Day 14 to Lavergne (Noailhac), 23 km

Boisset to Lavergne

From one farm to another today. I said bye to Florence this morning. She will be walking longer days than me today and tomorrow. Also said bye to the huge Newfoundland dog that was staying at the gite. And later in the day, bye Cyri’elle who went to the outskirts of Castres today and, I think, is going back home tomorrow.

Amazingly, there were clouds this morning. Fantastic! Cool. I got to walk without my dorky hat! I actually saw 2 couples (at different times) out for a walk on the path. One of the people said that yesterday, if we’d been standing where we were, we would have seen the Pyrenees. Not today. Instead I saw two deers and heard my first cuckoo for this year.

At Boisset it is still pretty high up at 770 metres. And while there were some small hills the general effect was down. And not too steeply for the most part. So pretty easy walking in very favourable weather. The sun did come out eventually.

Often when you come to a trail intersection, there are so many signs that you really have to know where you’re going. You have to know not just the name of the place where you will end for the day, but the name of the next village, which I don’t always pay attention to. And the names of the villages are often very similar. So you can’t just remember that it was the one that started with “Bo….” , because there might be several of them on the same post! I ran into Cyri’elle mid-day. She lost an hour by following signs for the wrong GR, most of that going uphill. I check the gps track obsessively. In general the marking is good, but!

Two villages today, but we had been told we would find nowhere for food - no supermarket or cafe/bar, just a pharmacy in Boissezon. I stopped at the Mairie in Boissezon for a stamp and, just in case, to ask if there was anywhere to get a coffee. The woman I spoke with checked with someone in another room and then gave me an address, but she did not mention the name. At the address she gave me, there was a crepe place, Galletterie et Vinyl. But it was closed. So I went and sat on a bench across the street. A few minutes later a man came out and asked if I was the person the Mairie had sent? Come in! Super style-y guy. Funky clothes, groovy glasses, serious tattoos.

In a town without a grocery store it turns out there is a crepe place that is also the space for a huge record collection. Thousands of albums and 45s. Apparently over 100,000. Mostly 45s. All organized alphabetically by artist. They sell them online.

I had time to kill before I could arrive at tonight’s farm, so I had a crepe and a coffee. A totally unexpected stop!

The farm where I am staying is 4 km off the GR. I was trepidatious as I was trudging up the last hills. But it’s fabulous. Massive old farmhouse. There is a gite but it was already full for tonight so I have my own room in the house. It’s a place that has clearly been full of projects. 35 years of renovations and maintenance, but also funky art and garden projects. Ponds to recycle water from the house. Sculptures. A treehouse/yurt thing. And the best thing: the ponds are home to frogs! They have a lot to say.

Excellent dinner. Same soup as last night, and same kind of stew as last night. But while I really did not enjoy last night’s meal (full of cloves), today’s was excellent. And after the stew, salad from the garden and then strawberries with soft, fresh cheese. Perfect!

The point of staying here, apart from staying at another farm, was to let me get to Castres in the morning so I can see the market. Several days ago I booked a room for myself in the city not knowing I would end up, even in gites, with 3 nights in row of single rooms. Fancy trip!Read more