A long day on The Way today, with a difficult afternoon - rain, wind, mud. But, as usual, everything falls away as soon as you find yourself in a lovely gite - as we have again tonight - and, after a hot shower, into clean (ish), dry clothes.
But I won't be sidetracked tonight. I want to write about Edna's story. Dear Edna, who looked after us - and the three lovely French girls - so well last night and sent us on our way this morning.
Yesterday afternoon I asked Edna how she came to be in the small village of L'Isle de Noe (population 21). She arrived in 2005. Just prior to that Edna had owned and run a pub near Manchester in England. After 13 years she decided it was time for a change. Just one day after putting the word out that the pub was for sale, another pub owner from a nearby district agreed to buy it. A few days later Edna saw an ad for a Grande Maison for sale in a village in south west France. She decided to buy it. She didn't speak a word of French. She had never been to France.
A short time later Edna arrived in L'isle de Noe with a couple of suitcases and a few thousand euros - the difference between what she paid for the Maison and the proceeds from the pub. She told us that she really didn't know what she was expecting to do but she was up for the adventure. Her family and friends thought she was crazy, and she could see why. At the time Edna was a mother and grandmother - she's now a great grandmother.
The Grande Maison tuned out to be a former Michelin 2 star auberge restaurant - Auberge de Gascoigne - but that was well in the past. It is now pretty much as it was when she arrived. The ground floor an enormous open plan room which had been the restaurant and kitchen; upstairs, 7 bedrooms each with a shower and sink built into one corner, as well as two toilets, still with the ladies and gents signs affixed to the doors. The bedrooms had most likely been for the auberge staff. When going through the paraphernalia left in the Maison, Edna found menus for the former Auberge in both Francs (from 35 years before) and a later one in euros. Domi said the menus and prices reflected its status and people would have come from near and far. It was fascinating to look through these old and faded artefacts.
One day, a few months after Edna arrived, there was a knock at the door. She opened it to find an Italian man, with a backpack, asking if she knew of anywhere he could find a bed for the night as he'd been walking all day. She said she had plenty of spare rooms so he could stay there the night. As the village had no bar or restaurant (still doesn't), Edna offered to cook the man dinner. The man offered to pay but Edna would hear none of that. She explained to us that, luckily for her, he spoke excellent English and they were easily able to communicate.
During the dinner the man asked Edna 'why aren't you in the guide?' 'What guide?', she answered. He was talking about the Miam Miam Dodo, at that time the main guide to Chemin d'Arles, the Way of the Compostela. She said she looked at him blankly. She had no idea what he was talking about. She'd never heard of the Arles Way, a Chemin or a Compostela. He asked if he could give her details to his local association and the publishers of the guide in case others needed accommodation. Ok, she said - though she really didn't understand what he was on about. The next day he left to continue his walk.
Edna didn't think much more about the Italian man until some months later whe she got a phone call from some other walkers asking if they could reserve some beds for a few nights later. She was a bit surprised - how did they even know her number - but she said yes that would be fine. There were some logistics to organise - beds to make up, food, how much to charge. But she worked it out. And so it continued. Edna has been hosting pelerins (pilgrims) for almost ten years - she's now in all the guide books - and she said she absolutely loves it.
It was a real treat to stay at Chez Edna. For a change, I was the one able to speak easily with our host - in English - which I'm sure she enjoyed as well. After more than 10 years, Edna's French is still quite limited (but enough to get by) and is flavoured by a strong Manchester lilt. I'm not sure how easy it was for Domi and the French girls to understand Edna, either in English or French, but you could see they, like me, responded to her warmth, generosity and down to earth nature. To me, Edna is what we would call 'salt of the earth'.
Last night's dinner was a wonderful combination of French fare and English pub food. A delicious salade compose to start, followed by shepherd's pie with carrots and endives, fromage (a blue and a camembert), then apple crumble with cream and ice cream. After dinner, Edna 'warned' us that PDJ would be more English than French. And so it was. Fried eggs, canned tomatoes and toast (ie sliced toast, not baguettes!). I wondered what The French and the other French would make of that - surely their first English breakfast on the Arles Way - but I noticed that everyone seemed to embrace the fried eggs, sliced toast and even the canned tomatoes,
Soon after breakfast, it was time for Domi and I to go - big hugs all around and many thanks for her warm hospitality. Edna waved us off, standing in the doorway of her Grande Maison gite, still in her dressing gown. If we are ever nearby L'Isle de Noe again, I'm sure we will knock on Edna's door.
J X
