If there is one advise I would give pilgrims about washing their boots, it would be: don’t do it. We almost do not have any boots to wear for today’s walk.

First of all we got in from the day’s walk under torrential rain. Meaning it’s wet, it’s cold and the sun is not around. If we are going to wash anything at all, we can’t expect it to dry. But who can be that smart and be thinking straight when you get in tired and soaking wet and muddy and you are presented with a sink of warm running water and a big brush and you are told to wash your boots? I of course was not thinking so I turned on the water on high and washed happy, watching the mud run off the boots was kind of a big relief, then next saying hi again to shining clean boots that we have not seen in a while was kind of exciting. So there I was, giving all 4 pieces of shoes a good scrubbing. Then I followed posted instruction and stuffed the shoes with newspaper to soak out the water from the inside. Then I stood the shoes up against the wall to let them dry off.

We took a rest. A wrote my report. Ed did some work. The rain kept poori g down. After 3 hours, I changed the newspaper as they were all soaked wet with water. I touch the shoes and they were soaking wet too.

There was no way the shoes would be dry by the morning. The air is just too humid for anything to dry. I looked for a hair dryer. No hair dryer. I found a table fan. I line the boots up against the wall and turn on the table fan and let it blow all night. The fan saved us.

If the boots are wet, socks will be wet and feet will be wet. Walking all day with wet feet means blisters galore. We were barely saved by the fan. If we did not have the fan, it would have been big trouble for us.

I learned my lesson. As tempting as it is to have sparkling clean washed shoes, I would not recommend risking having wet shoes for the next day’s walk. Next time it get too muddy, I would just gently scrub off the mud on the bottom and let it be.

Fancy a dryer to dry the shoes like we have in the U.S.? Keep dreaming. Washing machine is rare, but dryer is just about non existent in Europe. They like to air dry their clothe and everything else. It’s just the way of life.

Speaking of way of life, an elevator is also a rare sight on our trip. Perhaps 95 percent of the places we visited in Europe do not have elevator. If they do, they will proudly post it to let you know it’s an amenity. We take it for granted that if we get to place with a second or third story in America that usually we will have an elevator. Not so in Europe.

Then the next surprise is the size of the elevator, if there is one. It is usually about the size of a small box, 2 feet by 3 feet, that goes up and down. It means we can put our heavy luggage in, punch in the floor, send the luggage up while we walk up and get the luggage out. Or we go up one at a time, one person and one suitcase, or my case, I just go up myself and leave Ed and the luggage down at the bottom and let Ed figure out how to get them up in the tiny elevator!

Next are the bathrooms. When getting a room here, expect to get 2 single bed unless you specifically request one bed, matrimonial. Ed often has to push the two single bed together so we can spend the night together. Forget about king size bed. They don’t do king size here. As far as bathroom goes, it obligatory they you request a private bath, otherwise you will end up with a room with a common bathroom in the hallway.

The bathroom has many unexpected variances, but most often, it’s a joy to have a standup shower. There is nothing like a good long hot shower after a long day’s walk, and a nice stand up shower. 50 percent of the time, you will get a bath tub with a hand shower, which works to clean up but takes a little practice and for some clumsy person who shall remind nameless at this time, the handheld shower head inside the bathtub means water being sprayed every where outside the bathtub onto the bathroom floor. It’s tricky but one can learn the art of the shower without shower curtain using the a handheld shower without flooding the bathroom.

Anyway we got our shoes dried for the day’s walk. That the best news. Everything else I washed yesterday remained soaking wet, meaning more weight on the backpack and a chance of smelly laundry if we don’t get in quickly and air dry everything out at our next destination.

We had a very pleasant walk. Through beautiful fields of sunflowers and well manicured vineyards. The price is shown from the scenery we walked by. All the vineyards are so well taken care of.

Soon we arrive in Manciet which has a rural bullring used for cattle races. Today at 4:30 pm, there is a special race where the cows with be chasing down the pilgrims! We are told to either get out of the town before then or stay and participate. We decided to get out of town and decline the invitation to stay and do the “pilgrim run with the cows”.

Pass an interesting church, formerly belonging to the Order of the Knights of Malta and by an 18th century milestone that has a Malteses cross.

At a T intersection, we walked up a French pilgrims looking lost. We asked if he needs help. He says he is looking for his wife. He fears and did not see the turn arrow and could have walked straight on forward away from the trail. He said he called but she did not answer the phone. We told him we did not see any woman walking where we came from. We will walk on and if we see her we will ask her to call him. His name Michel, wearing a blue shirt. We walk on for 30 minutes and we meet a woman standing by the road looking list. We ask her if she knows a man named Michel wearing a blue shirt. He’s looking for her. She says “Yes that’su husband”. So we told her he’s trying to call her but she did not answer the phone. She says she did not hear any ring, perhaps because she did not put on her hearing aids!!!! Ah the drama on the camino! A couple separated half an hour walk apart and can’t connect with each other by phone because one spouse is not wearing her hearing aids! She calls him on the phone and they got it all sorted out. I am glad to see at the end of the day, the happy couple got reunited and walking together again!

We walk by the blackberries today. Ed are a few but to our surprise, those blackberries that use to be the best thing in the world …. Well they are now not as good any more!!! Now that we have such a huge selection of yummy stuff to choose from. We probably would rate the purple plums as number one, with a close second are the apples. Then comes the tree ripen peaches. Then the apricots. Then now fields full of ripe grapes. The blueberries are now ranked a mere 6th or 7th on the “best fruit of the camino” list.

Mid September, midi Pyrenees, purple plums ripened on trees are the best fruits. Vine ripened tomatoes are the best vegetables.

We arrive into Nogaro, which takes its name from Nogarium, meaning a place planted with walnuts.This small town was established in the 11th century and has a Romanesque church and a bullring.

We walk through many duck farms. Duck and geese are big in this region. And with these duck and geese farms come the famous foie gras and confit de carnard. The very best here.

Ed does not like liver. But he is starting to love the foie gras of the region as it often served as a start at dinner. I will not say anything about liver and foie gras to Ed and just let him enjoy this fine speciality of the region and we will sort out if he indeed does like liver or not.

The duck confit, magret de canard and the rillette are just the best here in this region and many restaurants would advertise their “3 generations” of producing the best “produit du terroir” (products of the region). We just have to trust their expertise and in all honesty we have yet to have a bad meal here in France!

We watched a movie “Le bonheur est dans Le pre”, happiness is in the field. It’s was filmed in 1995 in the same place we stayed last night. We have fun as we recognize the restaurant entrance, the bar, the tables etc … It’s the story about a burned out business man finding himself transplanted to a duck farm in this region and finding happiness again. Ed kept telling me “I want a duck farm”. He wanted a plum orchard yesterday. And a vineyard a week ago. He thinks in the end he will have a vineyard with a pond for the ducks, a few plum trees and lots of sunflowers. Well, we will throw in some vines of tomatoes, some apple trees and apricots and peaches. Who knows, the farmer in him is finally coming out ….