Days 3 and 4 to Oloron and Les Fountaines

The days pass without a calendar or Internet and I forget the date.

I did not leave a space on my blogspot for two days, 

so I'll have to pinch in all the photos from two days here.

It's so difficult to choose photos

because this route is so beautiful!

Two days ago we walked from Arudy to Oloron.

The priest gave me a micro fleece! Hooray!

 Yesterday we walked from Oloron to Fountaines d'Escot near Sarrance.

 Last night was a thunderstorm so today we walk the highway
 because the path will be too muddy to navigate.
A short day today just half a stage, maybe 12 k. W

Here are the photos from Arudy to Oloron:

This fence was made of lost hiking poles!

Ok.. so we walked FOREVER seeing signs
saying we were almost to
The Devil's Bridge.
And after miles and miles and miles
and miles and miles and miles
we got here.
And this is it.
This
is
it.
This teensy tiny nothing of a bridge.
!

Finally, we reach Oloron.

It's on the river,

and there's some climbing 

to get to our albergue.

I love the way they prune the sycamore trees here.

Can't wait to see it a little later in the Spring,

maybe next year?

 Getting into Oloron was difficult for me.

The last kilometer was basically straight down a very steep street 

and my feet screamed the entire way. 

How do they walk on those streets? ???

A tip I discovered next day: 

when you reach the church the road splits right in front 

you can turn and go right down a very steep incline 

or left and around to the right along a promenade. 

Take the promenade. 

Keep watching down to your left and you will see the grocery market after a short walk. 

Take the stairs down and buy food before heading to the Albergue.

As we arrived the bells were ringing like crazy!

 I wondered who had died!? 

Turns out it wasthe beginning of a holiday, Assumption Day. 

Nothing was open next morning and we were afraid we might not eat until Sarrance. 

But we did find an alimentacion on our way out of town. 

Hooray!

We stayed at Relais du Bastet, 

a private Albergue and again, we were very pleased. 

We had a private room, shared a bathroom and kitchen. 

The albergue is nice,

with a place to wash and hang clothes.

Clean and we paid 20 euro each.

Here is a photo of the inside of the church at Oloron. 

Please take time to visit all the little churches in France. 

They are so ornate and the artwork is incredibly beautiful.

I have the dreaded pilgrim ankle thingy,

that I get each year

after the first few days of walking.

Broken blood vessels

and a reaction to the soap

makes for ugly legs!

 Then there's this little toe

that curls under the next toe

always resulting in a blister.

I have to get this fixed before I walk tomorrow!

It was a long hard walk today,

but a beautiful one!

I am looking forward to the rest tonight.

Tomorrow we walk to Les Fountaines.

TO FOUNTAINES d'ESCOT
(Bed & Breakfast)

This was such a beautiful place to stay.
I hope to visit again some day.
The host was kind and friendly and helpful.
He was very busy working on the place doing remodeling.

It was a muddy trail today

A beautiful home on the river

The wet spots are from their little dogs who had the run of the room, 

but were cute as heck!
I think it was because they were working inside 
and the doors were open.
This was was a very beautiful, clean place to stay.

Door leading to the ancient Roman hot tubs

You have to do a little climbing and rock scrambling to get to the tubs

Can you see what is in this hole?

Ancient steps

Roman times dressing room

Catherine of Bourbon slept here

What a cool room!

Sunset from the porch at Fountaines

At Fontaines d'Escot, we explored old hot baths along the rivers edge. 

We soaked our feet in the cold river and then in the lukewarm 'healing' waters.

 I have to admit my feet and legs were much better next morning!  

 This was a friendly, fascinating place. 

We paid 18 euro each for simple pilgrim rooms. 

No kitchen.

I would stay here again in an instant
just for the experience!

Day 2 - Asson to Arudy

Another beautiful day with unbelievable scenery!

This was the morning sun,

waking me up and saying, 

"Time to go WALK!"

This little market is right off the path 

and opens at 8 am.

We managed to grab a quick breakfast here.

Bread, nutella, pistachios (from California!) and apples

 Much of today's walking was in gorgeous countryside with views of the mountains in the distance. You could hear the tinkling cowbells long before seeing the cows.

I'm having difficulty choosing photos

because they're all so wonderful!

Do you know what this X sign means?

It means DO NOT GO THIS WAY!

I couldn't help but feel sad for the feedlot cows back home when I saw the fat happy cows in the rich green pastures of France. Theirs is such a happy life compared to the cows in California. You can actually taste the difference in the milk and cheese.

The second half of the day was along a river through woodlands.

I lost my fleece somewhere along the road. Joe went back to look for it but it was not to be found. Later that night a French pilgrim said he had found it but left it behind. I couldn't blame him. Every ounce makes a huge difference when you are walking such distances.

 I find two years had made a difference in my endurance level.
I feel my pack is much too heavy
and I have the dreaded 'pilgrim ankles' that plague pilgrims the first week of walking.
It's a shocking red rash that slowly clears.
It's painless and is caused by small vessels breaking
and luckily it goes away after a few days.
I've hobbled into town the last two days.

We reached this beautiful little church,

and I believe it was St. Michael's.

This is a VERY old altar, from Celtic days I'd think

We arrived in Arudy without reservations and found lodging with the Priest Pierre at the presbytery.

All the rooms have names 

and I thought it was sweet that he named mine 

Chambre Portugal,

knowing I was Portuguese!

The room was very pretty with its antique bed and heavy curtains.

We had a lovely community meal with a group of German pilgrims.

Our Priest and host

The priest here does not answer your email but I would email anyway and expect to stay. 

It's a sweet place, donativo. 

The priest has a cat named Tiago 

who he bottle fed three times a day when it was tiny. 

He wrote a book about the cat,which I purchased 

but gave to a child along the way

because I didn't want to carry the weight.

He also keeps white doves out on the veranda. 

Please leave at least 10-12 euros per person. 

Breakfast is also served.