It rained all night. It rained all morning. It rained most of the afternoon. 30mm in 24 hours and on a day where I walked 29km and an elevation of 850m.
Luckily I didn’t have to check-out before 12 o’clock, but I hoped that the rain at least eased up before that, given the length of today’s walk. The weather forecast didn’t bring much hope, as it indicated that the rain would stop mid-afternoon. So I waited until the last possible moment to leave, spending the time downloading photos to the cloud and talking to my Belgian neighbour across the balcony – one of several couples that returned each year to this hotel during this week.
At breakfast I was reminded of being in France. In Spain they always say hello and goodbye when entering and leaving an elevator. In France one always says good morning when entering the dining room for breakfast – even at hotels. An old lady in er 80’s, immaculately dressed, entered the room, said good morning and stood still. After a minute she asked whether anybody was going to say good morning to her! Most were foreigners, but the French looked up and said bonjour madame.
I also spent some of the morning planning an alternative route longer, but largely on roads bypassing the majority of what must now be very muddy paths.
It was still raining when I left the hotel and there were puddles everywhere, but the rain got lighter during the early afternoon and had more or less stopped by the time I reached Asson after 10km. Like the past few days it was a walk primarily through farmland.
The rivers and streams were reaching their limits, some spilling over their banks. As I approached Bruges, I met a man, knee deep in water with a 10cm wide pipe in hand. He told me that it was expected that the flooding from the close by stream (pictured above) could pass through it flooding. A pipe ten times bigger would not have managed.
I took a break at Bruges, hoping for a cafe or similar where I could dry out or at least a supermarket or similar, but no such luck. I ended up eating the little I has on the town square under an arch, looking out towards the town hall.
I continued along a main road, with very few cars passing until Lys, with flags across the main street, and then a path/local road before following yet another main road towards with a final decline towards the bridge over the Ossau river and on into Arudy.
I found the hotel on the main square, covering the almost 30km in 6 hours with a 30 minute break. My feet were wet but fine and was looking forward to a couple of hopefully shorter days.
I had dinner at the hotel, I order the main course, breast of duck (larger than one my wife and I would share back home) and the waiter proposed a light salad to start. Her definition of a light salad is in the picture below. Still managed a dessert – clafoutis. I didn’t go to bed hungry.
