At the end of this trip my backpack and I are parting ways and " we are never getting back together again." And to mix metaphors or movie quotes, " As God is my witness, I am never carrying twenty pounds on my back for 49 days, or even two days, again." Now that that is out there, I will continue with my regular rant and blog.
Toulouse is definitely a happening city; modern in its vibrancy and pace yet it speaks to another time and place with its regal well preserved ancient architecture. It is a city that doesn't sleep, at least not much. The streets below our hotel window were lively and loud until early morn. Not a problem since we needed to be up early anyway to be at the train station right across the street from our hotel by 6:45am. We had intended to walk out of Toulouse to the city of Pibrac and on another five kilometres to Léguevin but the very helpful gentleman at the Accueil at the Saint- Sernin Basilica cautioned us that leaving Toulouse was several hours of walking through industrial areas so we followed his not so subtle advice. We took the train to Pibrac and started walking to L'Isle Jourdain. It was tough..at least for me, and it should not have been that tough as it was under 25kms and I had new boots.
Okay so the saga of the boots, hopefully the last instalment, and it ends with a bit of synchronicity....When we got to the Office de Tourisme in Toulouse yesterday we were directed to a sports store, Decathalon. It was on the way to our hotel so that was the first bonus. The store did not have much selection in hiking boots, especially womens' but one of their two choices was a Merrell boot, Vibram soles with Gortex waterproofing which was just like my boots only maybe a little older model and colour, but they only had four pairs of boots left....and they were all the size I needed!!! Now when does that ever happen? I am happy, my feet are happy and I'm guessing Dayton is happy.
Despite happy feet today was still a long haul. Finding L'Isle Jourdain was like looking for Brigadoon. It was always one more hill to climb and one more field to cross, one more road to walk down and I was beginning to think L'Isle Jourdain appeared only once in a hundred years and this was not the year. But finally mid-afternoon we found it. We still had another two kilometres to find the tourist centre and our hotel but when we did we were surprised to find ourselves at lovely summer resort hotel with a lake in front of us, a balconied room, a rosé and a biere, and a restaurant for dinner tonight. This does not come without a price but we are wise enough not to ask too many questions...like 'how much?' On the lake in front of us is an interesting 'sport'. It's tethered snowboarding on water. The board riders hold onto long wires with waterskiing t-bar handles that swivel from huge overhead cables that take them in big circles around a circuit or slalom course of jumps and stunts. About eight boarders were going around and around and around the circuit, doing wheelies and flips for the onlookers. I'm not sure they could stop of they wanted to.
View from our balcony.
For the first time in seven long hiking trips Mefix has failed me. I have a blister! And not from the new boots. This blister surfaced and consumed my little sausage toe before the big boot exchange. Hopefully, 8.50€ worth of Compeed will be the answer.
If Compeed is not the answer, maybe the elegantly served dinner is compensation, I had a salad plate and Dayton opted for the regional delicacies..all duck; a salad with duck confit, followed by an entree of duck legs and vegetables and completed with a choice of desserts, one of which was a blueberry tart to die for. Dayton paired with with a multi-layered custard cake and we waddled out just in time for bed.
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