Jour 4 : Uzan

6 "Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call upon him while he is near;
7 let the wicked forsake his way,
    and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts."   

Isaiah 55: 6 - 9 (ESV) 

Uzan

The Gite Communal was completely booked with some 27 pilgrims and another tour group. I sat next to Agnes, Martine and Marie-Claude from the day before and an aunt and her niece from Brittany. There was a young American woman from Washington state, apparently by herself, but I didn't meet here.

Gîte Communal Arzacq

The morning walk from Arzacq was on and and off light rain. A goodly number of the group caught up with each other for a break in a church in Fichous-Riumayou. One pair walking together was an aunt and her niece, both from Brittany, that had been at the Gîte Communal in Arzacq with me.

As I was quite early, I took another break in Larreulle where there was a pilgrim rest stop near a church remaining from a former Benedictine Abbey in the 12th century. The name came from the Béarnais "la reula", meaning rule.

 

 

And then I had scarcely left the church and was passing through the village when I spotted two of my three earlier French companions from Rocamadour snacking at a gîte. Vending machines had been made available and they, too, were just killing time. Most gîtes d'étape don't open until 3 pm and if you arrive too early at a town with no amenities, it is hardly worth the effort. My companions of two days would be walking just a bit further than I before heading home tomorrow, to continue their walk the following year. I decided to take advantage of the situation and had lunch there as well. And while enjoying my meal, two Swiss women from Neufchâtel, who had been at the Gîte Communal with me also stopped by. All would be going to Pomps, 5 kilometers beyond Uzan where I was staying.  It was nice catching up with everyone, and certainly good to dry off a little.  And when I left, the rain had stopped...

L'Escale where we stopped for a break

Appropriately named, l'escale means "the stop."

 

 

Uzan appeared to be pilgrim friendly, with a table set up outside the town hall. The early bird had gotten the worm, however, as there was little left. The brand new sign indicating "toilettes" was a curiousity, however, because when I stopped to have a look the stall was completely empty, the toilet and sink removed, and the hole cemented in. Very strange indeed.