We had a delicious lunch of soup, herb omelet, fresh salad from the garden and home made yogurt and fruit in a small farm at the village of Bord! Some of our best meals have been in places like this. Even though the seating was outdoors we were protected from the rain that came while we ate. On walking out of the farm we were accompanied by the sweetest, energetic, labrador mixed dog that simply would not stop accompanying us. We would say "Allez a votra maison" to no effect. We would ask other walkers to assist us in sending the the dog back but they had no luck. Finally she left us in a village 3 km later (picture 284). We probably walked another couple of kilometers on the path and lo and behold saw our dog had reunited with its front yard! The owner and was getting ready to put him on a leash to be taken for a walk!
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| Our Camino Companion from lunch |
Figeac is a lovely old city even when you arrive in the pouring rain,as we did! It took us awhile to find our way through the old medieval parts of town to our very basic Gite. David was ready to walk out on seeing it was a very basic dormitory (Gite St. Joseph), and then stairs up where there was a large outdoor umbrella standing open to protect you from the rain as you moved to the next level in the house. After taking off our boots and stuffing them with newspapers and then putting them on the rack to join all the other wet boots, hanging our soaking jackets on the hooks with the wet ponchos and then our poles to join the others by the door and getting out the clothes and other items we would need for the evening and night and putting them in a bag provided by the Gite, we were then ready to store our backpacks on the shelves with all the other backpacks and find our room. This is the first time we had encountered such a procedure to help eliminate the passing of bed bugs.
When finally being shown to our room we found we had 5 twin beds in it, but we were assured that we would be the only ones sleeping there. The bathroom was around the corner throughout the owner's kitchen, and was shared with 3 other such similar rooms. Our room had been turned into a Chinese laundry with clothes hung to dry everywhere. We had an excellent Internet connection and where able to talk to Jonathan and Kat as they are close to the same time zone. We also talked with David's mother as we had learned that her brother had passed away. It was a good time to have excellent internet! One of the differences we find along the Chemin in France and that in Spain is that in most places here you take demi-pension and you eat en famille with all the other pelerins, usually starting at the late hour of 7:30 and not ending until 9:30pm. Conversation was mostly in French but as always and even in this humble git great effort went into the preparation and presentation of the meal. We ended up having a street light shining into the room all night as there were no curtains, obviously the two young women with this business were still working to bring the Gite up in standard. The next morning we ate the usual breakfast which has been put out and is self serve. The French must have their bread fresh daily and as the bakery does not open until 7am usually breakfast starts shortly thereafter. At breakfast you do not get a plate but rather a paper napkin and deep small bowl. The bowl is what we use as a mug and you put you cafe au lait, tea, or hot chocolate in it, but it is also perfect for dipping your fresh bread or croissant into. The napkin is your paper plate. Everyone cleans up after themselves in the morning - bowls and spoons into the sink and napkins in the trash bin. By 8:30am the place is empty and we are our way.
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