Day 25 Montégut to Barran, 26 km

I’m so glad English does not have accents on letters. Trying to type in French on the phone does me in!

Another green, green day. And oh but it was hot! 27 in the afternoon. And so much asphalt! Sometimes shade. Much of the day was walking into and out of Auch, a small city with a massive cathedral. French churches are often square rather than pointy. But I did not love it inside.

I ended up doing an extended tour of pharmacies looking for KT tape. 7 in the end. And the last one, which was truly the last one had some. That took almost an hour! And that shortened the coffee break. I didn’t leave Auch until just before 11 and it was already 22 degrees.

Nothing too special about the rest of the way here. There were a few places where you can see the Pyrenees. But it was very hazy today and you could just make them out. One nice break at a picnic table in a forest. Another very short break on a bench with a magnificent view. I saw no one.

The gite in Barran is old school. One room and a bathroom on the top floor of a crumbly house owned by the Marie or the parish. 4 beds and kitchen stuff altogether. Incredible view of the beautiful church from the bathroom. We are three women. One is the Brazilian/german woman and other a younger woman from Toulouse. Someone left a bottle of Pernod behind, so we had aperitifs outside before we ate.

12€ for a bed. Man comes over after work to get the money and register the people.
It could not be more different than the style-y Airbnb-like gite of last night.

I think tomorrow will be about the same distance and same temperature. But there will be no pharmacy tour so I should end a bit earlier.

I just saw a post saying that the whole chemin is now open between Oloron and Somport. Yay! (That’s where people have been having to take a bus around a damaged section of trail.)

Young woman here is a smoker (still a lot of smoking in France, generally). I think she just went and had a cigarette hanging out the bathroom window. Old school!Read more