We were joined at Breakfast by 2 middle aged Germans whom we are seeing regularly now. We were waiting for the owner who was buying fresh bread so time to chat with these women and joke about getting into ‘moods’ on the track and how you deal with them. It’s probably the best time to be moody because there is a non conflictual solution - just slow down or speed up until you are sorted. [...]
My apologies to the pig, her name is Raquel named after someone whose closest identity to a pig would be eating a ham sandwich. Raquel did not eat with us, our French friend (who we see a lot), and Glen, but lay asleep in her basket wrapped in a rug. To get into the French ‘system’, ie being able to be free to do what French citizens can do eg. be on the local council [...]
It’s all happening. Other walkers are getting growled at but new measures are in place since the Aussie had complained - the owner now growls at the dog, and a big man follows up if she is ignored. People are washing clothes and themselves - mostly they don’t shower in the morning to keep bathrooms free for essentials, others are looking for wifi positions - the best being near growler, swapping stories about the day [...]
There was a change over of baggage carriers today and a holiday as well so our case was forgotten, so instead of having that obligatory shower, we looked around. We saw a beautifully designed twelfth century church, with an array of superb architectural components, a simple interior and ascetically pleasing to the eye. The village stretched along the top of a long narrow ridge, the houses beautifully restored, their gardens alive with colour, the street [...]
There were so many walkers in the Gite last night that a young French woman had to sleep in the passageway outside our door. The main problem with this was (being highly trained Gite people) that we couldn’t turn the lights on, and going down the hill (very steep and highly polished stairs) in the dark was quite a challenge, but good walking practice. The graceful L'Adour flows into this town in the shade of [...]
Yvonne was so much fun. I told her about Elena, (owner of our room last night) and the care she took with my big toe. She looked at me suspiciously and said: “Atencion William, atencion”. She went on to say that many people with Parkinson’s have a tendency to chase other women among other socially unacceptable habits (I know this to be true), and was concerned for Corrie. Both Yvonne and a French woman staying [...]
Elena was superb. As she was seeing to the large cut on my big toe, a group of 8 walkers turned up for drinks. I told her they were waiting and she said: “your toe is my most important task at the moment, they can rest a while”. When I am waiting for service in the future, I will remember Elena and my big toe and hope that I never complain again about waiting. She [...]
We ate Italian pasta in a French village with a Swiss man. This was the ‘might be friends with man’ but after ‘deep dinner discourses’, we are now friends. A delightfully gentle, astute and warm linguistic pastor he lives in a town deep in the valley below the mighty Alps. These are the mountains that Corrie fell in love with when living in Europe 35 years ago and started a love affair she has never [...]
Dinner time has now doubled to 16 - our Canadian friends from the canal walk - a Swiss man ‘becoming a friend’ , who is interested in my Parkinson’s walk and ‘wants to be keen’ on writing poems of the walk - a French father and daughter - a French woman taking time out from family for 2 weeks with a woman friend - a blind man with his wife and daughter - 2 men [...]
We ate dinner in the gorgeous triangular park. The cafe owners brought it over to the eight of us - 3 French men, 1 with a daughter, 1 French woman, 1 Polish Frenchman and us. They talked in French over dinner and we are accustomed and comfortable with that - we also enjoy the sounds of their beautiful language. The Polish amateur tenor however spoke very good English and he would often talk with us. [...]
