Pilgrim's Progress – Long Distance Walks in Europe and the UK

[Staring at the fog through his window] It’s a real pea souper!

The Return of Sherlock Holmes – Conan Doyle

This was a day best forgotten, when there was little to be seen due to the abysmal weather! For most of the day it hacked down with rain and visibility was little more than twenty feet in front of me.

After a couple of hours trudging through the downpour I decided to take a short cut which would shorten the distance to my destination by 8km. There didn’t seem much point remaining high on the mountain path while the weather was so grim and visibility so poor.

I passed a donkey sanctuary during the morning. Clearly the donkeys didn’t appreciate the grim weather any more than I did as they were a kicking up a fearful racket when I passed their enclosure. A noticeboard outside the enteance advertised donkey milk “available on demand”. Maybe I should order some for breakfast. On second thoughts maybe not. Although it’s apparently its very good for treating severe cases of exzema ( Cleopatra used to keep her fair complexion by bathing regularly in asses milk) I’m not 100% sure it really works with Corn Flakes!

The grim weather reminded me of walking on Dartmoor in appalling visibility getting sosked to the bone some years ago. Why is it, I asked myself, that nobody has succeeded in manufacturing a waterproof that keeps out the rain. Mankind has split the atom, sent people to thr moon and invented marvels like the iPhone15. But as for impermeable wet weather gear, that seems beyond the wit of man!

At one point during the day I passed a young couple out walking their dog. ” You are very courageous being out walking in this rain” they quipped. I smiled. They were right. It was definitely a day for staying indoors.

After a couple of hours following ‘the short cut’ I came off the mountain onto a road. Weirdly it wasn’t mentioned in the guidebook. I did a GPS check and found I’d gone seriously off route! Luckily I managed to recover the situation, headed for Lunas and reached Saint-Martin-d’Orb at around 3pm.

Saint-Martin-d’Orb and its larger neighbour Le Bouquet d’Orb were famous for their mining industry. In fact they are so proud of their heritage that they have a small museum dedicated entirely to mining artefacts including a collection of 200 mining lamps! Sadly, it being a Sunday, the museum and pretty much everything else in town, was closed.

The gite wasn’t exactly fit for a king – apart from the shower and the loo (which lacked a basin or a mirror!) there were just 2 rooms including a bedroom with 2 beds wedged side by side. One of these was occupied by a grey bearded and rather angry looking Frenchman in his 60s reading a book. “Where are you from?” he asked me, loking up from his book, when I arrived. ” I an English” I answered with a smile. “What?” he replied, “Hungarian?”

I could see that it was going to be a long afternoon!