Day 23 La Romieu to Condom It's lovely having the church in front of us but what can I say when the first bells start at 5.00 and then they have a little melt down and send out a few more random chimes afterwards that don't seem to marry up to any significant time- perhaps the computerised system of belling is not as efficient as the monk's system. Madame has made it clear she won't serve breakfast until 8.00 so there are a few bells to listen to before we can...

Day 22 Lectoure to La Romieu It's a walking day today and with the winter months approaching means the mornings are getting darker. It's almost time to get out our head torches in order to find our little markers. We leave Lectoure and the Ger River behind in the morning darkness and head out into the land of rich agriculture. There are no pretty canals to walk alongside today but instead large swathes of farmland all being primed for the next lot of crops. Le...

Day 21 Lectoure Our breakfast this morning was extra special as Madam is the cook of the house and the restaurant attached so she took a lot of pride in her food. Our chocolate chaud (hot chocolate) was real melted chocolate mixed with cream which was perfect and made it a very enjoyable start. As we wait for the van I use the time to browse through a gallery across the road from where we stayed the night. It is exhibiting works of Jean-Louise Toutain - the lar...

Day 21 Moissac to Auvillar I am sure you will understand my rejoicing today as I can celebrate the opening of this post with the statement 'Today enroute there were No Rocks, No Stones' - unbelievable my feet don't know what's wrong and it's the first time I think in three weeks that I arrive at our destination without the throbbing in the boots. The mist was thick at the beginning due to the fact that the town is next to the river and the canal and it creates ...

Day 20 Lauzerte to Mosaic I write this next section for those who have requested information about the gourmet side of this trip and I must recount the dinner we had last night. If you recall we had a rather wet start to our evening and then to add insult to injury we found we were too early for the restaurants so back to the hotel dripping wet we go, heading out again not so long after this time squelching. I'm surprised that they let us in the door the amount...