Le Carlaret

At 15 kilometres it's a little longer to Vals, along the minor routes either side of the main road to Pamiers, and quite boring, but not those hills. Tomorrow it's quite a different story with no option to miss out fairly steep hills. I'm not a coward I just have limits to my energy with this sack!

Thierry has connections with the French foreign legion because he was a soldier in the Alpine division and they had an "exchange" programme. He stopped for a beer and I've stopped for lunch. That was a very tough morning and my boots are still wet! Did I mention it was a bit damp yesterday?

On the eighth day Daniel wondered how Leeds Mind help publicize my erstwhile endeavour? Do they? Can they? Why aren't they? I'm not sure I can answer that one, but it feels I am trying to help without help! Except for the obvious help from mosquitoes?

It's one o'clock so why move? It's shady and I couldn't care less for mosquitoes in the daytime. I dislike their persistence when I'm nodding off!

Some chaffing has appeared between cheek A and cheek B and this is truly unexpected: serves me right for sweating from my bald head down for eight days? What solution my I find up in the hills? Looking for Dock leaves I'm out of luck, but now Dandelion leaves are another leaf of relief on this irrationally warm afternoon; pray they aren't a natural enema as the flower is a diuretic, but all I need is to bridge the gap?

Oh the fun those Amis Saint Jacques have to find the longest highest point the furthest away from a noose for the night: damn you sons of a silly person!

After much adjudication I believe mint to be a superior leaf for its anti chaffing potential.

The road went on and on and up and up, then it came down into a wide valley before heading back up and slightly back the way I'd come. Then some malady struck me down with around 3 kilometres, up, to go. My belly it was about to pop, I was going to have serious diarrhea, or I was going to fall flat out while vomitting, I felt overwhelmed. However I reached the bed this i intact and feel I'm here until the other two pilgrims catch me up from Mirepoix, but it's a difficult day and I'm a lot younger than those. The afternoon sun is quite intense too on top of that crest and down in the valley.