Via Tolosano Week 2

Day 1 Morlaas to Lescar 20 kms

 All flat today, not surprising that Pau has an airport and a race course. I thought I would have a coffee in Pau but the path took us through a wood and almost all around the race course and then out of town again, I never saw a bar or a cafe.

A sign in the wood.

The race course!

There were different signs.  Some were very annoying as they put a time between 2 towns but didn't put a distance, Jacky reckoned that the national group who control the paths in France reckon people walk 4 kms per hour, I was sure that these signs were expecting people to walk 5 kms per hour.

 

a combined sign but without the time.

I was tired and wanted to get to Lescar quickly, in order to get a rest, so I put my theory to the test. I had to walk very quickly, the signs said 4 hours, I did it but only because it was flat, to expect pilgrims with back packs to walk 5 kms per hour every day is rubbish. I got very cross with the signs.

This sign is guaranteed to confuse anyone used to walk caminos in Spain. It lead in the wrong direction and had nothing to do with the camino/chemin.

I noticed a new smell today, last week the predominant smells were; a flowery smell that I could neither identify nor find the cause of and figs. The figs could be smelt before being seen as they are falling and rotting on the ground. today the smell was mint though I also identified what was producing the flowery smell, though I don't know what it is.

a very small but very smelly flower (pleasant smelly!)



The outside, not much to look at but plenty of room.



outside seating area.

The Refuge in Lescar is super, very well equipped, not what I would describe as a 'refuge' at all, just an unattended Auberge. There are 2 rooms and 2 sets of showers and toilet, so I had a room to myself, with 6 beds and an en-suite.

When I arrived I went for a little look around, and a beer, then had a siesta. I don't think I slept but it rested my feet.



Jacky didn't turn up till 4. I thought he must have gone on, though that would have been a very long walk, but he walked through Pau. He said it wasn't worth the 10 kms detour!!

We seem destined to continue together for a bit longer. It's nice to have some company. We don't walk together, just pass from time to time and meet in the evenings. It should be improving my French but I am sure it is getting worse.



Me, resting my feet a moment!

Day 2 Lescar to Oloron Ste Marie  32 kms

I looked out of the bathroom window, in the morning, and saw some clouds, then I heard rain, so I looked again - rain!  I looked out a couple of times over breakfast and it continued to rain, so it was a wet-gear day. When we left the Auberge it had stopped raining, we thought our wet-gear might have worked the magic, but no such luck. For the first hour or so it kept drizzling and then stopping, then it started more heavily. Once again there was a shortage of places to stop for a break, nowhere in the first village, then, in La Commande, I found a little sheltered spot, by the church, with a big plank of wood to sit on, then the heavens opened, a real thunderstorm. I decided to wait a little to see if it would pass over but it didn't take me long to realise that it wasn't going to.

A photo of rain falling!

