Thursday, April 14th, brought mostly flat land. I left the gîte early and hiked mostly alone. I find that to be the most conducive to prayer and reflection.
After 7 miles I arrived at Manciet. This town, like many French towns, had a tiny grocery store. It's funny: in the USA, the grocery stores are huge, but it can be hard to find what you're looking for. In small-town France, the grocery stores are tiny, but you can find just what you need.
I ate my usual lunch of dried sausage (really pepperoni) and bread, with an apple for dessert. Then it was back to the trail.
This was a relatively easy day: only 12.5 miles to walk.
Along the way I saw a little sign informing me that I was passing the Greenwich Meridian. You can find out more about this online, but at the point I was due south (same latitude line... Or is it longitude?) as Greenwich, England, which is at 0°. This adds credence to my post that the French are living in the wrong time zone. They should be on the same time as England, not one hour ahead
I eventually made it to Nogaro, which has a great community gîte (hostel) on the edge of town, in a sporting complex. The people there were all very nice. Dinner was a great time, because we all cooked and shared what we had. There were multiiple languages and countries represented.
In Nogaro I saw an advertisement for a bullfight… then I saw a Corrida. This shows you how close we are to Spain.
I attended a bullfight (my first and last) in Madrid in 1984. I think a bullfight is animal cruelty, because the bull has to die for the matador to win.
Anyway, as I get closer to the Spanish border the culture is gradually changing. Even the names of the towns look more and more Spanish.
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