Boog's Blog

22 September another hot sunny day

Picture this:  after the morning fog has lifted from the foothills and valleys of the Pyrenees a clear hot sunny day emerges.  One has biked (QB walked ) with a few side trips such as Ostabat and is now resting in the shade of another closed church. Bread, cheese, apples and a pain au raisin has been consumed and I have now moved to a bar for a Grande cafe.

The ride today was fast as most of the road was very well paved and with the first cycle lane I have seen on a big road. Noticed how much faster I am riding on good roads.

Ostabat used to me a major stopping point for pelerins.  In its heyday it could accommodate 5000 of them, not a typo. Today the church was closed as was the bar. A few agricultural workers were hanging about.

The morning sidetrip was to the Stella that marks the intersection of many routes.  St. Jean, tomorrow being the current major intersection and entry to the pass. 

21 September warm light rain in the morning and then pointlessly hot sunny day around 27-28C

Now officially in Pays Basque. Undulating ride, shorter hills than a few days ago but somewhat steep (one was 12% which is about my limit ). Lousy quality road for the first 10 km or so; much harder to climb on poor highly granulated hills. QB, pelerine paresseuse, took taxi to Aroue, then stomped around 7 miles to St. Palais.

Yesterday I met Dave, an Aussie, at his bike shop. Needed air for my tires and when I went in to ask he spoke perfect English. He had just biked from Bury St. Edwards to here and wanted to discuss bikes – found my Bike Friday a new toy to both ride and understand. Had hoped to have a beer with him later but it did not work out.

The two star hotel of yesterday was essentially a three star. Excellent. Today we are in real two star, quite decent and far better than the two stars of yesteryear, either that or our standards continue to decline.

The hills in front of us, really (Pyrenees) mountains, look similar to the ridges we have crossed – just know that they are higher.

St. Palais is a market town. Nice for shopping and walking about but not long on history other than being a traditional stopping point for the pilgrims. The Gibralter Stele is just out of town. It marks the intersection of the Le Puy and other pilgrim routes and the Spanish Route (actually called the French Way), the one we will soon be on.

Major highlight of today was the visit to the traditional Basque fabric factory. Below is a short video I took there. They were extremely nice and let us wander around the old equipment and ask questions about the Basque language and food. The owner is the granddaughter of the founder. Many piano roll type weaving patterns and old looms. Fantastic!

Explanations of garbure ( a soup with goose and veggies ), piperade ( similar to an omelet in a pan with meats and grease and jambon and more stuff – will take a picture as soon as we have one ). Less appealing specialty of region is roasted (freshly shot) wood pigeon, with grease (or something) poured on them from a special funnel. Starting to see bottles of Sangria in the stores, chorizos as well, and tapas on the menus.

Most signs are in Basque and in French. Some vocabulary for those who collect such:

Ague = Bonjour

Ikus Arte´ ( The I has a dot over it ) = Au Revoir

Milesker = Merci

X is pronounced as a ch in Spanish

There are seven Basque counties ( hence the seven stripes on the linen ). St. Palais has three Basse-Navarre, Labourd, and four in Spain. The striped linen was originally blue, then striped and used to cover cows to protect them from flies.

Pics to include the multi-language sign

the very short video

The Church in St. Palais – very decorated with both paintings and paint that looks like wallpaper.

Piano roll type computer cards of an earlier age.

20 September Cool to start and then warmed up quite a bit.

On the road more than a month now and have had to walk or cycle in the rain only one day.

Last evening we spent with the Lawrenson’s an English couple from the Northwest of the UK, Chester. They bought their place 7 years ago and built the upstairs to into a very comfortable chambre d’hôte. Modern room with an excellent bathroom, except that we had to share with another room. But……

The view! In the USA about $100 would be added to the hotel bill for a view like the one we had. Both with the setting sun and the rising morning sun we had spectacular impressionist views of the Pyrenees. Attempts to capture them included in this post; of course a camera is a poor lens compared to the eye.

