15 September Unnecessarily warm day, about 28 degrees today

QB and I again set off together but we separated at the path. Her walk of 13 plus miles – second longish one in a row – seems to have been much more eventful and interesting than my ride.

Today was undulating but easy. The poor part was that the route was a high speed road with a lot of trucks. No minor roads in this area, except the Camino path which generally is not suitable for me to ride.

Ran into a set of American cyclists and shared stories. They are new to cycle touring but seemingly enjoying the adventure. Good legs and good hearts. ( If you get to read this please send me a note). One interesting story Marty told was how she “broke the story” about the NJ serial hospital killer a few years ago. If she ever writes it up I will share with all or she can.

Tonights hotel is a true two star French hotel. Quite pleasant with friendly folks running it. Dinner was set menu: veg soup, chicken, frites, plain noodles. Okay but not great. A la carte looked much more interesting. Lunch was fig bread, ham and fruit.

Speaking of ham; need advice from the more experienced ham consumers. A discussion is warranted and would be useful for us as we venture deeper into dried ham territory: in the large market I was faced with 100 gm packages, perfect size, nicely packaged, of:

Bayonne

Serano

Jambon Cru

Jambon Sec

and a few others. The Bayonne was excellent. Suspect that the Serano would be too but how to choose? Which others to look out for in the markets? Other than the previously explained (thanks Bob) Pata Negra, I know little about the differences.

Floc: the red one. Before dinner digestif. White one previously discussed. We held off trying the red Floc de Gascogne until we were at a decent place; just did not seem the setting last evening. The color is like a slightly dark rose ( of which we have been consuming regularly – otherwise get uncomprehending stares if no wine is ordered, even when beer and bottled water have already been purchased.

The taste is that of a sweet wine without any poor aftertaste. Very smooth but not as syrupy as the white. Nice aperitif, would also be good as a reduction or a variant of a fruit sauce.

Maybe, tomorrow, the 10 year old Armagnac.

QB, the Slacker Pilgrim reporting. Trail book said “flat and uninteresting, 20k” (note that yesterday was alleged 16k and was more like 20k). Lie like rugs. Not flat and interesting, at least from my perspective (and more like 24k). First good view of Pyrenees.

Stopped during schlep to view the first foie gras/duck farm I’ve seen. A guy who had been ahead on the trail for a while, was there also. He mumbled something in French. Since I could not understand his accent I said I didn’t understand, so he mumbled it a few more times. Since I was apparently too stupid to follow, he started to shout (just as fast), repeating his comment. I guess that was supposed to improve my comprehension. Finally he added a gesture which I understood to mean that the wings are cut off the ducks so they cannot escape. Another disgusting poultry industry.

The “uninteresting, flat” walk continued up and down hills of vineyards. Passed an aquaculture farm of multiple ponds (no info on what was in them).

Stopped in Manciet, another small, mostly closed village (one store open). The church there has a special drive-by prayer window (offertory?) for pilgrims! You zip in, can kneel and pray. There is a picture window onto the interior of the church (maybe they don’t want all those muddy hiking boots). There are prayers on the wall (all French, of course) with pilgrim suffering, etc. As good as drive-in coffee in Oregon and Washington.

Finally, today I learned that the road to Santiago can be paved with chickens.