Psalm 16:11 "You will show me the path of life, in your presence is fullness of joy, at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore."
Finally cooler weather! As it had rained violently yesterday in several successive storms while I was visiting Gerard Zegers and his wife, Magda. I spent the night with them.
The rain continued lightly the following morning, but Gerard drove me back to the gîte where I had left my poles, boots and silk sleep sack, and was kind enough to give me a head start along the route, actually several kilometers, so I could avoid unnecessary mud. As a result I had only a few kilometers to walk, feeling quite rested and refreshed.
Before leaving Éauze, Gerard took me to see the recently renovated former 13th century benedictine chapel from the hospital of Saint Martin. This former Cluny-supported 11th century hospital had once served the poor, but more notably, those walking to Santiago de Compostela, hence the new scallop shell design shown below in the pavement attests to that.
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| la chapelle de l'hôpital Saint-Martin |
As I walked, I passed through the little town of Manciet with its church, Notre Dame de Pitié, and its small arena (used for bullfighting!), then continued on in spitting rain to my gîte, Le Haget, in Cravencères. At le Manciet, a variant of another pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela, the Via Tolosana joins from Auch, but there are probably few that travel it, and I didn't note any increase in numbers of people walking.
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| Arena (for bull-fighting) in Manciet |
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| school children on a field trip |
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Having reached my destination way ahead of schedule, I walked a little further to the small outpost chapel once belonging to the Knights of the Order of Malta in the late 12th century, before returning to my gîte (shown above). As I walked back there, in passing, it became a small reunion as I ran into a number of pilgrims I had met along the way nearby.
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| Le Relais Équestre du Haget |
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