The group we shared the sausages and green beans and potatoes, along with a Gateau Basque ( filling of cream or custard – one of the the popular types) and some sort of veggie soup with cheese and pepper, not spicy; Sara does far better with similar ingredients; was the one that I mooched Kugelhopf from the other day at lunch. They were walking to an area near hear. Nice group of four nurses to share a meal with. Got to learn about the compensatory time nurses get for working 39 hour weeks. They get their 5 weeks vacation of course and then 4 hours a week of compensatory time for going over the allotted 35 hour week. Their view: lots of time but no money.

Another day of riding hills and reflection. This time about the Germany trip of a couple of years ago. That trip was far far easier, flatter, more good places to stay, better bathrooms, better showers, much better breakfasts, and better salads. However the biking here is much more interesting and challenging. Rolling hills and tough climbs, descents that are spine chilling, lots to see and always in interval training mode.

We are now about 5 km from Pays Basque. Thought we were there but we are still in the department Bearne. The line on the map is so fine that one needs the eyes of a 10 year old to see it. The menu as posted in this hotel, a good one, is new to us. Many dishes we have not seen before and spellings not yet familiar. Should be fun.

QB’s walk was one of near starvation. Had to call in all the emergency rations in her pack. The only real town on her route today should have been a refilling, refueling and eating place. They had nothing and all other shops were closed. QB had to eat the emergency rations and when she met me in Navarrenx we went to a restaurant for an immediate omelet de jambon.

One side effect of this traveling method is that I get to do picnic lunches, my favorite in France. Today I sat on a bench waiting for the QB and consumed a cereal bread, smoked salmon, Coeur de Bouef tomatoes ( betting eating type I have found), and some Port de Salut cheese. With my large picnic knife waving and slicing I refilled after the steep ( one was almost 9% for over 1.5 km) climbs.

Pictures include:

impressionist Pyrenees

old roman bridge

Navarrenx arsenal

12th century tower church

 19 September  Cool and sunny

At the chambre d’hote Lewrensen  using a French keyboard, very different as both Mike and Dee know.  After publishing this will find out if the pictures can be attached. Not familiar with windows either and all menues are in French.

The Pyranees loom even larger.  Nice hilly ride, with a long 7 percent grade to finish.  Pics are from yesterday using QB camera.

Highlites were the dinner with the polees of seafood.  QB had a miserable day yesterday as she got lost and ended up doing more than fifeteen miles.  Getting lost is not much fun.

Today I stopped at a rural city market and failed to get crepes as she was testing the grill.  Said it would take close to an hour.  Suspect she was correct.  Kept making them and throwing them away.  Teperature not correct.  Guess that there are no thermometors in France.

Nice guest house tonight but with a shared bath.  Got here early so we got first dibs.

18 September. Cool and lovely day for pelerins

Hilly bike ride, 500 meters of climbing, but all on quiet Saturday morning roads.

QB had a long hard walk made worse by getting lost due to bad or non existent road markings. Almost 16 miles with a pack is not fun.

The Church at Aire called St. Quittere is another in a long line of old churches. Equally charming. Onto Pimbo another Bastides with another charming church. 

Sometimes people set up coffee and cakes for the pelerins.  In Pimbo I went to get some coffee and was handed some fine Kuglekopf, a type of Alsatian coffee cake. Turns out I crashed a breakfast party among friends meeting and setting up an outside manger.  They were very hospitable.

Nothing in Arzac and the hotel is a typical zero etoile. Basic. Very basic with no net connection.

This town does not even find my telephone connection so not sure when this will go. 

We are now very much in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Can see them looming ahead. 

Dinner was excelllent. QB picture sent earlier did not capture the dish which means “pan filled”  basically a paella with potatoes instead of rice. Menu had several “POELLEE” dishes. Seafood. Meat. Etc.

