Day 29: A Most Unique Gîte 

The Gite Restuaration Rapide Arret et Aller is located on the outskirts of the village of Argagnon and is run by Linda, an English woman. It is a colossal place built in the 1700s. What made it truly unique though, was the on premise menagerie. Ducks, chickens, geese, and a turkey roamed the yard next door. According to Linda the lone turkey in the yard was a bachelor as his hens kept abandoning him to go lay eggs elsewhere. Our salad at dinner included hard boiled eggs from the goose. I’ve never eaten goose egg before and found the taste very subtle. Watching them from the balcony was a fun floor show.

Raquel Welch was also staying at the gîte where we stayed last night. But first, about our most unique gîte.

But the most unique resident was a pet Vietnamese Pot Bellied Pig—named Raquel Welch. Ms. Welch is house trained and sleeps on her own bed in the dining room where she snores. Linda said she’s not a greedy eater and even shared her food with a marauding chicken. At nine years old, she’s elderly for her species. Laurie said her hair is ”bristly.” When we checked into our gite tonight they knew all about Raquel.

Unique.

A Note From Laurie: I wanted to take a moment to thank the person who really put this camino in our sights, Beth Jusino.  Her book, Walking to the End of the World:  A Thousand Miles on the Camino de Santiago, captured the camino spirit I enjoyed so much in 2016 when we did the 500 mile camino, from St Jean to Santiago.  Her book was the inspiration we needed to try this adventure.  It has been a fun, hard, beautiful and amazing experience.  We’re just now getting to see the Pyrenees off in the distance and know that this part will be over soon and then it will be a new adventure, the Del Norte route to Santiago.  So thank you Beth!

Notes from the trail. Most often heard phrases on the trail today from other pelerins and locals:

1. Tres chaud! (Very hot!)
2. Ay yi yi! (I’m sure you can figure it out.

Temps were in the high 80s today, often in full sun. Fortunately we had a short day. Hot tomorrow—with another short day planned. I didn’t really take any interesting shots today, so how a video of Raquel (whom I misnamed in the video). And check out Laurie’s photos in Relive