Les Fourgs

Only 8 miles today but it did pack quite a lot of hills into that. Even with the latest permitted departure from the youth hostel of 10am and a bit of sight-seeing on the way I arrived just after 1.30pm. I was hopeful of getting something for lunch but it was like a ghost town. Several shops and restaurants closed. Looked a mixture of closed for good, closed for a while or just closed for a 4 hour lunch. One shop said open and the door was indeed open but when I went inside you only accessed a large vending machine which sold big dods of cheese or cold meat. Nae bread.

Luckily, just as I was giving up, I noticed a bar which had someone moving inside. Went inside and asked the jimmy if they were open to which he seemed to reply he wasn’t. But just in case, he asked what I was after. After a short (because I don’t know much French) conversation he agreed to make me a sanny and sell me a litre bottle of lemonade. Magic. He did produce the largest sanny I have ever seen. I think he had cut a loaf in two and then filled one half with a massive chunk of pate. Threw in a couple of gerkins and a tomato and there you go. He did charge 15€ for the pair but then again it would have done your average family of four for a perfectly adequate lunch.

Slightly disappointed that I couldn’t get into tonight’s pilgrim’s hostel straight away, just had to wait outside for an hour and a half. But I was very early. These places are amazing. You have no idea in advance what to expect. Every one is different. This one is a couple’s house rather than being a separate, rather dilapidated property that they often are. I am in a spare bedroom and would share the toilet and bathroom with them but they have gone to sleep with their grand-children in another property they are building nearby. Only charging 26€ a night so they aren’t doing it for the money. No overt religious signs so they just seem to like pilgrims. Seen it frequently that pilgrims as a group are welcomed by individuals or communities, possibly because of historical connections, in a way that tourists certainly aren’t.Read more