The Events of Wednesday, April 20, 2011

                I woke up in an unusual way this morning—naturally. The house was eerily quiet, but I had some good reading time before Dad returned from his walk. Gradually, the girls woke up and made their way through the showers. Caitlin woke up with a 102° fever, and Lindsey’s stomach was bothering her, so they enjoyed the region of Hautes-Pyrénées by relaxing.

                After breakfast, the rest of us made plans. The owner of our gite provided a few books about nice walks in the area. It was up to us do decipher the maps, directions, instructions, and points of interests—all in French—to make the most of our time in Ore. It was tough, but we eventually found two short walks within reasonable driving distances that will work for today and tomorrow. We spent the rest of the morning trying to translate the mysterious French text that gave directions for the walks. Google Translate was pretty good, but often gave very poor translations. An example: we were supposed to “take the alley bordered with a laugh” and later, this command: “Go down a bit to a ledge or you is how to find the many stone circles (obviously)”. Huh?

                Eventually we had all the notes translated, a general idea of where on earth we were supposed to end up and the points of interest on the trail. Dad, Abby, and I packed up some lunch and headed out towards the village of Saint-Aventin. Mom stayed home to take care of the sickos. En route, we needed to pick up some more lunch supplies. The nearest grocery store to our gite was the InterMarché. But it was closed for lunch. So we drove on, hoping that there would be more civilization between us and the trailhead. Sure enough, there was one grocery store: a small Lidl. We wandered through the aisles, picking up a vanilla pound cake here, some paprika-covered peanuts there, and finally a large loaf of fluffy bread.

                Meanwhile, back at home, Caitlin and I (Lindsey is writing here) both had 102⁰ fevers and aching stomachs. So, we took a two-hour nap in the morning (after sleeping in to after nine o’clock!), and after a light lunch (you can’t eat much when you have the flu anyway), watched a movie to pass the time. If there ever was a place to get sick in Europe, this was it. The gite came with a working TV and DVD player and our landlady is from England, so she has many DVDs in English. So, we took full advantage of the opportunity and watched as many movies as possible. Also, the couch and beds are very comfortable and the windows have screens (not very common in Europe), so we could have fresh air without worrying about bugs. After the movie, Mom glanced out the window and called us over to see. There was a goat, walking along a stone wall. Not too strange, right? It is when the stone wall is 12 feet off the ground and borders a road. As we watched the goat walked to the end of the wall, turned around and walked back and then scrambled up on the roof of a house before disappearing from view. This excitement wore us out so we took another nap while Mom enjoyed having the internet to herself. So, the ladies had it good today, with the exception of the fact that we were sick.

                The rest of us journeyed on and found the trailhead, parked nearby, and set out for a true French adventure. At the beginning, it wasn’t exactly a trail, at least as we would think of it. We were walking up a paved road (the one bordered with a laugh) that split into a couple ATV or Jeep roads. Well, France is different! We paused for lunch at the Benqué-Dessus church. It was a delicious meal accompanied by a field of flowers, a small stone church, hills in the background, and some kids playing Jai Alai (French equivalent of bocce).

                We headed on through a lush forest full of free-roaming cows, horses, and the soft sound of a cuckoo bird. As we steadily climbed, the views of the quaint village of Saint-Paul-d’Oueil got better; however, the smoke and charred ground got worse. We saw a pair of men setting fires to a field. Why? I do not know.

                Once we reached the summit of our hike, we turned a corner to the other side of the hill. Here, the grass was greener, the air was clearer, and the trails were better. No longer a jeep road, the trail now changed into several small footpaths less than a foot wide of dirt, all heading generally in the same direction. Tired from the steep uphill climb, we all voted to stay here and rest awhile—dozing, reading, or just looking up and watching gliders make their graceful circles in the sky. After half an hour, we were ready to move on. We explored the cromlechs, which were small stone circles in the grass. These circles, anywhere from ten to 30 feet in diameter, were used as an ancient burial ground. The trails, still very narrow, suddenly headed down on a steep slope until we reached The Bench.

                The Bench was an important junction with a great view of the snow-capped Pyrenees. We enjoyed a quick snack before continuing toward Destiny, our van. The trail suddenly turned back into a Jeep road through incredibly green greenery. It was probably the lushest scenery we’ve seen in Europe. Back in the car, we headed back toward Ore.

                On the way back, we needed to pick up some groceries. Since Lindsey, our French translator was not with us, we had quite a time picking up the milk, veggies, bread, meat, and desserts we needed. After a little over an hour of searching, we thought we had everything, so we checked out and headed home.

                With the dinner supplies we purchased, Mom prepared a delicious meal of One Dish Chicken, Veggies, and Rice. The girls, still feeling under the weather, didn’t eat much, but to the rest of us it was delicious. Dessert was a warm apple tart topped with whipped cream. While not as good as proper American apple pie, it was certainly interesting. Then we all snuggled up on our nice big couch to watch Meet the Robinsons before heading to bed.