16 & 17 September, Light rain all day; cool for a pleasant change

Easy, maybe too easy, ride into this market town. Nothing to see on the road – the only real road was a largish one with lots of trucks and a very good surface. Covered the short distance very quickly.

Decent if a bit eccentric two star French hotel; at least a good shower. Our standards have slipped quite a bit, France does that to travelers.

Laundry day, wandering the town, looking at the main cathedral, one started in the 11th century but renovated many times. Walls have been well painted as has the cupola. Other than the church, some shopping and an interesting frites/sausage stand, not much else here. That said, the town, situated on the river Adour, is very pleasant to wander.

Lunch included a beer called Desperado. 5.7% alcohol with some tequila in it. Served with lime (pretending to be Mexican, I guess). Very easy to drink. Later learned it was designed to get kids used to drinking beer; a marketing ploy. Nothing said about pigs, black or white, consuming beer.

If we have peanut fed pigs in the US, do we also have massaged pigs like Kobe beef? A missed marketing opportunity?

We are spending two days here before starting our final French section, ending in St. Jean Pied de Port, before crossing the Pyrenees. This last French stage will be the foothills.

Out for a walk and the post office – shopping and other stuff sent home. Back to hotel and found that the electricity is turned off during the day as “no one” would be in the hotel or swimming pool during that time. It is lunch time as I write this. QB had long siesta, KB ate frites by the Adour, then enjoyed a small siesta also. Clean socks tomorrow!

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.

14 September. Perfect weather.

During breakfast struck up a conversation with the producer of a French romantic comedy being shot in a nearby town. She went to UCLA as there are no French schools teaching the art of film making other than a few styles. Now an executive producer for France 6. After an interesting conversation about the technical and business of film making in France she invited me to the set.

A nice bike ride to the town of Foures – another arcaded town, round this time. She spent many months looking for a town like this as it fit her script. Charming, a boulangerie across from a cafe – as in the script – and other features. The town was watching of course. Spoke with the makeup person, the director, another producer, and got a tour of the equipment. Fifty two people on the set. Cost for 90 minutes will be 1.5 M Euro about half of what a US production would cost. The main reason is that in the US a finance syndicate joins for syndication and eventual worldwide distribution. Not possible in French.

Interesting High Def digital camera. Used to be expensive film but one had to stop filming early due the light. Now can shoot late and the increased cost goes to overtime for all. Will take four weeks to shoot the 90 minutes.

The pictures for this side adventure as well as the Greco-Roman one to follow are on my Nexus. Tried to email them but as they run just over 20MB many servers bounced them. Earthlink, flickr, wind stream, blackberry and a number of others.

After joining the road again stopped at Séviac, a Greco Roman excavation site that has been worked on for about 25 years. A large villa from fourth century ( a peaceful time in the Roman Empire) that was well used until the Seventh. (Pre Medieval period for those who are avoiding or are tired of the Middle Ages stuff ) Fully preserved mosaics. About a two acre site under constant work, one sees the exaction, as well as the various rooms including the hot rooms and private baths. Well worth the 4 Euro admission. A nice piece on a ball of string.

Undulating ride to Eauze ( pronounced A oze). Similar town to many we have seen lacking a wall or a spectacular cathedral – clearly getting spoiled. Place we are staying at is a dump. In the literature it said two stars. I would say minus two stars. Even though dinner is paid for we will not eat here. People were rude and other guests, French, confirmed and have similar feelings.

Ate a simple dinner of omlets and had wine, water, beer, and coffee. The drinks, as usual, cost more than the simple dinner.

There are 15 pictures labeled foures and or serviac The connection here is too flaky – sending his from Nogoro- another town on the route. Nice church here with some frescoes Not much else according to the tourist office.

To see the pics go to

Should be the leading set or today’s date ( 15 September 2010) if you are reading this in the future.

13 September Cool morning with nice overcast then sunny and warm in the afternoon

Not very clean socks. Still coughing stuff, but incremental improvement. White shirt in need of Oxyclean.

