Jour 1 : Aire sur l'Adour

Prepare your work outside; get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house."     Proverbs 24:27 (ESV)

Well I made it out the door by 6 am, a major feat in itself, considering my jet-lag. The train, not-surprisingly, was fairly empty and quite new. A very pleasant ride. Unfortunately it only went as far as Agen, and there was a longish bus ride to follow.

I almost missed my bus, though, having only a minute to spare. There had been only 9 minute connection time and my train was 4 minutes late sending me into a nervous panic. But I made it!

I was early as my gite didn't open until 3 pm, so I had plenty of time to wander around and revisit a few places I had seen last year.

I walked down by the Adour river and noticed that it looked a little low. It must have been a pretty dry summer. The cornfields and rows of  sunflowers we had driven by en route looked dried up as well. But I was thankful for the cool dry weather at the moment. Perfect hiking weather.

France has changed, I noted. Even during the time I have been visiting. Yesterday I had read that all of the old phone booths were being removed. Today I noticed that the young woman at the brasserie where I stopped for a beer, with the tattooed serpent in her left arm and bright turquoise green nails, ordered an "iced tea," pronounced  more or less correctly. And this is Aire sur l'Adour not Paris! Amazing.

In Aire sur l'Adour I had already visited the St. Quiteria Church with its crypt and marble sarcophagus belonging to the 5th century saint. I had seen the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, and attended the pilgrim mass there. I had also taken in the 19th century corn exchange, the Saturday covered market and walked along the banks of the Adour River. Now there was time to relax after my day's journey.  I had been a physical wreck when I left last year because my walk had exceeded my normal day's trek by 5 kilometres. I had paid the price and subsequently spent the next two weeks recovering from my excess in Paris and then Rockville.

I had time to kill before my gîte opened, so I stopped and had a beer at a café, and wandered around exploring a few places I hadn't visited before.

La Cathédrale St- Jean-Baptiste

the cathedral's medieval garden

the market

the old grain market

walked around the canal

and climbed back up to the St. Quitterie church

 

visited the Ste. Quitterie fountaine

 

By then my gîte was open.  It was a strange place, the Chapelle des Ursulines. This former Ursuline chapel has been converted into a gîte d'étape for pilgrims walking to Santiago de Compostela. It was one thing to sleep in a former convent, quite another to spend the night in the chapel itself. 

Apparently the Ursulines left in 1905, the chapel was bought by an individual in 1973, fell pretty much into disrepair for 50 years, was then sold again, and the new owners are attempting to restore it in their own way.