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.

Day 10 : Éauze to Le Haget

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.

 

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.

Arena (for bull-fighting) in Manciet

school children on a field trip

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.

Le Relais Équestre du Haget

Day 8 : Larressingle to Montréal du Gers

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.."

Well Larressingle turned out to be a nice side trip, and the time at the gîte has been a restful one. Listed as one of the "most beautiful villages in France" Larressingle is a tiny fortified city dating from the 13th century, but actually dates back to Gallo-Roman times as well. As I mentioned, it has been more recently restored in the early 20th century with the aid of some American financiers from Boston. It is probably only active in the summer with tourism, but a lovely place to enjoy the afternoon.

My gîte, La Halte de Larressingle, was very close to the medieval village and a very tranquil spot.  Our host, Martine, fêted us regally, and the pièce de résistance was vanilla ice cream topped with prunes soaked in armagnac.

Tourists in Larressingle

Waiting for my gîte to open

Martine spoons the sauce over the ice cream

In addition to my other issues: sprained left ankle, bad right knee, and blisters on my left foot, my left knee has started bothering me. My hostess, Martine, has been supplying me with cold packs. Usually I do fine in the morning, it is just the last 5 kilometers of the day when the heat sets in that have been problematic..

As today has promised to be the hottest so far, I decided to join the others staying with me and leave the gîte very early. There was also the matter of getting to the Pont d'Artigues before it was closed for repairs in the morning, since, if we didn't take it, another 2 kilometers would be added to the day's journey.

Fortunately when I arrived the hadn't started the day's work yet. The bridge claims to be exactly 1000 km from Santiago de Compostela. It dates from the 12th - 13th centuries, and was specifically built for the pilgrim traffic.

Along the way, I stopped at l'Église de Routgès, which was totally unremarkable, but at least there was a working water spigot. Water is a good thing, especially in the mounting heat.

I made it in record time to Montréal-du-Gers but had to wait around for my gîte to open. There seemed to be only on restaurant open today, so I went there. Unfortunately there is no wifi in my gîte so I am sitting on the steps of the tourist office (closed Mondays) using theirs...

L'Église de Routgès

the scallop shell: evidence that I am along the right path

More scallop shells along the way

"Fruit and vegetables for sale"[except there weren't any]

Entering Montréal-du-Gers

Montréal-du-Gers, "Village Fleuri" [floral village]

Many half-timbered houses

The town square, Montréal-du-Gers

I found no history on Montréal-du-Gers, but it seemed to be a popular vacation spot, evidenced by the vacation housing I passed as I entered the town. There are many beautiful half-timbered houses, some likely dating from the middle ages, and it is located very close to Séviac, where there are some well-preserved remains of a Roman villa I had hoped to visit.