GR10 Day06

We woke up to grey skies and low cloud and then the rain started.  We had a good breakfast, the rain had stopped, and we started out.  The road took us in the opposite direction to the pilgrims (luckily none followed us) and we soon left St-Jean-Pied-de-Port.  There was light drizzle, but we didn’t bother with our rain gear.  It was quick walking along the road, and because the ground was so wet, we kept on the road to the first village rather than following the GR10.  This kept our shoes dry!  The road became a farm track, and then a fairly muddy track through a wood.  It wasn’t long before we were back onto a tarred road.  At the next point where the GR10 went into the fields, we kept on the road, dropping down into the valley to join the main road to Esterencuby.  The rain started falling heavily and we sheltered for a time in a bus shelter.  There weren’t many cars and we made fast progress, reaching Esterencuby in only four hours.  We stopped at the hotel for coffee and a cake, and rested for about an hour.  The final section to the gite was uphill, but again we made fast progress as it was almost entirely on road.  The final 800m was a race against the rain that we could see approaching; it reached us when we were only 100m from the gite.  The gite was rebuilt last year and is very well built.  We have a double room, there are large lockers at the entrance for rucksacks, and it’s all very clean.  (A couple have just arrived, having taken 2.5 hours now then us)