Moissac

I was up early this morning for a wonderful breakfast at Gîte Les Figuiers. It’s this just below. Lauzerte, perhaps a 10 minute walk to the town square. They are very nice couple and they have a purpose-built gîte for welcoming, pilgrims, including A, wonderful dining room and commercial kitchen. The place is clean and orderly, everything you could want from a pilgrim accommodation.

I have breakfast in the dining room., The typical fair of coffee, bread, butter, and yogurt. I got some pictures of sunrise from the dining room windows. I really do appreciate morning sunlight.

The path to Moissac brought me back up through Lauzerte. It’s a typical pilgrim mistake to leave the path tired the evening before without marking exactly where the path picks up again to leave town. I am a slow learner and got an extra tour of Lauzerte before I reconnected with the path and headed off to Moissac.

It was 11 km to the first town that would offer food and drink. I arrive too early for lunch at Durfort-Lacapelette. So I settled for a sandwich complet (a favorite of travelers)i half a baguette, sliced down the middle and filled with ham, Emmental cheese, hard-boiled egg , tomatoes, lettuce, and mayonnaise.

Leaving the Village, I crossed some orchards and sunflower gardens. I heard the pretty song of the common golden oriole.

I’m met a nice French couple and we shared some time on the path today. It’s always interesting to learn another person’s perspective. They pointed out that a French flag, we passed, had the Cross of Lorraine. This is a special flag that was the symbol of free France during World War II and also signifies that a residence shelter Jews from deportation during the war.

It was a hard walk today. This morning we started with cloud cover and cool breezes. As the day wore on the sun got stronger and I really labored for the last hour and a half of the walk.

I was a little bit discouraged, coming into Moissac. The entrance to the city seemed like a very ordinary 20th century Village.

I was very wrong. But first I had to check into my lodging (L’escale du bonheur) and perform my my pilgrims duties of showering, putting on clean clothes, and laundering today’s dirty clothing on the line to dry.

With my chores done, I stepped outside and walked an entire block before I realized that I was next to a canal (le canal des deux mers). The canal is formed from the waters of the Tarn and Garone Rivers (recall at the Lot River emptied into the Garone?). The system via a 413 Km series of canals and rivers joins the Mediterranean and the Atlantic oceans. The first of the canals (Canal du Midi) was started in 1667, commencing Toulouse. the Canal de Garonne completed the link to the Atlantic Ocean in 1865.

And I had to walk about four blocks up the street where my lodging are located to get to a UNESCO Heritage site, L'Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Moissac. This monastery dates to the early 9th century and was founded/patronized by Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne. I happily arrived there just in time to hear the nuns who lived at the Abbey sing the Mass.

There’s so much more as your share but my pillow calls and I will probably stay another day in this town to make time to explore and write about this tripLæs mere