Day 5 Montpellier to Montarnaud, 20 km

Yet another late start! The coffee shop near the hotel did not open until 8:30. Then I went to the supermarket to get my usual banana/clementine/yoghurt breakfast. And then I decided to tape my foot (for the tendon on the top) and that meant I had to watch the how-to-put-KT-tape-on video. Etc. I didn’t get away until 10:00. Again! But I knew I had to wait until 4:00 to check-in to the gite, so it was fine. Beautiful day. Sunny and still windy, but normal strong wind, not outrageous strong wind like the other day.

No Camino markers for ages in the city. I was constantly checking the gps tracks. The exit from the city goes via a string of huge monuments. A triumphal arch. A massive statue of Louis XIV on horseback. A “chateau d’eau.” An aqueduct. All of them as impressive as they were designed to be.

As with the way into the city, the way out was not terrible. It was not even all asphalt. Some shady pathways that feel like little secrets in busy neighbourhoods. Parks, including one with a small lake that was part of the grounds of some kind of huge 1960s or 70s regional administrative building. There were some groups of children there who were maybe doing some kind of nature study.

At one point I came to a spot where the path was blocked off by a fence. I got to the traffic light across from it at the same time as a young man who saw me trying to figure out what to do. He pointed to a small road beside the fence and said it is okay to go this way and I will walk with you. We walked together about ten minutes. A nice interaction after his serendipitous appearance!

Being in more built up places definitely makes it harder to find a place to pee! I ended up going to a cafe and ordering a small coffee so I could use the bathroom. Clearly not an ideal system. Also not an ideal coffee. If you want milk in your coffee in France, there are two ways to order it at a regular cafe. Cafe crème, which is more or less cappuccino size, but often comes with too much milk. The second option is called cafe noisette (hazelnut) because of the colour. It often has barely any milk. I would like something in the middle please. Unlike Spain, there is not a drinkable coffee anywhere you go.

The landscape today, after the outskirts, was starting to have some small ups and downs. It’s rocky and dry. But there were quite a few flowers. A river with small waterfalls. Some brooks. Lots of horses. A humongous solar farm that took me about 10 minutes to walk past it.

I am staying at a private gite tonight. About a kilometer past the village, which will make tomorrow a tiny bit shorter! There’s a German woman also staying. The owner joined us for dinner. She is ending her business after this year. It really seems like she has had it! We got to wash our clothes in the machine! There are only the two of us so we each got to take our own room. I have the heat blasting! At the very last minute I decided to bring a light fleece rather than the long sleeved t-shirt I would normally bring. It is heavier and, more important, takes up more room in my not huge pack, but I have basically been living in it. It was a good decision!

Tomorrow I will walk to Saint- Guilhem-de-Desert. It is supposed to be very very pretty.Read more