Le Puy Camino – via Podiensis: Condom to Montreal du Gers

May 2, 2023

Happy to see the sun today!! When I walked yesterday, I enjoyed the company of several guys from Paris. They shared with me a variant diversion from the Way that would eliminate a troublesome, muddy and steep section of the GR65. It would also bring me through the medieval fort of Larressingle. I followed their advice and am so glad I did!

Before leaving Condom, we had to stop at the most famous photo spot in town! Outside the 16th century Cathédrale Saint-Pierre is a larger-than-life statue of the Count d’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers. We had fun taking a photo shoot here! A friend from the previous night’s lodging offered to take our picture! I have always loved the Three Musketeer movies and it was such fun to pose with them.

I captured some final photographs of Condom on the way out of town.

Crossing the Pont des Carmes over the La Baise river, it was a glorious morning and a picturesque look back at Condom.

Today’s landscape encompassed rolling hills, vineyards and a combination of paved roads and dirt agricultural tracts. It was not long before the town gave way to greenery.

Following the GR65 variant into Larrassingle, I felt like I had stepped back in time.

This small 13th century fortified village is amazingly preserved. The bridge into the village is a UNESCO site and considered an important historical monument along the Way of St. James.

The interior of the village is only 270 meters in circumference and it was quite lovely to wander around and admire the ancient architecture. Since it was still considered the off-season, the little cafe was not open regularly. Too bad! I was looking forward to resting and having a small snack!

After leaving the village, I continued on the paved road that would lead me back to the GR65 proper. Shortly after departing Larressingle, I crossed an ancient pedestrian bridge called the Pont d’Artiques. It crosses the Osse River and is another UNESCO World Heritage Site along the Way. I came upon an American couple who were riding bikes in the area. They were housesitting nearby and had been touring Europe picking up various housesitting gigs throughout the British Isles and Western Europe. Very intriguing!

The path continued through agricultural fields and old farms. The air just felt so fresh and clear today!

The Église Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Routgès is the oldest church in the region – dating to before the 13th century.

The interior was quite a surprise!

The town of Montreal du Gers is a pretty little village and our accommodation – A La Halte du Rempart – was located right on the main square. I sat at a small cafe and had a beer while I waited for the lodging to open and watched the town crew putting up flower planters on the other hotel in town.

Our lodging tonight would be in a shared dorm space with 10 other people at a cost of 26 euros with demi-pension. Because I got there ahead of most other pilgrims, I was able to secure two beds that were positioned so that we were on one end of the room. My big surprise came when several men showed me the view from our second floor window. They exclaimed that finally we could see the Pyrenees and wanted to point it out to me.

Throughout the day, I noticed that the big toe on my left foot was getting very irritated. When I took off my boots, it was pretty red and looked like an infection might be imminent. I put some antibiotic ointment on it and bandaged it up – hoping for the best. I discovered that, due to several days of wet, muddy weather and trails, the inside lining in my boot had started to separate and press against my toe. I needed to remedy this situation and stuffed newspaper in my boots to try and push the lining back up into place. Tomorrow will be a good test to see if it gets any worse.

It was a pretty rough night sleeping in this dorm room. Lots of snoring and coughing going on!! Yikes!! Tomorrow is another day!!