Still Burning Those Haagen Das Bars

I've been walking for almost four weeks now and I still don't think I've burned off those four ice cream bars I ate, one after the other back in July.  Although it was obviously Dave's fault for falling asleep without eating his two, I'm not one to cast blame. 

In staying at the same place I stayed last time, in a town called Larceveau. It's halfway between St. Palais and St. Jean Pied de Port. I probably could have walked straight through but I think the weather is going to improve enough by Sunday to make it worth doing the 1300m climb up the Napoleonic route. 

There were 16 straight hours of thunderstorms last night and this am so I came reasonably close to staying put in St Palais today. I left at around 10:30 this morning and made it here by 3pm - without getting a drop of rain on me. 

I'm still using the same non-store-bought walking stick I found in the woods south of Tours almost four weeks ago. It's still hanging in there so the plan is to take it the rest of the way. 

Yesterday I mentioned a a specific spot where the three French pilgrimage routes converge. In pretty sure this is it.

 

Church Bell Overkill

I guess there's a certain charm to marking the time of day with church bells. Most towns ring them from eight am to eight pm but that village I was in last night (the one with no food) takes bell ringing to a whole new level. They ring theirs 24 hours a day. Just in case you miss the count, they repeat the ringing two minutes after the hour, so youll know its midnight when you hear the friggin bell ring 24 times. It almost seems as if the bell ringers union has a master chief negotiator. This is the view from the town hall studio I crashed in. The bell tower is pointed right at me!

Basquing in St. Palais!

About 6km from here is where the Tours Route meets the Le Puy route. It's a specific spot marked by a Basque monument that has been "the spot" for more than 1000 years.  

I'm in the town of St. Palais. It's technically on the Tours route, but I came here in the spring because its only a few km off of the Route that I took (Le Puy). 

It's great to be back!  There is wifi everywhere and women all have these cute short haircuts. In fact it's a little better than last time because the main square was all torn up, and now the construction is finished. 

The laundry stars aligned today. I thought I remembered a laundromat in the main square from last time and sure enough I was right. So I'll be starting the actual Camino all squeaky clean. 

Basque houses are really nice. 

Next Career?

There was a big street fair in Peyrehorade this morning. Just about everything you'd ever want could be found there. The most impressive vendor to me though was the Chausseres Carricart. An 18 wheeler sized mobile shoe store. 

First Chapel!

It's hard to believe but it took over three weeks to see my first chapel. I was about to take a picture of it when a guy behind me said "you can go in if you'd like" (first in French, then once he saw my blank expression, in English). He and his wife are Dutch and live across the street from it. They bought an old house a few years back and the chapel was on their property so they restored it. I'm really glad the guy encouraged me to check it out because they really did a nice job with it!

Nice To Be Back

I'm officially out of the Landes region and in the Pyranees-Atlantic. 

Remember the town where hotels are closed on Sundays?  And the one where bars are closed on Mondays?  I'm in a place called Bergouey-Viellenave where there's no food at all. No stores, restaurants or bars. 

I thought I might have made it to St. Palais today but it was 40km not 31 so 

I'm staying at a studio apartment in the town hall, for 10e. A nice little place that even has a washing machine. There's no clothes line though so I'll just continue hand washing a couple of things at a time every couple of days until the washing machine stars are perfectly aligned. 

News Flash!

A lady just came knocking at my door introducing herself as the lady who owns a fancy charcuterie 20km away. A charcuterie is like a fancy deli and she phoned her husband an order of a baguette, some cheese, sausage, string beans, two peaches, two apples, a yogurt, two beers and a half bottle of red wine. She'll bring over when her husband gets home. Woohoo!

End of News Flash

I'm so glad to be in hilly terrain. Not only is the scenery far more beautiful but the hills really make for a more comfortable walk. Pure flat walking puts so much repetitive stress on the same parts of my feet and legs that after just a couple of hours it's very painful. The hills seem to stretch out my feet and probably bring some extra blood to the legs as well so this was the most comfortable 26km I've had in a long time. 

I took a lot of pictures today but the 10e town hall studio doesn't seem to have wifi. In fact I'm not getting any cell service at all from in here so I'll walk around later & try to post this. 

Pyranees

An hour or two out of Dax I came to the biggest hill of the trip so far. It wasn't all that big compared to what's ahead, but I'd hoped that when I got to the top I'd see some new scenery. I wasn't disappointed, as the front range of the Pyranees finally presented itself. 

St. Palais was one of my favorite towns on the Le Puy route and is 31 km from Peyrehorade, where I am now. I was pretty beat up by the end of yesterday's 24km trek here so I don't know if I'll make it there today.