Stage 16: Lauzerte - Moissac, 28kms, Sunny, 24 (4) Friday Sept 4, 2015

Settling In!

Not a bad morning sunrise! Up early and off into the early light just as the sun was rising today. We really enjoyed our stay in Lauzerte. The gite was great with good hosts and great food and our room was simple, but nice. A couple of photos from around and about. Start with the view from the gite.

We went in to have a look see last evening and have a cold beer.

The village square was all set up for dining out Thursday which is held all summer long, and this was the last week. Too bad we were unaware and had scheduled dinner at the gite as the food looked great. Live and learn!

The town is Middle Ages vintage and very nicely preserved.

As we drank our beer we noticed these two walk by and thought that it seems odd that he's not riding?

I mean, who does this? His partner is even worse at this process. She's carrying her pack and walking!! I considered offering a few pointers, but thought better of it. We followed them much of of the day today...hoof marks and poop along the trail. Happy when they stopped for lunch in a field and we passed them:-).  A much cleaner trail!

I find when we get together to walk that there is a period of adjustment for both of us. Clearly I enjoy long stages, walking at my own pace and I'm ok with a simple cheap bed in a dorm. Annemarie prefers shorter stages, walking at a slower pace and likes a step up from a bunk in a common room. Now I get it, and fully understand, but it takes me a few days to adjust...I guess I'm a bit slow in this respect. Into our third day and we are beginning to find our walking rhythm together. We are walking shorter stages, slower and somewhat together, we are stopping for morning coffee and we are also staying a bit more upscale with a room of our own, but still in a gite. This will allow Annemarie to hopefully complete her part of the walk in relative comfort. I will be continuing on anyway and can get back to my fast cheap habits, but I'll be a bit spoiled by this experience, so I am a bit concerned about the second half of the walk! Can I stay in a cheap bunk bed ever again?

The walk out of town this morning was simply stunning!

Lots of storm damage in the area we transited today. Many trees down or still standing, but completely shattered. Crops simply blown down, and the same with telephone poles. We had to walk below the trail here as a huge part of this tree was down across the track.

The trees in this area look like they were hit by star burst cannon shells. Shredded.

These are sunflowers, squashed flat and there were fields of them like this.

It was a day of clambering over and around debris.

Some other pleasant sights from the day. A grain storage special to this area we are told.

A beautiful old church,

Beautiful trails...

Lovely scenery...as always.

Typical French country roads that bring back so many memories from past travels here.

Unusual parking facilities?

Horses in the fields,

And our first run in with a nasty dog.

Some dogs just don't like to be photographed. He was on me very quickly, but a walk in the park after those huge Spanish outback dogs. Jacques gave me his pepper spray for those dogs, but I wouldn't waste it on this one. Madame finally came out to get control of her dog, but she wasn't having much success either. Our host tonight said there have been a number of dog attacks with deep bites in this area. Tomorrow I will be carrying the pepper spray. Merci Jacques!

And lastly, for Paul in Vancouver, our hosts are a couple from Dublin and their nephew and his partner are moving to Victoria next month. Small world. This was on the wall...

Best to everyone. Linda and David, have a great vacation on the boat, and we hope you have great weather!

Bon Chemin!