It poured from then on. The walk was up and down, through woods, the paths had streams running through them. Do we always choose water courses for paths or does water like to choose paths? It just got wetter and wetter. I even saw a tree with water just flowing down the trunk. I wanted a loo but there was no chance. There was no way I would even take off my bag and put it down, let alone any of the other necessaries, next time I'll come back as a man, I'm sure they have it better all round.
I had planned to stop for lunch at about 1.30, but there was nowhere to stop. For once there were some nicely placed tables and benches, lovely on any other day, but not today. In the end I gave up on eating, until I remembered I had an apple in my pocket and I ate that. I continued happily and was on the last 11 kms. I think I had walked 4 or 5 when I found myself on a road. I trundled along singing happily to myself; 'Show me the way to go home!!' Fatal! I had missed a sign, I had no idea where I was. I asked a man in his garden, he was stacking stuff on a trailer, he told me that I should have turned into a wood but that, if I turned left  and followed the road down I would come to some signs. I followed the road, then another man, in a car, told me to turn right, walk to a house I could see in the distance, turn left and I would follow a tarred road, parallel to the route through the wood, which would be very muddy, so off I went. With hindsight, a truly excellent thing, I should have retraced my steps till I found the sign, but I went off the track. I walked to the house, turned left and followed the tarred route ... and ended up in someones drive. I retraced my steps to the road but I had no idea which direction I needed to take, so I walked further back, to a house with a big lorry parked outside, with it's hazard lights on.  eventually I attracted the attention of some workmen who kindly invited me in, out of the rain, but by that time I was so wet that it didn't matter. They pointed me back, in the direction that I had first come from. I was to go to; 'the blue church then turn right.' I suppose to the lorry driver the blue church didn't seem too far away but I had no idea where it was, I certainly couldn't see it.  I was getting worried, it was only 4ish but seemed very dark and I was lost. Then a white van drove from a farm, the driver called something to me but I didn't catch it, he was joking about me and the rain, but then he offered me a lift and I accepted. for the first time, on any camino, I accepted a lift :(  Very naughty but I was very grateful. I worried about accepting as I was dripping but he said 'no matter'. He dropped me by the station in Oloron so I went into the station to get out my guide book, so I could phone the gite but my guide was so wet the pages were stuck together!
When I left the station another man offered assistance, he said he had done the camino 11 years before and now he liked to help pilgrims. He showed me the way to the cathedral and pointed out the direction of the gite, I assumed that I would find signs for the camino by the Cathedral. I found a lovely square and a tablet for the Chemin d'Arles but no direction signs.

So I returned to where I had started and walked in the direction of the gite, then I found signs and a map, it seemed to indicate that the Auberge was back by the Cathedral, so I started back, eventually I gave up and went to the Tourist Office, where I was given instructions on how to find the Auberge and the code for the door.  I was so wet I decided just to dump my bag and go shopping before I removed any of my wet clothes. On the way back to the Auberge I got behind a woman walking extremely slowly so I stepped off the pavement to pass her but I got a severe pain in my heel so I stepped back! 

Eventually I get settled in, showered and with dry clothes. There was a drier for drying wet clothes. My papers were mostly a lost cause, though I managed to save some. When I looked at the map I discovered that I had been right by the route when the man in the car sent me on a wild goose chase. I only had about 5 kilometres to walk.

All around Oloron is a lovely smell of chocolate, I had looked in a few bars to see where I could get a hot chocolate but I couldn't find one. The hospitalero said the smell comes from the Lindt factory and is a sign of bad weather!

Day 3 Oloron to Sarrance 20 kms

Wet!! It rained all night and was still raining. Damp clothes, wet boots. I planned to walk to Bedous but in a wood I stepped up to avoid some flooded mud and had an excruciating pain in my heel again.  My heel had been painful for several days, but nothing like this. I had to make the decision not to attempt the climb up the Pyrenees, and curtailed my days walk. When I caught up with Jacky I told him I would be stopping.

All in all the days walk was diabolical. I managed to miss a turn early on, I was too busy thinking about how I would plan the next few days, so I had to back track, adding at least 1 extra kilometer. Several times I had to backtrack because I couldn't believe I was on the right track. Once because there was barbed wire across the path, this could be folded back, like a gate but I wandered around for a while trying to work out where I should be. Once because I was walking down a fast flowing stream, almost a waterfall, I had visions of ending up in the river, so I went back to check, it was right, so I carried on down, paddling. At the bottom of the hill half the water went straight ahead, half turned onto the camino, I followed the path and came to 2 really deep, fast flowing streams, apparently I was supposed to cross them both, no way. I don't think I could have at any time but with a back-pack and a dodgy foot! I gave up and paddled back up the stream and back to the road, from there I continued on the road. Escot had a lovely little shelter, where I had my lunch, there was even a toilet, but as it was a hole in the floor I passed on that. I had had a coffee break earlier and discovered that re-adjusting cold wet trousers isn't pleasant.

