Day 27- MancietAn early start and a walk to Eauze, where the Marie (local town hall) was very busy with voters arriving for today’s elections. Naturally we did stop for coffee and patisseries, because some days they are unavailable. You must take every advantage should it arise. The first 8km was along a disused and dismantled railway line; a reminder that despite all its high speed trains the French railway system (like Australia) has shrunk with changes in transport technology over many years. The fast trains in France, however, truly deserve their reputation and seem a good solution for the nation’s needs. Most of the distances are not too long, giving the railway many advantages over flying to most destinations. With journey times of up to 4 hours (max) most major centres of France are serviced with trains that start and end within the city limits.
Today was a very pleasant walk, although I hadn’t fully recovered from the heat yesterday. Enda is doing well and many of the problems of earlier days are well under control. While Enda started out with hesitation and worry about her capabilities for this pilgrimage she has settled into her stride and approaches each difficult section with new confidence. If she continues at this rate it will be a repeat of last year’s Camino where she was rather hard to keep up with at the end. For the past 2 days we walked in a significant wine growing areas. The farmers applied a fertilizer to field after field of grapes, the aroma is far from pleasant. The price of wine in the shops appears to be less than a half of what it is for the same quality (as what most people we know purchase) in Australia. We encountered a hay stack immediate to the GR65, and took the opportunity to pose pretending that we had slept rough in the stack. It may sound romantic to sleep in a hay stack, but the straw is a little prickly after a short time. Also the presence of mice, rats and snakes (yes they do exist here) may be discouraging. Yesterday morning we met a Monsieur du Barry, who drives for Claudine Transport. He told us about the Bari Barry association of the family clan from all over the world. It seems their last annual meeting was in Argentina and we exchanged details for further communication. He is well across the history of the Barry family which he says originated in Germany and spread through France across to England and Ireland. Our branch arrived in Ireland with the Norman invasion according to my father. Monsieur du Barry informed me of a John Barry in France who murdered many in his family to inherit a title, but was subsequently banished into exile some centuries ago. My Dad either didn’t know about that story or purposefully didn’t mention it to me. He was always proud of the family heritage and spoke of an Admiral John Barry who played an important part in the US navy in the nineteenth century. We continue to be astounded at the way most people are so kind and helpful to pilgrims where there is no obligation to do so. There is a saying on the Camino Tourists Demand, Pilgrims Accept It seems cute but verges on being at best trite, but more realistically is inappropriate. It is inappropriate because it suggests that in merely accepting, one has reached pilgrim status. Just accepting implies a possible qualification in attitude. For example, acceptance may be performed grudgingly. After some discussion with Fr Mick last year on the subject of being a pilgrim we feel the second line should read Pilgrims receive with gratitude. Because having an open heart to whatever is offered, acceptance without qualification and with true thankfulness one is closer to a pilgrim spirit. Enda The walk today wasn't too hard which was good because Jerard wasn't too well. He got too much sun yesterday and woke with a headache and feeling a bit sick. Of course he wouldn't listen to me and take the day off but insisted on walking the full 20 km. He is feeling much better now. We are staying in a really funny place. The people are lovely but don't have any English. The lady was trying to explain something to me. She took me to the bathroom, picked up a bucket and carried it down the corridor to Jerard who looked at it. Jerard thought the toilets were blocked and he had to use the bucket. She then proceeded to indicate that we brought the bucket downstairs and out onto the street in front. There was much laughter on both sides when it was discovered later that we didn't have to empty the bucket onto the street, but in fact it was to bring our washing down to dry! The problem was that we had to put our washing on a clothes horse on the main street outside the gite. Not a pretty sight as I don't have sexy underwear! I hope this building is still standing in the morning all the rafters and wooden beams are riddled with holes from termites. Our bedroom is most peculiar on either side of the room there are two full length windows one looks out onto the stairwell the other looks out onto the corridor leading to the communal toilet. Anyone coming up the stairs or going to loo can look in and see us in bed!
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