Wed, 21 July, Lasseube & Pau, France

Wet and cool today. Rained all night. Everything is either wet or damp in the tent. I don't actually mind the damp for the most part, as long as it's not prolonged. But wet bedding, now that's a bit annoying. I'm going to ask Simon if I might exchange my towel for a dry one or two. I'd hang it on the line but the sky threatens of more rain. In fact it's still raining in the trees.

I realized this morning that I've been in France for 5 days and am yet to eat in a restaurant. I'm averaging 8 euros/day in food and am not particular hungry. That’s about the cost of a few Starbucks coffees. As always, the topic of giant portions in American restaurants came up in speaking with Peter and Leslie yesterday. I'm not sure how enormous portions got started in the US, but it really is wasteful.

At 10:15am Simon met me at the campground and took me up to his inn. It's quite an interesting and beautiful property. The rooms are full of character and while not luxurious they are more than sufficient. There are reclaimed architectural features and custom furniture all with their own fascinating stories. I couldn’t help but think how much my mom would enjoy strolling the grounds and taking in the gorgeous gardens with Simon's interesting tales of how he managed to plant what where. I know I was loving it!

I apologize for not having any photos. I was happily distracted by conversation, but you can check out their website at http://missbrowne.com/. If you go, tell them I sent you!

Simon was a farmer in South Africa and bought this property in 1996 with his wife Isabella. We had a wonderful chat as we walked and he shared his life's adventures. I asked about all the plants I didn't recognize and he was impressed when I said one of the trees looked African and in fact, it was. How I'd love to return with my children and parents someday. The only down side is that it's quite a walk to the village, and the village itself is quite tiny. Still, if I had money, I'd come back. The cycling here is phenomenal, and the boys would get that chance of using their French that they’ve been asking for.

Eventually Simon drove me back to the campsite and I paid him the 11 euros/night for the tent and bedding. He'd forgotten to give me a dry towel and said he'd swing back round in half hours time. According to the schedule, it appeared as if there was a noon bus into Pau. So I thought I'd catch that. When he dropped the towel I asked him to check to make sure I was reading the schedule correctly. Turns out it only ran when school was in session. Drats!!!

Dejected I considered my choices: Spend the day in a damp tent, or walk the 6 miles back to Gan and catch a train to Pau from there. I decided on a third option: Hitch a ride over the mountain. But as I was sitting on a bench in the village making a little sign to hang off the back of my rucksack as I walked, Simon swung back thru on his motorbike and said that he'd arranged for his friend Fabian to pick me up at the village cafe at quarter past 1pm, when he'd be heading off to work. Wonderful! As I waited I explored some of the lovely bridges over the stream.

Le Tour doesn't come thru Lasseube until tomorrow, but there are already motor homes starting to fill the tiny village car park. It will undoubtedly be quite a spectacle. I recognized a few of the press vans pulling in. Finally I mustered the courage to go and sit at the café, order a coffee and wait for my chauffeur. I had no idea how old he was nor if he spoke any English. For about 20 minutes I sat pretending to have something important to do on my iPhone, feeling slightly silly sitting there by myself. The twin church bells rang on cue at 1pm. They have become my friends. But oh snap, it started to drizzle. Unfortunately, this was shaping up to be the worst site seeing day of the month, weather wise.

But then, wow! The shop owner put up a floor umbrella for me. I didn't actually mind the drizzle, but I was wildly impressed by her considerate touch. If my jeans did get wet, I figured they wouldn’t be dry again until I got to Bordeaux. All in keeping with the laid back feeling here. The shops and restaurants have the distinct feeling like they're just residences with a few things for sale in the front. Reminds me of the Central American neighborhoods in New York. Uber low key.

And then Fabian! Young, kind, perky and English speaking!!! It turned out to be an incredibly eventful afternoon. We chatted all the way into Pau and agreed to meet again when he got off work at 7pm. I wandered around for ages in this dramatic mountain top town. I discovered free wifi at a burger bar called Quick and had a pasta dinner at a German themed restaurant on the town square. I completely forgot to take photos.

As shops closed, I met up with Fabian and he closed the steel gate behind me. Inside the electronics store where he worked, his colleagues broke out a few drinks and the manager closed the registers. I was given some kind of fruity rum beverage and listened as shop workers told hilarious stories about people they’d helped that day. Having so many tourists in town has proved very amusing to the locals. Still, they were very kind and anxious to hear about New York.

As everyone eventually headed out, Fabian invited me to a dinner party he was attending that night for a friend who’s wife had just had a baby girl. How could I say no! We made a few stops looking for a little gift to bring, but everything was closed. I told Fabian to say that he’d brought an American instead as a token of congratulations and we laughed all the way to their house.

Dinner was simple and lovely. Fabian had given the hosts a heads up to my veggie leanings before he arrived. After dinner we worked our way through the local vintages. Everything was delicious. Then we moved onto the local apertifs, Basque whiskeys and eventually Scottish whiskeys. I enjoyed them all. As the rain picked up for the 100^th time that day, the stroke of midnight sent us on our way back onto the mountain roads. I was confident that Fabian knew them well, despite our heads spinning with drink and wonderful conversation. He told me that last year he got stuck with this very family for a week because the snow was so intense. Everyone here was friends.

As we approached my campsite, I noticed that the tent flap hadn’t been properly closed when my dry towel was dropped off hours ago, and despaired at what I would find inside. A river. I baled with the water cap for 10 minutes. Then used my hand to scoop out the cups of water, happy that it hadn’t reached my bed. I elevated what I could and fell asleep instantly. Another fabulous day.