My walking got slower and slower, at one point I tried to speed up but my heel became more painful, so I reverted to the crawl. Eventually I arrived at Sarrance. I walked towards the church where I was met by a lady who took me to the 'Sanctuary', it is attached to the church and run by a monk, altogether a bit of a strange set-up but very welcoming. There was an English man here but no Jacky, he must have continued to Bedous.  I was useful in translating.

I phoned the Albergue in Canfranc Estacion, it is closed but the lady there suggested I continue straight on to Jaca as there is a lot of water in Canfranc, she said there are plenty of buses going down. All in all I think it would not have been a good moment to continue walking even if my foot had been OK but my foot helped me make the decision. In fact I made the decision that this is perhaps the time to stop walking altogether. So.. here endeth my Via Tolosano!

It didn't end the adventure though!

Bernard and I had both opted to join the priest/priests for the evening meal, this was quite an expensive option, especially as I was carrying food. The meal was mediocre but there was a young man there whose family are wine producers in Bordeaux, he had brought 2 bottles of wine, excellent wine. The table was set for 11 so he opened both bottles, in fact we were 6 but we had to finish both bottles once they were opened, there was also an excellent cheese, a present from someone else! Altogether it was an interesting evening.

Sunday, 21st October

The bus journey down was interesting too, it was possible to see how high the rivers were flowing.

The Auberge is in the building at the back, with the smoke!





Driving into Etsaut the road was blocked by fallen stones and the driver had to reverse back onto the road. When we got to the tunnel we heard that the road down to Jaca was closed to buses and lorries because of flood damage, that concerned me a little but there was a man on the bus who reminded me that there is a train. In Canfranc Estacion I did a recce, there was a train at 18.15! Then I spoke to the Guardia Civil, they said not to worry, as the bus company would probably find an alternative in some way. There was a bus parked there but no sign of a driver, then a mini bus turned up, the driver said that he would be leaving at 13.10, so all was well. There were loads of tourists and TV people, all taking photos of the damage, the town had been flooded the previous evening, apparently there had even been suggestions that the people should be evacuated! On the way down we saw that half of the road had been washed away!

In Jaca I had great problems finding the Albergue, I kept wandering near it but never quite finding the signs were I expected them, in the end someone gave me directions and I found it, just as the hospitalera arrived at 3pm. There was no problem about me staying, even though I had bussed the last bit. I was the first but was soon joined by 2 others, a young Spaniard, just starting, and a Dutch man who had walked from Monserrat to Huesca, then taken the bus to Oloron and walked back from there, he had made it over the mountain! In the evening I had something to eat then was going to lie down and rest my foot but the 2 lads invited me to go out with them for a glass of wine, I was going to decline but it was very sweet of them and it takes a lot for me to decline a glass of wine! 

The Albergue started to get busy, there were 2 American lads who had walked to Monreal and just returned for their luggage and 3 Germans, just starting. The most pilgrims I had seen in 10 days! 

Jaca Cathedral

Jaca old town

The cuidadella

Monday morning I got the bus to Pamplona and was going to continue to Burgos and visit Sto Domingo de Silos.

I bought my tickets at Pamplona station and sat in the bar waiting for the train, then I put my hand in my pocket!!! I had lost my camera, I was frantic. I had taken a taxi from the bus station to the train station so I thought it must have fallen out in the taxi. I asked the taxi drivers outside and they broadcast a message to all the taxi drivers, then I realised that if I left Pamplona I had no hope of getting it back so I cancelled my ticket and resigned myself to 2 nights in Pamplona. An expensive 2 nights because, of course, I went on a spending spree. I needed a bag, and an umbrella, and a nightie and food!!

The next morning I went to the bus station to meet the bus from Jaca and the bus driver had my camera, so all ended well.

As I left Jaca I saw pictures of San Juan de la Penya, I really wanted to go there, it's on the route from Catalunya, the Cami San Jaume. I fancy that, maybe if I finish the Via de la Plata in spring that will be the next.....! Did I think I had stopped?
For some reason I really enjoyed this camino, more than any other I think, but I think I am resigned to not crossing the Pyrenees, I will leave that to those younger and fitter.