
This day's hike would be 14.6 miles, with hills, forests, valleys and small towns all mixed in.
All of these little towns have churches, but few have priests. The town of St. Antoine has a gorgeous church, but a priest comes around only every other month to celebrate Mass. This is not uncommon on small-town France. It's also very sad.
I made my way to Flamerens. Now you've heard of people losing their head. Well, this church lost its roof. Apparently in 1986 the south wall collapsed, and did significant damage to the edifice.


However, the foundation is good, so it will eventually be restored, but coming up with the money and artisans will take aome doing. This is a small town with few resources. They have relied on the French Boy Scouts to do a lot of clearing of the rubble.
After leaving this town, it started to rain. Again, hiking in the rain is no pique-nique. Fortunately it wasn't cold. I stopped in the town of Miradoux to buy provisions [namely a carrot (so I could better read the trail maps), some dried sausage, carbonated water and two apples].
Whenever you see a grocery that is open, you have to take advantage and get what you need, even food for three days hence.
I mix the fizzy water with regular tap water. Some of the water tastes funky, so jazzing it up a bit does wonders.
I stopped at the town of Castet-Arrouy for lunch. There were no restaurants there, mind you, but only a pique-nique bench outside of the church. Fortunately it had stopped raining by then and the bench was dry. My dried sausage and baguette sandwich tasted superb!
Then began the final stage of the day's hike: the last 6 miles to the village of Lectoure. It semed to take forever. I thought that I was walking in circles, but there was a plan.



The last two miles were spent just getting into the the village, as it has quite a long approach.
I checked into the gîte, which is actually a working rectory. It was so neat to stay there, and see how the priest and staff offered hospitality to everyone, no matter what faith tradition. The rectory was huge, and there were plenty of parts that I never saw, but it housed two priests (the pastor, Père Marc and a retired priest, Père Pierre), a cook, and several pilgrims and other well-wishers.
Touring the beautiful Cathedral of St. Gervaise, I once again ran into Christian and Margret from Germany. They had left St. Antoine later, so I didn't see them during the day. They were staying at a different gîte in Lectoure.
Lectoure is no longer a diocese, but does have a cathedral. How is this possible? Well, once a church is dedicated as a cathedral, it always keeps that dignity. Just like once you are baptized you can never be "un-baptized."
The Diocese of Raleigh will probably be building a new cathedral within the next five years. But the old cathedral (Sacred Heart) downtown at Hillsborough and McDowell streets will maintain its dignity as a cathedral.
All those staying at the rectory-gîte had supper together in the dining room. We sang our grace (a well-known Camino hymn entitled "Ultreia") and enjoyed the great food, wine and company.
It was a very warm ending to a chilly day.