The way of St. James #35: From Eauze to Nogaro

Today was a shorter walk than recent days. And because I knew that would be the case, I took perhaps a little more time to get up and get organized than might otherwise be the case. But nevertheless, I was on the route before 08:30. I had been staying in the centre of Eauze, so it was easy; the route went straight past my front door.

For the first day since starting, I have had some problems with pains in my legs. They are muscle pains, so it is nothing serious. I think I went too fast, carrying too much weight, on the final stretch yesterday. But it did mean that I was in some discomfort at times today.

In any case, I headed out of Eauze. Not long after leaving the town, I was awarded another sight of the Pyrenees.

They were clearer to the eye than last time, and definitely nearer too, though they are still hard to see in the photograph. They are just a faint line of white peaks above and beyond the distant trees.

I made it to Manciet just past 11:00, which was fairly good going. With the pack that I am carrying, and the terrain I go through, averaging better than 4km per hour is OK, and I was doing that. The countryside is not particularly interesting: more of the fields and vineyards that I have seen over the last few days.

Manciet is not particularly interesting either. The church is closed, though there is a “sacristy of St. Jacques” where one can see into the church, but one cannot enter. But Manciet did allow me to top up my water reserves, which is important. And so I went on.

The next point of interest was a hospital-church of Sainte-Christie. This church belonged to the Order of the Knights of Malta, and was there to help pilgrims with medical and health problems on their way to Santiago.

The church is really in the middle of nowhere, miles from any town of village, but it does provide a reference point, and I was now just 5.5km from Nogaro, my destination for the day.

Here and there on the route, one comes across older, and perhaps less decorative reminders of the pilgrimage nature of the route, and there was one of those close to Nogaro. But the remaining distance was not particularly interesting overall, and I made good time, reaching the town not long after 2 PM. After dropping off my heavy pack, I went to see the town. It actually has not a lot, but some of what it has is interesting. This being a pilgrimage route, there is of course a church. The church is in Romanesque style.

There are side altars, one dedicated to the Virgin Mary (as shown), and one dedicated to Saint Joseph. It was interesting to walk around and see the romanesque style of architecture throughout the building.

I also went to the local pharmacy, where I got a gel and tablets for the pain in my leg. I will know tomorrow if they work well or not.

And finally this evening, there was dinner. As always, it was superb, and very good value. It is impossible to be disappointed with the food in France.

And finally, my step count for the day was 35814. But crucially, I have now passed 200km on this walk. According to the guide books, I have walked 212km of the route to Saint Jean. So that just leaves 168km to go.

The weather has been kind to me so far, with warm days and no rain. The forecast is for that to change dramatically tomorrow. We shall see.