Vineyards are now in site, acres and acres of them. Much of the Camino has been through the fields, which are mercilessly free of shade. The southwest of France is getting hotter and hotter, and I will soon have to do something that is very hard for me, which is get up earlier. I am already getting up by 6:30 every day, (and my earliest waking was a record 4:15), but it takes me about an hour to get packed up, especially if I’m camping. By 7:30 or 8:00 the sun is already up, and the temperature is already rising. If I was wise I’d start walking by 6. I’m not that wise.
Vineyards in all directions
Last night I camped in Blaye, in the coolest campsite I have seen yet. It was a hot, long day of 35 km, and I had just powered through the last two hours at a brisk 3 miles per hour. I arrived into a shuttered town, searching for the campsite sign, which I found eventually. It pointed towards the citadelle.
One of the entrances to the citadelle
The citadel in Blaye is a fully intact walled fort, with a beautiful view of the sun setting over the Gironde estuary, and a small “medieval”, pedestrian-only village inside. Through the fort walls is also the entrance to the campground, and I was enthralled at the idea that the city of Blaye was forward-thinking enough to designate part of the citadel as the municipal campground, instead of renting it out to a more commercialized campsite. My night there was an affordable 5.50 euros. Since it is literally surrounded by a moat, it was completely free from traffic noise-pollution, though not so much by my neighbor’s crying child.
Citadelle Entrance
The camping office– literally inside an old fort
Another eventful thing that happened in Blaye was that I ate a whole pizza. I don’t usually eat at restaurants, but I decided that that night was a pizza kind of night, and I walked around until I found a pizza place, and even had to wait an hour and a half for the restaurant to open, but I HAD PIZZA!!. And I was the first one sitting down at a table, until the entire patio was full. Then I was a little self-conscious about all the people watching me eat a table-sized pizza alone. Eh, who cares. Pizza is amazing.
Then this morning, somehow to my surprise, (my guide book finished in Mirambau, that’s how), I got to take a boat! In order to cross the estuary, that is. It was fun.
Here’s a photo of me, alone in the “Grand Salon” of the ferry, if you’re wondering what I look like these days.
Then I walked through woods and the vineyards. The sun was particularly scorching when a man on a motorcycle drove by one of the gravel vineyard paths. A little while later he came back the other way and stopped besides me to chat. We had the usually Pilgrim-Curious person conversation, and I asked if he lived there in the little house up the path, and he said no, he was at the chateau a couple of kilometers away, and would I like to go visit the chateau? And, yeah, since I always say yes, I said yes. Of course.
So I awkwardly climbed on the back of his BMW, and the three of us (him, me, and my pack “Pit Stains”) rode off to Chateau Lascombes, in the village of Margaux.
Now jealously view my private trip to a chateau, in which I drank a beer and pretended I was rich, and my private tour of the wine cellars. (I even saw the four remaining bottles of an 1881 vintage. It sounds cool, but I don’t know how I’d feel drinking something that old).
Chateau Lascombes
wine cellars!
So, thanks Dominique, for the chateau visit!
Unfortunately, the day was far from over, and I still had to make it to Le Bouscat, on the outskirts of Bordeaux. Thankfully, the refuge “housekeeper” was there when I arrived, (after a happy English speaker on a bike stopped for a chat and gave me directions), and took me in like a mother hen nursing her tired and heat-stroking chick. Seriously though, the volunteers at these halte jacquaires are saintes. Not a lot of pilgrims pass through this route, but the refuges have been so nice and welcoming.
Anyway, she gave me the advice, and pretty much made me swear that I’d follow it, to take my time tomorrow, and SEE Bordeaux. She very much emphasized that I was to wander around Bordeaux happily, eat breakfast in the city center, take in all the sights, and then leisurely make my way to the next refuge, a measley 17 km away. That’s fine with me. Bordeaux is supposed to be beautiful, so tomorrow I will unleash the tourist side. Bon Nuit!