unfunctional. There are at least 4 heaters in the place, and one s

Sixième jour - Monday 22nd June, Miradoux to Lectoure - 16.3 klms (running total approx 131.7 klms) I've said this before. Janet and I get on very well. We are quietly comfortable in each other's presence. Sometimes we chatter as we walk, sometimes we just wander along in silence. She is often in front as I dawdle along stopping to take photos. Today she asked me what I think about as I walk. Often it's about what's going on around me, perhaps influenced by whether I should t

Cinquième jour - Sunday 21st June, Auvillar to Miradoux - 18.2 klms (running total approx 115.4) I don't really want to turn the blog into a daily weather report, but sometimes one has to acknowledge the elephant, in this case, outside the room. Today was a relatively easy day. But in the middle of a severe heatwave, relatively takes on a different meaning. We arrived into Miradoux a little before 2pm. Elapsed time about 6 hours; walking time about 4 hours 30 mins. Here's a w