Voie d’Arles Day 5 Wednesday April 25, Auch to L’Isle de Noe

Voie d’Arles Day 5: Auch to L’Isle Noe

22-24 km, (phone miles 19.2 and 41,193 steps).  April 25, 2018.

Oops! A Mistake that Cost Us

Today was supposed to be a good day, but ended up a mixed one.  Low-lying clouds hovered over Auch at dawn, threatening rain.  However, the temperature had dropped, which boded well for walking.  When we exited the ancient presbytere we were happy to find nearby an open patisserie with coffee and pastries, although we would have preferred to walk awhile before dropping the packs we’d just put on.  It was good we stopped, however, as that was the last open shop we would see all day. It was 7:30, and the cathedral bells were ringing as we headed out of town.  We spent quite a bit of time perusing the map and street signs at each intersection, but by 7:45 we were in the country, heading for L’Isle de Noe, which was 22-24 km away.  The walking turned out to be quite hilly and almost all on tarmac, which was hard on the feet.  

At some point, at the top of a very long hill, shortly after a lovely short downhill dirt path through a pine forest, we misread signs and headed off on a very long, somewhat muddy track along an open ridge.  It seemed to be taking a very long time to travel the 4.2 km from the last junction to La Barran.  At last we came out onto the road where it should have been only A kilometer and a half to the village.  Kent wanted to head right, the way the map showed, but the village to the right did not look like La Barran, which was famous for its old gate and twisted church tower.  I could see a steeple like that in the distance, far below us, at least 2 or 3 miles away and off to our left, not to our right.  Was that La Barran? 

We headed toward the distant village, and after 50 minutes or an hour, read with relief the sign at the entrance to the village.  We  had arrived at La Barran, and we were on the right route at last.

We passed the grocery store, closed until after 3—it was now well after 1 pm.  The church was not open, either.  There was a faded sign for a bar that appeared to have been closed for years.  An occasional car passed, but there were no other sign of life. One other shop was closed until 3, and the gite was locked up tight.  We could have called its phone number, but we knew it was already fully booked, and we had reservations in L’Isle de Noe, another one to two hour’s walk away.  We sat on the low wall of the deserted covered market place and divided a granola bar.

The. road distance to l’Isle de Noe was somewhat shorter than the Grande Randonee route, but the road, on which we walked for perhaps half a km, was narrow and very busy, and we’d had enough of road-walking.  

So we headed up into high hills through grassy fields with views that went on forever.  We still could not see the Pyrenees, and clouds hovered over the horizons.  We felt a few raindrops, as we had earlier in the day.  “We’re up in the clouds,” Kent had said.  It was so beautiful, I didn’t care if the path was longer.  At last we wound down through woods and beside more fields and back to the road into pretty L’Isle de Noe.  after rounding a bend and crossing a bridge, nearly at the end of the main street Rue General DeGaulle, we found the Gite, where we were warmly welcomed by Edna Moody, a transplanted English woman.  She was expecting one more pilgrim that evening, and after a bit of beer and conversation, she led us upstairs to a small room containing a double bed pushed against one wall, a sink, a shower, a single dresser, and a bar stool.  There were towels, sheets on the bed, and an enormous comforter. Getting into the shower was a tight squeeze, but the water was hot.  We both showered and crawled under the covers, the bed so soft we rolled together into the center.  I was laughing at the craziness of it all.  Just getting in and out of that bed was major exercise.  We had been chilled after sitting downstairs in our damp clothes and getting out of the shower in the cold room, but warmed up under the covers and fell asleep despite talking about going out to the shop and exploring the town.  We woke just at dinner time and hurried downstairs to meet Alain, the other pilgrim, who was walking for a week from his home in Toulouse, where he works with handicapped students ages 16 to 18.  We had a nice conversation, with the help of some translation from Edna, who served a delicious dinner with salad, shepherd’s pie and carrots.  There was also a dessert of peaches with cream, a bottle of local red wine, and Camembert and Roquefort.  Shortly after dinner we returned to bed and despite a few odd dreams slept soundly until my phone alarm, plugged into the room’s only outlet on the floor behind the door, woke us at 7.  Total cost for the two of us for lodging, dinner and breakfast 60 Euros.