Thru-hike day 1

Time to start walking! We are still sick, but decided to take cold meds, stuff our pockets with tissues and cough drops, and do this thing.

But first we needed to sort out transporting our bigger bags to our final destination. So we hung out at the taxi stand for a bit, until one rolled up. He spoke little English, we speak less French, but we somehow communicated that we wanted him to drive our bags, but not us. It was a cute exchange, and we left feeling hopeful that we will find our bags just fine in a few days.

On to the walk! First bit was along a promenade with loads of picturesque houses facing the sea. Then a bit of beach walking. Then trails mixed with some town roads. We headed inland a bit at midday to find lunch in a small village (galettes). Second half continued to hug the bays, then we had some up and down in the woods beside the water. At times it felt like hiking on the Oregon or northern California coast.

We rolled into the small hamlet of Le Guimorais, our home for the night. We were too early for our room, so we went a bit farther to a campground and sat at a picnic table for a bit. When we got to our room a bit later, we just sat on the bed for an hour or so to rest our legs. Total mileage: 10.4 miles

When dinner time rolls around, we were excited to try the one restaurant in town, just a block from our house - but got turned away as we had no reservation. Uh oh. So back to the campground we went, where the snack shack provided us with mediocre hamburger and pizza. But hey, at least the sold good wine, because France!Read more