Day12 St Astier to Mussidan

It was a long walk down the drive of the Chateau back to the centre of St Astier to walk on to Mussidan. It was a lot of road walking today and although the roads were quiet it was hard on the knees. We had telephoned beforehand to Joel, the refuge guardian. He arranged to meet us there at 6.30pm but we had been reluctant to speed away from the glorious chateau and were still on the road, exhausted. I had contemplated hitching the last 4 km but Jenny wanted to press on. Around the corner came Joel in his car and took us the last km. We could have kissed him. He looked the part of a proper French man, complete with beret!

The day had been glorious, the first sunny day, we were truly 'walking into spring'. The flowers were beautiful in the short area of woodland on the camino.

The refuge at Mussidan where you had to go out
into the street to get to the sleeping accommodation upstairs

The refuge itself was clean but basic. The beds were upstairs, the kitchen downstairs in another part of the tiny house that required you to go outside. Joel talked at length about the shops, the refuge, Mussidan. Sadly we were too tired to appreciate his advice. Too tired to cook we retired to local Italian restaurant that by some miracle was open on a Monday night during Paques.

Having to use internet cafes, so time is precious, postings short. Mo:

One of many picnic lunches en route