Day 31 - June 7th: Under the Weather
Barran to Giscaro: 28.94 miles / 802 total
No D-Day celebrations in the villages during the day or in Auch, a bigger town where Christina, Jax and I enjoyed a quiet evening. We arrived back at the small hotel around 5:30 PM after a pick up in Barran, 13 km away. A quick shower, wash my backpack & hat, get necessary supplies for tomorrow and then elevate and ice were all executed. I got to use Ted‘s gift, a Thermo gun last night and it was actually pretty darn good. I worked on the blog for about an hour and then Christina and I went to a French restaurant that opened at 7:30 PM. Of course we were the first ones there!
The French have their own version of the menu Del Dia from Spain. There are more options, no wine included, and double the price. I chose a beef carpaccio with pesto, arugula, and Barada as my first which Christine passed on. For main she had steak Au Poivre but with a shoulder cut of the beef while I had the duck which is a specialty in Gascony where we are. I don’t usually eat duck - it was delicous. We had two masterful desserts, Christina with an apple tart and vanilla ice cream then for me a wonderful profiterole with caramel. We were back in the room by 9:15pm happy and full.
Jax can’t wait for Christina to return after dinner with his leftovers
Yesterday I started coughing and thought it might be allergies. Christina went to the pharmacy and got something for me but I was still battling an upper respiratory issue this morning. Today it was worsening as my body is aching on top of the coughing. Hopefully another night's sleep will get me over the hump. In the meantime, just got to keep moving forward.
Our hotel doesn’t serve breakfast until 8:30am on Saturday so Christina went to the market and bought banana, yogurt, croissant and cheese. I was on the road by 7am after eating the food I decided to go backwards to Barran from the hotel which was 13k. Christina picked me up when I arrived and then brought me back to the hotel to resume eastward. We have a 2 day plan to cover 90km from Barran to Toulouse where I will take my first day off in 33 and recover for the journey ahead. We figure that Toulouse will have nicer hotels and services such as massage which has not been available in the small villages.
I saved 5k by cutting straight line from Barran to Auch
My shin/tibia is almost fully healed. I was feeling pressure in the area towards the end of the day and the bone was painful to touch but today was the first day in weeks that there was no pain or pressure. I began a few weeks ago running 30 seconds per kilometer then bumped every two days by 15 seconds so that today I did 1:45 run per k and will keep upping this gradually so as not to reaggravate until I get to my steady state of 4 min run / 1 min walk.
Jax and I had good cloud cover today with a few sprinkles. Going back to Barran we went over a few rollers and it appeared around a mountain in the valley. Heading eastward, we bypassed Auch to the south and went through Pavie, Pessan, L’Isle-Arné and finally Gimont before stopping on the top of a climb, 44km from tomorrow’s target, Toulouse.
We ran through a few small village today - Pavie is a small commune that traces its origins to the Middle Ages, located just south of Auch. Pessan is known for its medieval heritage and was once home to a 13th-century priory. L’Isle-Arné is a quiet village nestled along the Gers countryside, primarily agricultural but rich with rural charm. Gimont, our last stop, is a historically significant bastide town founded in the 13th century by the monks of Gimont Abbey and known for its foie gras production and Thursday market.
Christina had to make an emergency pickup of Jax about 7km from the finish as the high humidity, cumulative fatigue and the pavement had him plopping down on the side of the road and not wanting to continue. Quick call and he was picked up so he can rest up for tomorrow.
Very tough day with how I’m feeling but got it done. And, on top of the respiratory issue, I picked up a painful blister on the outside of my left little toe. Since my shin/tibia issue on the left side, I have had all my foot issues on the left foot - big toe blister, cuts and cracks, two nails gone and now the little toe. While blisters are painful, they can be dealt with so I’m confident that will not be a show stopper tomorrow.
Christina, Jax and I have a Brasserie on the square that we will head to shortly for an early meal and rest before our push to Toulouse and a day off. We are all very excited.
Thanks for your support. Cheers, David.