QB headed East before heading west and met me in Larrissingle, a 13th century perfect
bastide (defensive) town, wall intact and with a full moat and covered drawbridge. Early morning, the town was defended primarily by fog and pigeons.

The church, as mentioned in the KB post is pre-Gothic with Roman arches and small windows (from the days that it was thought that the wall could not support itself if windows were large). When you enter this church a light goes on and Gregorian chants are piped in. A bit spooky and maybe a little cheesy. Window glass was new and one pane seemed to contained a small gaggle of stained glass geese.

KB stopped on the way out to visit shop that sells only the local Armagnac. As this town is in the center of Armagnac wines a purchase was necessary as well as some degustation. First the KB sniffed some ten year old stuff, very perfumed, and then tested a 30 year old “digestif”. Very smooth.

The vendor spoke good English, so KB got a good lesson about Floc and Armagnac. Floc is like a sweet wine except that it is a mixture of grape juice and alcohol. The white stuff and the red stuff are different grapes. The name of the grape used in the white Floc did not register. For the red Floc it contains Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and a third grape.

Bought a small tasting bottle of the 10 year old Armagnac as well as tasting bottles of the white and red Floc. We had our white aperitif before starting this blog. 17% alcohol and tasting a good deal like a sweet Sauterne. If one likes sweet white smooth wines this is excellent. Said to be only an aperitif I think it would be a fine after dinner drink. Further reports on the red and the Armagnac after consumption.

The Chemin was not too arduous today, mainly on decent roads and wide paths through fields. QB trailed or passed a number of other walkers. Stopped for a small cheese and apple snack before completing the schlep to Montreal.

Sat around in Montreal with a Canadian couple, a French woman and a perfect French man. On French TV there is always a man with gray hair or white hair, looking perfect, and holding forth with immense authority on various topics – their equivalent of a talking head – and implying that each word is carries great weight; comes with many facial gestures. Our French pelerin would have been perfect in this role.

We discussed the strike (he thought that the society should not change and that retirement should be early and paid for by getting the rich to pay more and especially not sheltering their income in Swiss and the retired not to leave the country with the funds and spend them elsewhere) and working (he, like the KB, always wanted to retire and saw little value in work). Coffee, beers, tea and French lessons. The bi-lingual Canadians helped with the difficult parts. Not a bad afternoon. Also learned a recipe from a Frenchwoman which may remind some of the late, great Peter Cook and Dudley Moore’s Frog a la Peche (or possibly Peche a la frog): peel and halve peach, remove pit and replace with prune (pruneaux d”Agen bit in this region). Close up peach, add honey and almond paste and steam in oven (I think) in water bath ’til tender. Serve. Eat.

The off to the perfect Residence d’hôte. Four years old, a time share built by the municipality, we have a two bedroom suite with excellent facilities, fine swimming pool and a jacuzzi kept at 30C! Once again too cold. The proprietor said that in winter he would raise it to 37 or maybe 38. Dinner at a local restaurant included a nice dorade, pleasant change from the usual confit de canard.

Tomorrow, Eauze.

13 September.  Morning cool and foggy

Sitting in this bastide town 13th century. Sent a reference yesterday for the medievalists.  It is far far better in person.  Totally deserted now as the few shops have not opened. Waiting for coffee and the QB walking here. Had to see this place together.

The church is the best example I have seen of pre Gothic design.  Vertical walls with small windows ( it was believed that walls could not support a large window ) rounded arches.

Took no pictures here as it would be wasted on my Nexus. QB has the camera pics. 

Moat is complete as are all the buildings. Hard to know how much restoration was done.  Like a perfect picture village for a Renaissance Faire. 

Did some zigzag riding, apparently a French word too, some closed château with a garden like those done by Notre. 

Onto Monreal with its arcades and many pelerins converging before going to our Residence d’hote which turned. Out to be a very modern and comfortable time share apartment.