Sunday, April 28 Murat sur-Vebre to La Salvetat sur-Agout

When pigs fly..... I think there must be pigs circling overhead somewhere because, even after two hours of this Sunday morning walk, we still hadn't faced a huge hill to climb. It certainly was cold though. We left at 7:35 am bundled up in layers for this overcast day; me with a camisole, hiking shirt, light long sleeve merino wool top, my hoodie and a fleece and Dayton is his shirt, fleece and rain jacket. I had to loosen up the straps of my backpack to get my straps done up around this extra bulk. But....what you are wearing, you are not carrying. Only our hands were really cold but there were no complaints when we looked back on yesterday's weather piñata.

We had four hours of fairly easy, albeit muddy, walking through pine forests and country roads before the weather took a turn for the worse. Flakes of snow motivated us to add a poncho layer to our outfit and before long we were in a steady rain. This was a quiet Sunday with no other walkers, or even cars moving and it wasn't because everyone was in church, at least not in any of the half dozen churches we passed on the route this morning.

At 1pm we arrived at Salvetat sur-Agout, a hilltop medieval fortified city. None of the medieval cities we have passed through on this route, except maybe Saint Gilhem le Desert, have the splendour or ambiance of Conques on the Chemin le Puy. Here they just look cold and worn out. We walked in the rain through the narrow streets, up the hill to the church and then along some of the ramparts to cross over the river Agout and out of town. The bridge had been rebuilt after World War II in 1947, because the French had purposely destroyed it to block the advance of the enemy. Only another kilometre and a half and we were at the Auberge de la Resse, a name which conjures up a lot more quaint than it actually offers. Regardless, as they say " A tourist demands but a pilgrim accepts." and we are happy to accept a room and bath to ourselves. We might, in fact, be the only guests in the entire hotel.

The very young boy manning the front desk speaks French and a soupçon of English and Spanish but, even with my own peu de français and poco de español, we are having a 'failure to communicate'. Getting our chambre was easy but it took some pantomiming to get a hair dryer ((not just for vanity but to speed up the drying of our gear - okay, mostly for vanity) and then a request for lunch despite an obviously closed dining hall. Tea for me and the biggest baquette sandwich for Dayton - ham and cheese and, unheard of here, lettuce, tomato and mayo! It was easily the length of my arm and definitely thicker.

This Arles route is exceptionally rural; lovely countryside to enjoy, although enjoyment is tempered by the temper of the weather, and typically sparsely populated by people or towns. We are missing that Camino delight of coming upon a village, spotting a café and savouring a drink or a snack. Even if we do find a café or a shop it is usually closed. There is a very narrow window for shopping and restaurants in France. I can only imagine what the French consider a 'work week' - maybe 20-24 hours. Julia talked at length about the different level of stress and intensity working in the hospital here, where she is intern-shipping in anesthesiology. The doctors book patient appointments maybe one or two an hour with the doctor doing the waiting between patients. The surgeons may do two to three operations a day with the surgery rooms resting vacant in between and she says she was stunned to see the surgeons indulging in the huge noon hour mid-day meal complete with wine, definitely at the opposite end of the stress spectrum from what she had experienced in Germany and what I think it is like in Canada and the USA. I'm sure there is a reasonable happy medium here to explore.

For a country that doesn't understand vegetarian, I am certainly being treated so well. Our proprietor/hostess/chef presented us with the most appetizing salad, a simple leaf lettuce with tomatoes and a warm chèvre topped toasted baguette. The main course was quinoa with carrots, roasted tomatoes with basil, green beans and asparagus and a pasta with a creamy mushroom sauce. Dayton has the same but with beef and mushrooms. Then dessert was a homemade Madelaine cake with a vanilla custard and an apple tarte with creme frais. Unfortunately we only have 21kms to walk tomorrow. It will be pretty ironic if I come home from a 1000km walking trip and need to go on a diet and exercise regime to lose weight.

 

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