We woke up to a foggy morning over the river Biase. A thick layer of fog had settled overnight while we were deep asleep. This is the first time we see fog this thick over this part of France. It had been just one sunny day after the next since we started the walk.

The morning air is brisk. The fog actually helps us as we end up with a much faster walk than usual. The fields are now wide open with large meadow inter-twined with large vineyards. The big production of this region is Armagnac and most of the grapes are white grapes. They hang heavy on the vines as September is harvest month of most grapes so they are just about ready and beckoning to be taken off the fields.

We briskly walked past Le Carbon, and crossed over the bridge “Pont d’Artigues”, which is an old bridge built for pilgrims since the medieval time.

We walked past the Eglise de Routges. It’s the oldest church in the region. An interesting thing about the church is its small door on the side which was the entrance used by the Cagots, an outcast population of uncertain ethnic origin. They were believed to be leprous, Syphilitic, unclean and bearers of all types of evil. As a results they were only allowed to enter churches by a special side door reserved for their use and were not permitted to be buried in the cemeteries used by the rest of the population.

We ate fresh apples collected along the way. Soon before our lunch picnic, we walked by a small table set out in front of a farm with all kinds of fresh vegetables. Tomatoes can be had for 20 cents a piece and large juicy red tomatoes are priced at 30 cents each. There was a box of cherry tomatoes we can sample for free. We tried them and we thought we can just stand there and eat the whole box of sample tomatoes!!!! They are so juicy, sweet and just wonderfully flavorful.

The melon can be had for $1 but there is none left. We picked up a couple of large tomatoes and they are going to be our lunch for today.

We arrived into Montreal de Gers so early. It think it’s the fog that kept the heat of the sun out so we don’t get too tired. We are very pleased with how fast we came in for the day. It’s very nice. That way we have time to go visit the town.

The bastide towns were the new towns of the 13th century, and usually have a central square surrounded by arcades (sheltered edges, accessed by large stone arches). The streets in these towns radiate from the centre and are straight, and carefully planned to give equal space to each house.

We visited the central square that is the centre of the quiet town of Montreal-du-Gers. Today is market day so we get to walk around more stalls of fresh farm vegetables, tomatoes and apples and fruits of the season. Stalls of fresh cheese and of course lots of regional sausages, and wines. We took a stroll along the quiet side streets to admire the medieval and half-timbered houses. The town hall that dominates the Place de l’Hôtel de Ville dates from the 18th century.

The 13th century Church of Sainte-Marie in Montreal-du-Gers, as in most bastide towns, is found adjacent to the central square.

Our gite tonight is in the center of the village near the church square in an old stone house. The house is full of antiques. We get a private room with tall windows looking down into a nice center court yard.

The day is calm and uneventful for us which is a bit surprising as the start of the day was quite something different. At breakfast today, Ed was quite the clown. He got himself a brown egg for breakfast. Different country has different ways of eating these morning boiled egg. The French like to put them into dainty little egg holders that look like a tiny wine glass. Ed has his favorite way of eating them. He likes to roll the eggs on a hard plate to crack the shell and he would peel off the whole shell and eat the egg from the plate. He proceeded this morning to put his palm on the egg and roll it right off the table on the table cloth. He cracked the shell alright and to our surprise he got a raw egg spread out on the table cloth, running egg white and bright yellow egg yolk and all. We looked at each other and quickly used our napkin to stop the fast spreading mess from messing up the whole big breakfast table. It turns out the bowl of eggs contains all uncooked eggs. Next to it, is an egg cooking device which we have never seen anything like such before. It has six small egg holder plunger where we can set the eggs in and we have to turn the setting over to 100 and and the water started to boil. In 3 minutes for a soft boil egg and 6 minutes for a hard boil egg, we get our very freshly cooked egg! Voila! Another French surprise.

We caused a bit of a raucous with our raw egg eating mishap but it was soon remedied. No harm done. After 3 weeks of eating with French pilgrims mostly in French hosting homes, we are starting to get the hang of things. First the all important baguettes. They are served with all the meals. They are served most of the time whole on a wooden board and you have to cut either a piece or a few slices as you wish for your meal. The proper way to cut the bread is the whole the baguette nicely in one hand using a napkin so you don’t actually touch the bread with your hand and slice the bread off and collect the slices into your plate. This way at communal meal nobody actually touches the bread with their hand while they slice the bread off for themselves.

Then the water glass and the wine glass. They look like the same but they are never the same. And when there are two glasses set on the table, we know to always use the larger glass for water and the smaller glass for wine.

Then the multiple knives and forks, we know to eat and use them from the outside in, the outside for salads and starters and the inside for the main course, both for forks and knives. Then the larger spoon for soup and the smaller soon usually for desert.

The mousse de pate’ (liver grounded and whipped) and rillette (pulled duck meat) can be spread on the bread. However, the terrine and the foie gras, even though they look like pate’, are eaten with fork and knife and bread separately, and should not be spread on the bread.

When the meal is done, the fork and knife should be set on the plate on the right hand side across the upper right hand corner of the plate with the fork turned down. That’s a sign that you are done and the plate can be taken away.

You start your meal most often with an aperitif, then get a wine of the region to accompany your dish and end with a small glass of after diner drink. The cheese course is always very colorful, with a wide selection of cheese to choose from, hard and soft cheese, plain, mild and very strong cheese as well as a fresh white cheese which is a very young cheese, not an aged cheese, and often accompanied by honey or even a fruity sweet jam. The cheese course is often times accompanied by another wine also.

All in all, the French love to eat and drink and their food and wine are top notch. Never fear you will have a bad meal in France. We have not had one bad meal. Everyday, Ed says “wow this is the best meal so far”. As the day goes on, his best meal is always the meal he has that day. Either hunger is the best sauce or everyday we have an excellent French cooked food, no complaint from the two of us. Even a simple picnic lunch of fresh tomatoes and cheese, we are happy. The best tomatoes we have in our lives had been the tomatoes the past few days in the farms. And the best plums and black berries and applies are what we collect on the trees as we walk. Life is so simple yet so satisfying.

Our dear Aunt Ellie just made a comment about our blog, she said Ed and I will “go to heaven with our boots on”! It brought a smile to our face when we read that. It’s absolutely what we would love to be able to do for as long as we live. Keep on trekking around. Tramping (like they say in New Zealand). Hiking. Exploring the world. And keep on walking in our muddy boots until the day we take our last breath. That would truly be heavenly!!!!!

PS
Another best meal ever for Ed!

Now he will read all the petitions and prayers and then to bed!