Flying blind

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 shortest/easiest choice meant, though, that we had to go off piste as it were; leaving the reliable (and comforting) waymarkers behind and relying on the guidebook, Google maps, a bit of a sense of direction, and probably a bit of luck, to get us to where we wanted to end up.

I'd already made some adjustments, and today was supposed to be something in the region of a 23/25 klm day. The last three weeks have proven to me, every day, that the actual distance is a bit longer than the planned distance, so at the end of the day 23/25 should be maybe +2.

Anyway, leave the waymarkers we did, and sort of followed the alternative routes which the guide book had outlined. Flying blind. A slightly uncomfortable experience, but a successful one. Had I not taken a wrong turn as we came into the town with tonight's accommodation I could have shaved maybe another 500m off the actual total. So, the end result - a planned 23/25 klms turned into an actual 24. A pretty good result really.

It was still the third biggest day. Funny day. Misty clouds off the nearby(ish) Pyrenees kept the temperature mostly at a sub-30 level, but the lack of a breeze and the humidity pushed the "feels like" quite a bit higher. So at times it was a bit of a struggle.

And the greyness didn't really facilitate good photography, so there's not much on display today.

Last night's host Martin prepared a wonderful petit-déjeuner of oats/porridge, fabulous omelette, fromage, tea/toast. Everything one needs to head up hill and down dale for ~24klms over 5 1/2 hours. As I alluded to last night, Martin is an intriguing chap. A retired university lecturer, self-taught multi linguistical, organist at the local church ...

Had the road not beckoned I could have talked to him for hours. Our last chat before J dragged me outside to put my boots on was getting into the technicalities of how to effectively learn another language (he speaks English (Irish, actually) and French, and some Basque, and taught himself Thai and Arabic, and probably others). But the road did beckon (more like a yell, actually).

Not much commentary from the road today. Just a few pictures.

With Martin, our host last evening

A Basque thing, I think. Markings over the door in this case show that the building is from 1730.

A misty scene

Another impressive château, in the village of Uhart-Mixe (on one of the shortcut tracks)

Harambeltz

This one interested me a lot, especially in the context of last night's conversation with Martin. I noticed this often; the French town/street names have been graffitied out, leaving only the Basque names. I wonder what's happening under the surface

First church I saw with solar panels

And now, les animaux

We walked 4 klms past the "logical" stop for today’s stage, in part because the accommodation here suits us better than what is on offer back at the previous town and in part because that puts us that much closer to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, our tomorrow and final destination for this part of the adventure.

We are staying in a Logis Hotel Restaurant, an independent 2-star (probably) hotel chain throughout 🇫🇷. This building is a mere 198 years old.

Our room is behind the 2nd floor left hand balcony.

Now speaking of, and in, Basque, we happened to be here whilst there was a kid's party out the back of the hotel. The pailazoa is singing in the Basque language

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/7ecab3_e0c3fa6da8a44cef8a35fe5eaf1c75d5/file

As ever, a couple of selfies to close (say goodbye to the beard - it goes tomorrow

afternoon or Friday):

Tomorrow is, in theory at least, a casual and easy 18.5 klm stroll into SJPdP.