She Said It Couldn't Be Done

Sabrina, the B&B lady from last night was positive. It would be unthinkable for anyone to get lost doing from Bouisset to Castres.

As I pulled into the extremely quaint village of Cassounes I sensed something wasn't right. Where were the red and white way-marks?  I'll dispense with the excuses except to say that the morning was mostly through a logging region and there didn't seem to be many places for a way-mark. But it was all downhill like it was supposed to be and my shadow indicated that I was headed west.

Anyway, I ran into a guy on the street and asked him where the Chemin St. Jacques was. He gesticulated in multiple directions and motioned me to go inside his house. The wife and three kids heard the commotion and gathered in the front room. The man graciously explained that people mistakenly ended up in Cassounes all the time. He drew me a map which showed the mark that I had missed was five km back up the logging road and from there it would be another six km to Boissezon (the town I THOUGHT I was in).  He gave me a look of resignation and seemed to think that was the only option. His son, who seemed to be in his late teens spoke a little English and vetoed Dads conclusion. He insisted that I should take the main road to Boissezon because it was only six km from where we were. Dad concurred and drew me another map showing me exactly what to do when I got to Boissezon to pick up GR653.

The road was a little hairy so I went as fast as I could, and made it in just over an hour. I immediately saw the GR653  sign and headed down. After about 100 meters it became a fairly steep uphill for at least the next km. I say "at least" because that's when I ran into two guys with long distance backpacks and hiking poles coming from the other direction. One of them said "Are you coming from Castres?"  I said no, that I was going TO  Castres. "That's funny" he said, "So are we!".  The GR routes are marked the same way in both directions. I was on GR653 allright, but headed the wrong way. If I hadnt run into them I would have gone back to the turn I missed. The only mark would have been back to Bouisset, where I would have explained to Sabrina that she was wrong about it being impossible to get lost on the way to Castres. 

The two guys are the ones whose footprints I've been following for the last couple of days. I past them yesterday when they stopped earlier than I did. Dominic is the guy I talked to. He's French but lives in England. The other guy is Luigi. I'm guessing Italian. They only went as far as Boissezon today but our paths will probably cross again, so to speak. Even after 9.5 hours and 36+ km, it was a beautiful day to get lost.

I almost forgot that I got my first glimpse at the Pyranees this morning. Spectacular!  These two pictures are of that view (look closely) and of Cassounes - the village I didn't mean to visit.