Walking the Camino Le Puy - Day 26

欣然 密州

May 13, 2025, overcast turning sunny, 11-21°C


Day 26, Aire-sur-l’Adour to Arzacq-Arraziguet, 33.8 km, +485m/-330m elevation change

Yesterday’s fall strained my muscles, and in the last 2 kilometers, my waist started hurting—it was the first time I felt it was genuinely difficult to keep going. Today’s route was 33.8 kilometers, and fearing I couldn’t manage it, I arranged for my backpack to be transported. Without the backpack, I walked much more easily today. I left the Gite at 7:45 AM, and 6 kilometers out, it started to drizzle. At the 8.8-kilometer mark, I saw a small shelter built for pilgrims and stopped to rest. When I resumed walking, the rain had stopped. Later, I ran into Matt from Australia, and we walked together to Pimbo at the 27-kilometer mark. Matt deserves a lot of credit today. A few kilometers before Pimbo, he noticed we were about to enter a forest with a few small hills, likely muddy from the recent rain. Checking the map, we found a paved motorway leading to Pimbo and chose to take it. While resting in Pimbo, we met other pilgrims who told us the pilgrim route had passed through about a kilometer of muddy terrain, with the deepest parts reaching above the calves. Taking the highway spared us that ordeal. At 4:00 PM, I arrived at my destination to the sound of church bells.

On the way out of Aire-sur-L’Adour I passed a school.

Leaving the town, the pilgrimage route led me to a lakeside.

This place looks like a park.

And a boardwalk through the forest.

Nice road.

At the 6-kilometer mark, it started to rain. At 8.8 kilometers, there was a small shelter built for pilgrims by the roadside, allowing us to sit and rest even in the rain—truly something to be grateful for. I was thrilled when I saw the shelter, as I was just thinking about eating something to recharge my energy, and it appeared like a gift from the heavens. Happiness can be so simple.

The rain clears, and the sky brightens.

At the 17.7-kilometer mark, I passed through Miramont-Sensacq, population 360. A church by the roadside.

Inside the church.

The houses in the town are very new.

Eglise de Sensacq, 11th century.

About 3 kilometers from Pimbo, we could see the trail entering the forest in the distance. The past two days’ experience told us that forest paths could be muddy. Matt suggested taking the road instead. I enthusiastically agreed. At the fork leading to Ferme de Nordland, we left the pilgrimage route and took the road to Pimbo.

Entering Pimbo, one of the earliest medieval fortified villages. It currently has a population of 210.

A chapel.

In front of the church, there was a small shop. I bought an ice cream.

Here, I met a few fellow pilgrims who said the section they just walked was awful, with a kilometer of muddy terrain. Jacqueline, 63, said that if a young man hadn’t supported her the whole way, she wouldn’t have made it. Both of them were barefoot, holding their freshly washed shoes. Another pilgrim had mud up past his ankles. When he heard we took the road and avoided the mud, he angrily exclaimed, “Cheaters, you cheaters!” Matt wanted to argue with them, but I held him back. Later on the road, I saw a pilgrim with a luggage cart resting by the roadside. His clothes were covered in mud, and his luggage looked like it had been rolled through a swamp. Yet he greeted me cheerfully. Same experience, but everyone’s reaction was so different.

A distant view of the small village.

Matt was eager to keep walking and went ahead. I was still strolling around. Later, I didn’t see him again on the road.

Some half ruined houses.

Pimbo, Collégiale Saint-Barthélemy, 13th century. This church was built on the site of a monastery established by Charlemagne (748–814).

A cottage with a swimming pool.

Look back at Pimbo。

The signpost showed 5.3 kilometers to today’s destination. There are 132 kilometers left to SJPDP, the endpoint of the Le Puy Route. And 921 kilometers to Santiago. On the road, I met a few French pilgrims planning to walk all the way to Santiago. Last year, after the Camino Francés, I met a French woman my age who had also walked over 1,500 kilometers across France and Spain to reach Santiago.

Sheep.

At 4 p.m., I entered Arzacq-Arraziguet, population 1,090. The town’s church dates to the 19th century.

The interior of the church.

Today, I’m staying at Centre d’Accueil et Gîte L’Arzacquois, a local government-run guesthouse. The facilities are well-equipped. I was assigned to a room with four single beds, but it’s just me and Stephan from France. The pilgrims next door said their room also has four beds but only two people. The two rooms share one bathroom.

This is probably the dinner at the Gite.