Day 22 Auvillar to Lectoure

33km day today – longest of the trip, and 473km in total.

We had a pretty tough night last night – it was a hot and noisy hotel – but awoke to cloudy skies and a nice cool breeze.

We got out of the blocks pretty early, just after 8am and gave it a good nudge for the first 3 hours, getting just over 13km to a beautiful town called Flamerens for a perrier and a cherry tart we’d bought on the trail.

It got a bit harder after that – just over 4km to Miradoux, where everything was closed, then on another 5km to Castet-Arrouy, where everything was closed but we stopped anyway. I’d like to find out what the French GDP per capita is because as far as I can tell everything is closed except for two hours on Wednesday afternoon!

From there we had 3 little sections to complete the day and get to our destination – we stopped again at a fruit stall at the top of the hill before Lectoure and ate a couple of pieces of fruit, and once more during the final 4km into Lectoure but we finally made it around 6pm.

We lucked out though, we are in the most beautiful hotel with views to the Pyrenees, air conditioning, a hot tub and a pool.

Just had my first beer since turning 60 and out for dinner shortly!

Oh, and the internet works at this place – first time since landing in France the broadband uploads photos faster than mobile data!

Not leaving here too early tomorrow😀