A peaceful walk today - not too far - with a mid-afternoon arrival in our gite, another excellent one - more on that tomorrow.
We enjoyed last night in Marciac very much, in a vibrantly decorated and comfortable gite (a converted barn), with hosts Isabelle and Yves in the adjoining house. The gite has 10 places, but the French and I were the only two so we had the whole house to ourselves. The cathedral spire was right outside our window.
No demi-pensione this time (just bed and breakfast) as the town has half a dozen restaurants and bars. But Yves kindly invited us to join him for an aperitif before we went for dinner, so we sat around the gite kitchen table enjoying a vin rouge and learning about the world famous Maricac Jazz Festival. Yves also pointed us in the right direction to a restaurant specialising in traditional local cuisine. Yum.
Maricac (population 3000) has a jazz festival each year - for two weeks from late July to mid August. The upcoming festival is the 39th and, over the two weeks, more than 300,000 people will attend. Everyone in the town rents out rooms and private homes become pop up bars and restaurants. Camping grounds and neighbouring villages and towns are full to capacity every year. Yes said next year, the 40th, will be even bigger! Sounds like a lot of fun.
www.jazzinmarciac.com
We left Marciac around 8.30 this morning and took our time to walk the 24 kms to our destination tonight. Nothing remarkable to report but two moments will stay with me.
Late in the morning our quiet country path took us alongside the large grounds of a beautiful home, partly obscured by a stone fence and gardens. We noticed that one of the trees had a pilgrim shell affixed - and then another, and another, and another. Whether the residents have walked a Camino, or just like to acknowledge the pilgrims passing by, we'll never know. But I thought it was quite a lovely idea and would be much appreciated by those who pass that way.
Not long after, again more or less in the middle of nowhere, our path took us by another large home set in a lovely garden. I stopped to take a photo and suddenly a lady was at the window on the upper floor calling out to me. I wasn't sure what she said, but she sounded friendly and I got the feeling she wanted me to wait and she would come out. Domi was just a little way ahead, and I called to him that I thought the lady was coming down but I wasn't sure if that was what she said. So we waited a few minutes and sure enough she came out to the front gate. She was very friendly and up for a chat.
Long story short, this lovely home has been with her family since it was built in 1730. She told us the front door is exactly as it was built, almost 300 years ago. She lives there with her husband - they have been together for 54 years, married for 45. Today is their wedding anniversary. They have no children and are not sure what will happen to the house after they go.
Domi told her a little about us, how we met etc, and that he now lives in Australia, and we had also just had a second anniversary of our first meeting. She seemed delighted at the idea. She told us that many pilgrims and hikers stop to take a photo and she imagines there are photos of her house all around the world. She invited us in but we still had some way to walk, so we said we'd best keep going. We thanked her for coming out to speak to us, and wished her a joyeux anniversaire and au revoir.
We went on our way and a few hours later arrived at the rural gite known as Happy Coulson - in the large home of Chris and Kate Coulson, two former British journalists, and their children, who moved here about four years ago. I'm curious to know more.
J x
