One lesson the camino taught us is this: Be flexible. You never know what’s going to happen to you from one day to the next.

So here’s our pilgrim story in Miradoux. We checked into the gite. The couple who welcomed us was “interesting”, for lack of a better word. Kind and quiet, but interesting.

The husband is short and bald, and very quiet. He opened to door for us, and welcomed us into the house.

It’s a very large and spacious stone building. Full of beautiful antiques inside the living room. It’s one of those places you have to put your walking sticks in one place, your boots on the shelves and we are given each a basket for what we want to take into our room. Our backpack need to stay in one place. All this to prevent beg bugs and other creatures from the muddy fields. Lots of rules. The man explained to us what to do.

Then he said “wait here I will go find out which one is your room. Let me ask my wife”.

Then he walked to the back of the house. Lots of yelling from the wife. A very interesting couple. He is as quiet as can be and she just yells constantly!

“You need to wait here in the living room for 10 minutes. The room is just about ready. We had a lot of late check out this morning.”

Then Ed asked for Internet. Wifi? Ah, let me ask my wife. You see the pattern here? Then he disappeared. He came back and showed us a yellow sticky note with a long string of letter “WMITOHG…..”. That’s the password. All capital. You try. If it does not work, I will ask my wife.

Luckily for us, it works. Everything about this place, the man will say “let me ask my wife”. In a very very quiet way, while she just yells at him. A very “interesting” couple.

Our room is now ready. We got a very nice and roomy large room with lots of antiques, a private bath and all. We are ver happy. And the wifi is extremely good do Ed can do his consult on Skype. Terrific!

I always inquired about what time is dinner and what time is breakfast so we can plan. “Let me ask my wife”. That’s the standard answer.

We found out we did not call to confirm dinner so we will not be served dinner tonight! Boy they are strict here. We left the U.S. a month ago, I called a month ago I don’t remember I think she did say to call a day ahead to confirm dinner. But no problem, I asked her if there’s a restaurant in town. She says yes, and there’s also a grocery store. Great.

Ed did his work. All went well. Then we went out to the pharmacy to get an epi pen. Our cousin got hospitalized from a wasp bite and since we are outdoor all day long, Ed thought it’s a good idea we bring along an epi pen. Unfortunately they don’t carry it, we will have to go get it at another village. We inquired about the grocery store. The pharmacist told us “they usually open at 4 pm to 6 pm on Monday afternoon, but that’s only for July and August. It’s already September, they don’t open on Monday in September!”.

So we walked down to the restaurant. We inquired if we could have dinner tonight. Where are you staying? Why don’t they cook for you? You are pilgrims, you walked all day, they take you in they must feed you, what is this business about not feeding pilgrims? The restaurant owner was outraged that we were not offered food for the night. Yes, you come back here at 7 pm. I am all full tonight but of course I will make room for you and I will feed you but that’s not right that they don’t feed you, I am just saying, that’s no way to treat pilgrims who walked all day already!

So all in all we were well taken care of. No problem. The place we stay had a big crowd I guess that’s why they can’t not accommodate more people. Lots of pilgrims stayed there over night. They actually have 2 houses, not just one, so I guess they can’t cook for everybody unless you call and confirm.

We had a good night sleep. A good breakfast and onward we go for another beautiful sunny day’s walk. This region is truly the Tuscany of France. Its rolling hills full of sunflowers that look like army of stalks that all move in one direction following the sun.

We walked past the Chateaux de Fieux and then Castet Arrouy, which means red castle and originally the site of a small fort. Continue past the church and walk along grassy tracks, through farms and past a very large wayside cross before arriving in Lectoure. The trail was flat, so 3 days in a row we got a very pleasant hike.

The last 3 days changed my mind about the camino Le Puy. I think a lot of people can certainly do this stretch of the camino with a lot of ease. This certainly is my cup of tea. No ups and downs. Really really mild and beautiful. I think if it’s walked in July or August when then sunflowers are in full bloom, it could be the most amazing vista and scenery one could be walking through. Just imagine spending all day wandering through fields as far as the eyes can see of beautiful yellow sunflowers undulating on hills and hills stretching out all around us for miles!

Throughout the surrounding countryside are vineyards as this region is well-known for its Armagnac and floc, an aperitif which has had the same recipe since the 16th century. The heart of Gascony is also famous for the Dukes of Gascony and Alexandre Dumas, the novelist who wrote the Three Musketeers and immortalized the hero D’Artagnan.

Lectoure was originally the capital of the historic Lomagne region, lying between the rivers Gers and Garonne, that was once the base of the counts of Armagnac. In 1472 Louis XI entered the town on false promises and proceeded to kill the count and damage the town.

It is an attractive town whose centre runs down one main street with a pretty hospital and the town’s thermal station at one end and the Cathedral of Saint Gervais and Saint Protais at the other.

The cathedral is 15th century, built after Louis XI destroyed the previous one and has a striking tower with a round turret attached to the bell-tower. The successive invasions forced residents to reconsider the height and raised the walls and make Lectoure a stronghold for centuries.

On the street below the town hall there is the Fontaine Diane – a natural spring inside a little gothic building that at one stage provided the source of water for an active tannery industry in the town. Diana’s Fountain dates back to roman times, though much of the structures of the town now dates from the 13th century and later.

It’s Tuesday today so we should have no problem with food as all commerce is open for business.

We expect an uneventful dinner and a good rest tonight.