Forging Friendships

As you might imagine, this far from the start of the route, the numbers of pilgrims has rapidly diminished and they are becoming a much rarer breed. This was probably one of the reasons we got lost a couple of days ago: we hadn't a trail of pilgrims in front of us to follow!

However, in some ways the quality of the pilgrims we do meet at the overnight stops has gone up. Last night, at the pleasant town of Aire sur L'Adour, we stopped at La Maison de Pelerins (pilgrims' house) which was a really authentic pilgrim place, run by a pilgrim, for pilgrims. We found ourselves there with our charming French friends, Seb & Anne, who have stayed at the same places as us for three nights on the trot. We were delighted when they asked if we would like to join them for a meal to be cooked in the gite by Seb.

We dined in style, also with a Breton who was on his own, on turkey tagliatelle, cooked in cream and goat's cheese, with green salad. It was delicious and the camaraderie was equally good, especially when we finished off the evening singing English pop songs (mainly Beatles numbers) to Anne's piano playing. The spirit of the camino had surfaced yet again.

It was with us again today this lunchtime, as we sat outside the church at Miramont-Sensacq eating our lunch. A man came out his drive and over to talk to us. He told us he was the Priest, and when we told him our minder was also a priest, he asked us if we would like to come over for a cafe, and to receive the Parish stamp in our pilgrim passports, after we had finished our lunch.

We did exactly this and spent a pleasant time talking with the Priest (in French) in his house and drinking not only his coffee, but in the case of one of us, his armagnac also. Pere Roger, it was lovely to meet you and compare parish notes!

Another special moment, that will remain with us a long time, came yesterday (sorry we're jumping about in time) when we found a note for us left by the 3 friendly Canadian girls, on a noticeboard along the way. It had been left by them on their last day, several days earlier (see our minders' blog for full details). It was great to know they were thinking of us and wanted to say goodbye: we were especially thrilled that us pilgrim bears got a specific mention.

Tonight we are staying in a village called Pimbo, at a 'Centre d'accueil communal'. It is a building for pilgrims run by the local commune. Effectively it is a whole apartment, with all facilities (including real soap powder for our washing) and although there are 5 beds in the dormitory, we have the whole place to ourselves - simply marvellous! Thank you to all pilgrims who have done the extra 5.5 km to reach the town.

We have just cooked ourselves a meal, as we are completely self-contained, and we have been sitting out on the elevated terrace eating it, looking at the incredible views which stretch for miles. They are fast disappearing now as it is getting dark, but is still warm enough to sit outside. It is probably too late now to go and pick the figs we were told to help ourselves to.

Love from the Camino Bears xxx