Day 29 – why miss Le Romieu?

If it’s good enough for the UNESCO person, it’s good enough for me. For some strange reason the GR65 offers a short cut to Condom, avoiding Le Romieu and many of the pilgrims have been tempted away. So I’m sitting in the splendid Angeline bar sipping beer and looking at the ancient Abbey while others have taken the sizzling tarmac shortcut to save a day. The whole of the walk from Lectoure to Le Romieu and on to Condom is UNESCO listed and Le Romieu itself is a world heritage site. It was founded in the 11th century by a monk returning from his pilgrimage to Compostela and has an impressive church with a cloister and two towers. It was patronised by the Avignon popes. I like the idea of founding a church after walking  the Camino but it’s not so easy these days.

As a special 2 for 1 offer, I toured the local horticultural gardens before visiting the church.

There are quite a few cats wandering around the village. The locals blundered badly during one freezing winter in the 14th century. They ate all the cats to avoid starvation. After that, the rats multiplied and threatened the harvest. But young Angeline had hidden her 2 favourite cats and pretty soon order was restored. Lesson learnt.

Talking of lessons, tonight we are sleeping in the old village Convent  school which is now a gite for those pilgrims who have taken the proper path. And tomorrow is another short walk to Condom. We are now in the home of Armagnac and samples will be drank.