It rained heavily last night and was still raining this morning, though it had eased off. Martine and Guy decided not to walk today, so we left them after breakfast with a plan to see them in Lodeve tomorrow night, if not before. They have old friends, whom they haven't seen for ages, coming to meet them in Lodeve for dinner, and have invited us to join them. And to top it all off, we are staying in a hotel. It's a reasonable sized town, and will only take us the morning to walk there tomorrow, so seemed like the ideal time for a hotel splurge!
So, this morning we set off with Suisse Bettina and French Bruce - and walked with one or both of them at various times. Bettina stopped today at Montpeyroux, our half way point. The camino passes by the entrance to the town, but we walked in a kilometre or so with Bettina so we could find a cafe for lunch out of the rain, and she could look for a gite or chambre d'hôte. She said goodbye and thanked us for the help we'd given her in the past two days - but we said not goodbye, but Bon Chemin / Buen Camino. People have a way of turning up again on The Way, so you never know.
We last saw Bruce an hour or so after lunch. He was a bit worse for wear - he'd had a slide in the mud, and also realised he'd left his towel at last night's gite, so was feeling a bit down. He was heading to the same village as us, so we may see him tomorrow on The Way to Lodeve. In the meantime, we are very happily settled in the lovely home of Charlotte. Quite a contrast to last night's gite in Saint Guilhem.
When Martine called Saint Guilhem the day before our arrival, the Gite du Club Alpin de France happily informed us , 'Yes, we have a room for four'. Excellent. That would be fine for us. And when we arrived and made our way up the narrow stairs to the first floor, initial impressions were promising. A large kitchen and even larger dining area for those who want to cook and eat in the gite. Clean modern showers and toilets. So to the second floor and the dormitory rooms - one for three, one for four (ours) and anther large room for 10. But not quite what we had envisaged. I've included a photo - one large bench with four mattresses side by side. Just two things to say about that - after the initial shock had subsided, it wasn't as uncomfortable as you'd imagine, and we all had a reasonable night's sleep. The other thing to say is a message from Domi to Rosanne, Wendy and Ross who I know are checking in on this blog from time to time. Domi says, 'be sure I will make all accommodations for our tour gastranomique next year. I'm sure I can find a good room like this but for five, not four'.
Tonight, we are at Charlotte's house. It's delightful here. We arrived around 4 this afternoon, muddy and bedraggled. Charlotte ushered us inside, where we sat around her kitchen table with a hot cup of tea. We quickly found out that one of Charlotte's daughters is on a working holiday and has been living in Melbourne (and loving it) for the past two months. It's her room we are in tonight - a lovely bright room with a large and comfy bed, a very effective heater, and a tranquil view from the glass doors (last picture). And a bathroom with a bath that I spent quite a lot of time in this afternoon. We've just finished a wonderfu home-made dinner with Charlotte, topped off with fromage, vin rouge and easy conversation. Luckily for me, Charlotte's English is 'formidable'.
We have no need to leave early in the morning as we have a short walk into Lodeve - so we will see Charlotte again over petit dejeuner at 8.
What a wonderful day on The Way. We are two very happy and grateful pilgrims!
J x
