After a delightful evening and with the prospects of a sub 20 km hike, we slept in. What seemed like a good idea probably wasn’t. When you mentally prep for an easy day any challenge looms larger than it should. That was the case today. We added an extra 1.2 km and a 100 meter climb by locating in the wonderful farm Gite. That was not much of an issue but the mud added to the difficulty of navigating four or five little climbs.

The sky was blue for much of the day and the mud was brown. The problem with the mud was its ability to stick and add unneeded weight to our feet. But that wasn’t the worst part. We encountered numerous stretches where it was more slip and slide than walking. Now this may sound like complaining about small things but when you have to constantly focus on your next step and where to place your feet and your walking sticks, it can be wearing. We did have a few spurts of road walking where we managed to lose some of the mud.

Let me add a few pictures from our Gite last night. The 19 Aperitifs were a new deal. The host kept urging us to at least smell his concoctions. Some were quite good but not needed after the huge dinner.

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On the trail pictures.

As you can see, the scenery is incredible. Almost too pretty to be real. We did ring the bell at the chapel and woke the neighborhood watchdogs.

Mud close ups.

We did not take pictures of the ropes that were placed to help humans ascend the mud trails. Really yucky. Many skid marks made by humans and horses who slid backwards while trying to go forward. Good thing for walking Batons and mud skills.

Big Hill like sculpture outside Lauzerte.

The view of Lauzerte from the bottom of the hill near the end of the hike.

Lauzerte was originally a Celtic town that was then taken over by the Romans. It’s sitting atop a hill made it easy to fortify and its location on the pilgrimage route did not hurt. The Count of Toulouse promoted its settlement around 1000 AD. It appears that most of the structures are that old.

Enjoyed a well earned beer in the town square. Our Gite provides us with a private room for two with our own shower and toilette. Dinner at seven and a long hike into Moissac tomorrow. The tourist office lady said that if it is raining most hikers will use the roads to avoid the mud and slime. Sounds like a plan. See what tomorrow brings.