October 28. Caplong to St Ferme. 17.75 km.

I think I forgot to mention that the last two places in La Gatarde and the Chateau that we stayed at were geared for pilgrims. That means that the extra beds could have been taken up by other pilgrims and we would share the facilities with them. No other pilgrims though, fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your point of view. But it also meant that dinner was provided to us, garlicky pork chops and scalloped potatoes the first night, and duck sausages and rice the next. As we basically stayed in the equipment yard of a winery, we were also treated to a bottle of wine.

We ordered a meal at last night’s gite as well, as there are no restaurants or stores in this place.  Everything was prepared in advance, as our hostess was away. Scott just had to boil the pasta and add the cream sauce and veggies. There was again a bottle of wine but we didn’t drink it with dinner. Oddly enough, the bottle was empty the next morning. Hmmm?

We said goodbye to the cats, who were desperately trying to get into their house and we set off down the road.

Yes, you have to look at cat pictures. And barking dog pictures too.

I always turn around periodically – with the steep ups and downs, you can often see where you’ve come from. Which can be both encouraging and discouraging at the same time. That’s our house on the hill back there.

Why is your Fanta Orange dark red, Ken? And what happened to the bottle of wine our hostess left us? Hmmmm? Methinks me knows the answer to that question!

France is anti-pesticide use. This vineyards signs indicate they don’t use any.

Some of the acorns are bright pink in colour, from the same chemicals that make maple leaves look red.

Starting to see umbrella pines the further south we go.

Not sure what this pile of mashed up grapes was for.

This apricot tree is heavy with fruit…just out of my reach 😡

What’s for lunch?

What are these?

Ken enjoyed a baguette with head cheese. No photo of the head cheese, though, as it is disgusting. Blech!

Alas, the pilgrim refuge in Pellegrue was closed.

I’ll let the aque explain the large crane medallion in the street. We have seen a lot of cranes the last few days.

These two very friendly cats were wandering in front of the old church.  They obviously know each other and the black pooch. I did warn you about cat and dog pictures today!

This gentleman was from Sweden. We chatted for a while, wish I had taken a better picture.  We are always happy to meet up with English speakers.

Wow! That’s a first.  A sign warning drivers to slow down as there are pilgrims on the road. As a note, I don’t think any of the drivers slowed down to 70.

A golden carpet of leaves.

Their English owner came out and spoke with us awhile. She said during the summer there are a lot of pilgrims walking by but not so many now. I guess the dogs let her know when someone is passing and she comes to say hello. We’ve also noticed that a lot of the households with dogs have one big one and one ferocious little yippy one. Why is that?

We can’t get into the pilgrim refuge until after 4:00 pm so we have some time to kill. At least it’s not raining.

My eagle eye noticed the Camino shell embedded in the wall.

Combination post office, information center, and baguette distribution.  Strange. But closed until the 30th.

Our home for the night. One of the five official refuges on the Vezelay route. You get a bed and a meal, all by donation, and are looked after by a “hospitalero”, a volunteer host. The refuges close for the winter on October 31st so we are just sneaking in under the wire.

A great supper of pork chops, beans and salad, and a plum pudding type dessert. Delicious and we didn’t even have to wash dishes (but of course we offered!). The best, though, was just sitting and getting to know Christine, our wonderful hospitalero, and sharing stories.

These two. Always going on about something!

There is only the three of us so we all got a bottom bunk with no snorer up above (just beside us! 😴).  The bins were for the packs. A good idea to keep cruddy pilgrim packs from sullying the beds and, more specifically, to prevent the potential migration of bed bugs, which can become a real problem on these Caminos.

A warm cosy night, although at first it was noisy and boisterous from some gathering next door. We thought from the gradually increasing volume and energy it was some wine fuelled party but precisely at ten just before Terry was ready to pound on the wall, the noisy shutter rolled down and there was silence.