We hadn't pre-arranged any accommodation, as we were attracted by the 'accueil pelerin', special pilgrim only hospitality, listed in our book as being on offer at Miradoux, where we planned to finish. These places work on the basis of voluntary donations, so that people in need are never turned away because of their inability to pay.
It was also a no reservations place, with a philosophy that we approved of: that a place is reserved for those who have not reserved.
We asked the lady owner, Therese, if she had spaces for us and were shown to a private room with double bed (with sheets, unlike gites d'etape) and a sink, so our minders were instantly happy. After dumping our sacks 2 beers were produced for us and a laundry basket came out with the instruction that we were to put out our dirties for washing.
Therese is a very colourful character who is the embodiment of all that the camino is about, and it is people like her who make this pilgrimage an experience that is far more than just a walk.
She must be in her 60s, has a bit of a walking disabilty, so has not been able to walk to Santiago herself, but instead has made it her retired life's work to look after pilgrims, including bears.
Here's me (Gio) with Therese after she stamped my pilgrim passport and wrote in a lovely message.
It is not quite the nirvana it first sounds, as her house is very ramshackle and cluttered, and needs a serious amount od of D.I.Y. But things like that aren't really important are they?
Although she is only supposed to have 8 places, 13 humans and 3 bears, sat down to dinner, and everyone was staying!
We had a lovely salad to start, served with bread and pates. We thought that was it, as we thought Therese had said we would be having a simple meal together. But no, out came a huge roasting tin full of pork and chicken, and dishes of potatoes and haricot verts. Yorkie did his best piranha impression, but even so there was lots left over.
As we left Therese's to head for today's destination of Lectoure, we found the route was a lot shorter than we expecting due to a change in the routing of the GR65, and so we had arrived by lunchtime. We had a black spaniel escort for 11km of the way and we just couldn't get him to go back home. We did manage to hide and lose him in Lectoure, only to bump into him again, in a bar, an hour later. Fortunately he didn't seem to recognise us second time round.
Lectoure kept reminding us of Hannibal Lecter, so we decided we didn't want to stay there and pressed on another 9km to a village with a lovely gite, where we have a 4 bed room and facilities to ourselves and we can smell a delicious meal cooking. We think this was a rather good move and it also means we can get into Condom tomorrow, a day early, hopefully to be reunited with the missing poddy.
Love from the Camino Bears xxx
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