They say that into every life a little rain must fall, and today was the day for it for me on this trip. I had looked at the weather forecast yesterday evening, and it was forecast to rain most of the day. But in reality, there is no such thing as bad weather, only being badly prepared for the weather. I had got myself a new cape, one of the ones that goes over everything, both the person and the rucksack. As can be seen in the heading photo, it makes walkers look like hunchbacks, but I can take that, if it also means staying relatively dry. I say relatively, because moisture permeates, and sweat builds up, but I stayed a lot drier than I otherwise would have.
And so I left Nogaro behind me. The route follows a mixture of roads and forest paths, and after about 7km, I came to the church at Lanne-Soubiran. Some local person had left coffee and even some buns in the porch. As in so many other cases, the whole thing works on an honour system: you take the coffee and you leave a donation. There is no set price.
The inside of the church is simple, in the Romanesque design.
One of the interesting things at this point is a change in the vernacular architecture. The buildings have changed to a half-timbered configuration that was not visible in Department Gers. In some ways it actually seems more English than French.
From there, the guide books differ, with one saying the route is 20km to Aire-sur-l’Adour, and the other saying it is 27.5km. I think the 20km is more correct. But either was, it is a relatively uninteresting long walk on agricultural tracks and roads all the way, broken only by the small village of Lelin-Lapujolle.
As can be seen, it is European Parliament election time, and there have been pleny of posters in evidence along the way, including her in this village. But more importantly for me, there is a refreshment cafe working out of the local school, something that I was very glad to avail of. But otherwise it was a case of just keeping going. I knew I was getting close when I reached the disused railway line, and the route turns right to follow the line to Barcelonne-du-Gers. And somewhere in between Lelin-Lapujolle and Barcelonne, the rain stopped. It is not exactly that the sun came out, but there was enough of an improvement that I I could take off my cape. I passed straight through Barcelonne and went on to Aire-sur-l’Adour.
The town is built on the Adour river, one of several that comes down out of the Pyrenees towards the Atlantic Ocean. The river is shallow at Aire, as can be seen here.
The main part of the town is on the south side of the river. I dropped off my rucksack and went for a walk. There is a cathedral dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, distinctly unimpressive from the outside, but very impressive inside.
And importantly, when visiting the cathedral, I remembered my Créanciale. This is the pilgrim passport to record stops on the way. I had forgotten it when going to the Nogaro cathedral yesterday, and I had forgotten to ask where I stayed last night, so I had no stamp for Nogaro. Therefore it was very important to get one for Aire-sur-l’Adour.
Anyway, I am in Aire-sur-l’Adour right now, and I have just had an excellent dinner.
I really cannot speak too highly of the regional cuisine in this part of France.
And my step count for the day is 44,963.
Walkingman 