In Mont-de-Marsan for 2 nights

Last night at Roquefort we had dinner at our sweet hotel with the pointy towers. There was only one other guest, but they provided the most beautiful dinner. For entrée we both had a sweet potato soup with cèpes which was delicious, and for mains Amr had bass and onions and vegs and I had duck with eggplant and zucchini strips. Both wonderful. And very special local wines.

This morning we and our bags all went by taxi - we were dropped off after 10 kms, and walked the remaining 20 kms to Mont-de-Marsan, and our bags were waiting for us here when we arrived, ready in our room. This is quite a fancy hotel in the centre of town, and M de M is quite a busy and flourishing small city.

The walk was again flat, and we still had the remnants of the pine forest, but lots of other farming going on - poultry and corn mostly. The first 10 kms we wound around till we got to Bougue, a little village, and after that we went the last almost 10 kms along another straight cycle track, which I am sure is another section of the ex railway of previous days. But it wasn’t boring - sometimes we were surrounded by corn on one side and pine plantations on the other, or we went under archways of enormous oak trees. And we didn’t have to concentrate on not missing a turnoff. Also there were benches from time to time so that provided a pleasant lunch place.

During the morning we ran into the Dutch couple - Angelique and Herman - (am sure that is not how their names are spelt) and we are having a drink with them here at 6. And we also bumped into Norbert, the German. Getting to be quite a sociable camino after all!

After abluting we took a stroll round the town and booked a restaurant for dinner tonight, having seen many reserved signs on tables. Quite a few restaurants open it seems, but the big market looks closed…as if it has been for a while which is sad. But other shops to buy good cheese. Tomorrow we will do a proper explore, and admire the cathedral and relax.Read more