Musings

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 fighters, said to be the most advanced in the French airforce, from the Mont-de-Marsan base, about 40 klms from our present location. The base apparantly used to house France's nuclear bomber squadron. Now until 2 days ago I didn't know that France had such a thing - after all, why would I think about such things?

Which in turn took me back to a question Janet had asked me a week or so back - what do you think about as you walk along? The answer to that question varies. Sometimes I think about the day's blog. Often I just look around and wonder. Occasionally, simply nothing. I've written before about the meditative nature of these long walks - the metronomic rhythm of one foot and then another, accompanied by the equally rhythmic squeaking of the straps on my backpack. So maybe it's not "nothing" per se, but in that meditative way it seems like nothing.

That whole train of thought then took me down a rabbit hole of musings. In writing this blog I hope the handful of people who read it find it interesting ("handful" is around 30 each day on average - more on that subject this time next week), but I don't write it for you/them. It's my own daily diary, replacing the handwritten scribble of decades past, words which more often than not sat untranscribed in little notebooks gathering dust in some corner of my bookshelf. We both - Janet more than me - refer back to these blogs when we set out to recall where we were/what we did on this day or trip.

My musings also help me think about what's important in life. Fate has nearly always been kind to me, especially against a backdrop where others cannot quite say the same. Without doubt the best element is that circumstances were such that Janet and I were thrown together over 30 years ago. We get on very well, and walks like this reinforce that. Often we just wander along in silence, comfortable that the other is nearby. I'm a lucky man ...

Moving away from personal musings, here's a bit of today's travelogue ...

The walk today was much more varied and interesting that yesterday's. For at least this day, we've left the endless cornfields behind, but it's still very agricultural.

Fois gras in waiting 😞

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/7ecab3_69d5f0f99e874824be309e7daba7971b/file

Then the scenery

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/7ecab3_ea498375809241288bdf371a459404ac/file

This one took my fancy. Camino shells arranged as the tricolor

Lastly, a couple of shots from Arzacq-Arraziguet, tonight's end point. As ever, a fascinating history, going back to at least the 11th C, and more recently to Louis XIII in the early 1600s, who apparently stayed here on his way to some war or treaty.

The tour (tower) of Arzacq, where Louis apparently stayed - not the tower itself, but the attached chateau, which no longer exists.

Église Notre-Dame-des-Luys de Arzacq-Arraziguet

Arcades in town

We bumped into a couple of Canadians at Pimbo today, and in the way of the camino, again whilst we were having an aperitif late this afternoon. Meet Jean and Claude from Ottawa:

And the obligatory selfie

Lastly, accommodation this evening. We are staying at 15th C maison in the centre of town (the main part of the bastide). The only guests. A couple of photos, and dinner:

OK, that'll do for today. Good day. 20klm tomorrow, with a bit of up and down. (And just for the record, as we walked into town, the jets were overhead again).