Today’s hike was very pleasant. We walked 13.8 miles (22 kms) from Moissac to Auvillar, France in 5.4 hours. Stephen told me that this stage of our journey was going to be flat… and it was! Most of the journey was along the river, under the protective branches of large trees. On today’s hike, I took 30,731 steps, climbed only 15 flights of stairs, and burned only 1,367 calories.
Since we knew that this would be a lighter trek, we decided to visit the Cloister at the Abby in Moissac. The Abby is from the 13th century and has that large tympanum at the entrance. There was an educational film in the cloister museum that explained the images. I learned that the central image of the tympanum was NOT the Last Supper, but just 24 men looking up to the Lord Almighty. I was more correct about the side images, showing the evils of money and sex versus the heavenly journey of the righteous man.
The Cloister consisted of a square green courtyard surrounded by 76 pillars featuring biblical sculptures. Each one was different. There was a large tree in the courtyard which provided shade to the inner sanctum.
The visit to the abby and cloister made for a late start, but the level terrain helped us to walk faster. We walked along the Tarn River and then walked under the trees on the Tarn Canal. There were locks on the canal and we stopped to watch a boat moving through the device.
While the canal path was actually crowded with hikers, the journey was made more dangerous by a multitude of bicyclists. Stephen was annoyed because they would sneak up behind us and then “ring their damn little bell”! But we soon found some graffiti which express a similar distain for bikes on the Camino path.
It was about here, that the red and white Camino signals said to take a right. But someone with a European passport insisted that there was a better way to go. I asked for a second opinion, but was told by someone with a Spanish accent that they knew a “shortcut”. I protested for the next 500 meters, until it became clear to my companions that the so-called “shortcut” was not going to work. So, we turned around and retraced our steps.
We finally made it to Auvillar and discovered that our hotel was a bit on the sparse side. But, since Stephen had booked us in a yurt with no running water just 2 days ago, no one complained. (I was happy it had sheets!)
After a shower and a little rest, we were treated to a pizza dinner by our new friends from Idaho, Lacey and Ryan. This was their last day on the trail.
They took a longer route today, and Lacey told us that she brought some rocks from Boise and placed them next to a chapel on their hike. Each one of these rocks was engraved with a name – Stephen, JP, and … Ryan, son of Peter. What an thoughtful gesture!
As I said before, there are no strangers on the camino.
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