Day 9 : Montréal du Gers to Éauze

Psalm 145:18-20 "The Lord is near to all who call on Him in truth. He fulfills the desire of all who fear Him, He also hears their cry, and saves them. The Lord watches over all who love Him."

Montréal-du-Gers looked like a promising place, but, unfortunately, it must have been off-season now as many of the places seemed to be closed. While pilgrim-walkers like me were quite visible, the residents appeared largely absent, as in Auvillar.  Maybe it would have seemed more normal, but because of the Indian summer, the absence of available open-air cafés and bars was striking.

The only restaurant that I could find open

I had both lunch and dinner at La Petite Escale, a pizzeria, actually, which appeared to be the only place open.  Fortunately the food wasn't bad, and they had a pilgrim special.

Well the plan had been to visit the Gallo-Roman ruins in Séviac, but the short hours of the site made such a visit impossible. There had been one mosaic from Séviac displayed in the church in Montréal-du-Gers, but it was just a small fragment. Too bad... there are some Roman ruins in Éauze as well, but since I am supposed to be meeting Gerard Zegers from the Via Podiensis Facebook group, I don't know if that will be realistic to plan a visit.

13the century church of Sainte-Marie

Mosaic from Séviac in the church

 

Leaving the next morning in search of the correct path

"Your only assignment is to be happy" The Alchemist

much of the way would be on covered railroad track

 

The day didn't start off well. First I took a wrong turn and missed some scenic countryside, then I discovered my phone was dark (I had turned both the sound down and had set the brightness level to practically zero so as not to awaken my gîte-mates in the early morning). I also discovered later that I had left a change of clothing in the bathroom of the gîte, but the host, Christian, took my things to another gîte/rest stop along the way where I retrieved them. Actually the walk to Éauze was quite pleasant.

The gîte where my lost clothing was deposited

Approaching Éauze

the view from Gerard's house--the Via Podiensis is not far from it

Gerard Zegers and his wife

Gîte Communal where I planned to stay

House belonging to Jeanne d'Albret, mother of Henry IV

Éauze, once the Gallo-Roman city of Elusa, fell under the Wisigoths in the 5th century. A monastery was founded in 980 AD, which became attached to the powerful Cluny order in 1088.

The cathedral dedicated to St. Luperc dates from the 15th century, but the original church there from at least the early 4th century

I visited the cathedral while waiting for the gîte to open, then called Gerard Zegers, one of the other administrators for the Way of Saint James, Via Podiensis FB group, as he had invited me over to his home for dinner.  While at his house, there was a terrible storm, actually a wave of storms, and I ended up spending the night there rather than at the gîte communal as planned.