Day 44 / Orthez-Saint-Palais / 38.43 km

My right foot awakes me 3 at night complaining about pain. I give it a massage and take a painkiller. I wake up at 7.00 my foot is  not complaining. Based upon my gps track today’s stage is around 35 k,relatively short. I find a bakery and take a lengthy breakfeast. Around 8.45 I leave Orthez via it’s old medieval bridge. A train track passes just in front of the bridge but it looks like as if the barriers are rather to keep people from the bridge.

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I quickly follow small roads and paths through fields and small forests. The paths are wet with a mix of clay and rocks. Quickly my feet are soaked and my running shoes receive a free mud bath. The landscape although is fantastic. It will remain fantastic for the remainder of the day. I dream to have the powers to relocate Gent into the mountains. The path is often steep. Today I will total a 1700 height meters. Short “angry” ascents and descents follow each other. The path is often slippery, I fall and join my running shoes in a free mud bath. Even with the use of my running poles it’s often hard not to fall. 

Around afternoon I pass Sauveterre-de-Béarn a beautiful medieval village build on a rock hosting a castle, remparts, church and an old bridge. the view from the village over the Pyrenees is stunning. I have a small lunch and find surprisingly a bar open to have a drink as well. I treat myself with Orangettes as desert.

The bar owner informs me that the road from  Sauveterre to Saint-Palais has one ascent but is mainly flat or descending. I exit the village and run the remainder of the day indeed mainly on not to hilly small roads. Again (I repeat myself, I know) the views on the Pyrenees are stunning. The road I follow takes the direction to the right side (if you are looking out of France to Spain)of the Pyrenees where the mountains are lower, mostly snow free,those see when I look more to the left (I guess the middle of the Pyrenees) where the mountains are higher and still covered with snow. Since some day’s I try to find out if the path over the Pyrenees is snow free and open but can’t find a lot of info. Well, I find out tomorrow. And now some more cloudporn.

At a certain moment I pass a sign indicating the direction to a skiing resort. I check google, the slopes are open, with between 50 and 290cm of snow. I briefly consider taking a short ski break.....I take the opposite road and continue my route.

In Saint-Palais I reserved a bed in privately managed pilgrims gite. There is also a pilgrim’s refuge managed by volunteers, which I tried to unsuccessfully tried to contact the last couple of days.When entering the village a lady asks me if I’m a pilgrim and if I will be staying at the refuge. I explain I tried to contact the refuge a number of times but did not receive an answer. She explains 2 volunteers are currently present. I go to the refuge and find a bed for the night. I cancel my other reservation and install myself. I explain to the volunteers that I tried to contact them since some days. They inform me they have some phone problems but don’t know how and by when these will be resolved. I inform them I have written emails, The volunteers explains that internet is difficult to manage. 

Afterwards I undertake a little stroll in the small city. The city centre has been renovated and looks pleasant.If people would be around. I find a bar open and consume InBev’s success product :  Leffe, which seems to come in France in a broad range of colours : amber, brown, rouge, green, pink,...I also find a restaurant which will be open this evening. I’m a lucky man, otherwise it would have been plain cooked pasta in the refuge. Upon my return I do my daily laundry and communicate with the homeland. 

Tomorrow I will reach Saint Jean Pied the Port, and will have ran almost 1500 km. “Ongelooflijk” Eddy Wally would have said. I can’t disagree with Eddy. I thought it would be possible but also always doubted the feasibility, or as some would say “doability”. But hey, another 750 km and I will be in Compostela ! 

It’s clear my current shoes will not see Compostela. I will be happy for them to see Lorca.

Lessons learned :

- The blog is daily read by 120 people in average.

- Day 3 of the blog has been read 252 times

- Since the start of the blog it has been read almost 10.000 times, 9679 to be precise. 

- Most of the readers are located in Belgium. But there are also people in the US, Spain, Bahrain, Germany, Poland,  Ukraine,....having nothing better to do than to read the blog. 

- 35 % are reading the blog on a  IPhone, 16 % from another Apple device. Someone is still using an IPod touch ! Windows devices are good for 24 % and Android 19. 

Thank you all for reading the blog and subsequently your support ! But let’s push the reading up to 4000 views a day so I can finally start making some money.......

Song the day : Into my arms - Nick Cave

 

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