Day 29: Navarranx to Aroue 18 kilometers (and more)

Awoke with hopes that today would bring good fortune our way. We were not disappointed. A quick coffee and goodbye at our Gite and we were off to explore Navarranx, a walled city. Since we had two options for our travel today, really long or really short, we opted to go short (18 kilometers) which gave us a chance to leave later. A proper coffee and some patisserie goodies were a good start. We then continued our walking tour of the town from the day before. This place was really cool with some underground tunnels which we chose to traverse until we met some bats which made us retreat (haha). We collected some food from a couple different places including one with "produits du terrior" (products of the territory). A super chill morning and we set off.  We stopped once briefly about midway at a so-called "shelter" and had a snack and short rest. Continued until we almost got to Aroue when we found an acceptable pique-nique spot. Finally found Aroue shortly thereafter. This is where things got interesting. Yesterday, we had decided to eschew the earmarked Gite where we heard many Pelerin were going and tried to book a small place. When the tourist office called they were told it was "complete" although the owner said we could stay at his house! We were told to get someone to call him when we arrived at town at the communal Gite and he would come pick us up. Our friend Sophie was there and she called for us. After a bit of a wait, Evelyn showed up. She then drove us a bit of a distance.  We didn't know where we were going but ended up some 20 kilometers away in the quaint village of Laas. They have a wonderful home directly across from a beautiful church.  After we arrived we washed and went for a walk to explore the village. Here we found the Domaine De Laas which contains an old Chateau and these amazing gardens that front the River D'Oloron. This place was very beautiful and picturesque along the winding river. After a rest our hosts served us a tremendous dinner of vegetable and duck soup, "Poulet de Basque" an amazing chicken dish with rice and a delicious tart with custard.  Although Guy and Evelyn speak less English than we speak French, we had a great time conversing with them and learning about each other and our families.  Our adventure has really taken us way off the beaten path and we have had a very good day!

Gite La Tortue (?) Guy Phillipe, and his wife Evelyn are reason enough to recommend his Gite 

Day 28: Arthez-De-Bearn to Navarranx 32 Kilometers

Beautiful morning as we left Arthez.  Pyrenees were in full view and getting bigger as we walk towards. Kept a moderate pace and made two stops this morning.  First we stopped at at town with a small epicerie that served some coffee.  Not great but a short rest. Marched on until we reached an Abbye that was unfortunately under renovation.  A small cafe nearby was our second resting spot where we stopped and ate our picnic, enjoyed a spot of coffee and watched a multitude of Pelerin start to show up.  The path appears to be getting more populated.  We marched on and reached our destination village of Navarranx. It's a walled bastide city that is very well preserved.  We spent some time wandering and finding the tourism office.  Got to our Gite and found it to be basically a construction site.  The owners are new and renovating this old building.  And unfortunately, this has turned out to be a not so pleasant place to stay.  Our room is very nice with a great shower and comfy beds but the dinner was meager and average at best albeit served with a decent salad.  We dined in the back warehouse that was very cold with a bat flying around. For four weeks we have always done our own laundry but this was the first time that a Gite offered laundry as included so we decided to take them up on the offer.  But after the dinner ended at close to 10:00 we found our laundry washed but not dried. We also found our bedroom very cold. They also owned an almost constantly barking dog that was highly annoying. We chose this place upon someone's recommendation but we are not impressed. We have had many great places so far so can't really complain too much. As a pilgrim, I am thankful for shelter and sustenance but this was disappointing. On to tomorrow.  

Gite Giraffe - good potential but far away from being a place to recommend