Day Five- La Roche Eglise to Les Estrets

This was one of the best days that any Camino could serve up! We stuck around for mass and got a very late start by Camino standards. We left at one, the sky was turning dark and the kids experienced their first Camino walk in the rain. They learned that the second you batten down the hatches for the rain that it will stop. The day was cooler, there were clouds, no major up hills and down hills and a nice breeze. We had a great walking groove. Everyone has blisters except Tristan but none of us seem too bothered by them. We stuck together pretty well, with a small exception. Reichen, Aynsleigh and I led the pack with rain gear on trying to get ahead to find a spot for coffee and to charge devices. Keeping a charge is difficult and getting WIFI access is almost impossible the way we camp vs staying in gites.

We came upon a stone building with this sweet sign...

Slightly chilled from the rain Reichen made me a cup of coffee and we waited for the rest, leaving two euros in a basket for appreciation.

The crew caught up and we were off.

We were thrilled to meet up with Maureen and Frank who have become our Camino family.

We passed another camper going all the way to Santiago as well, his name is Mark and he is a French warrant officer with little English. We walked for a bit deciding if we should all stay together for the night, he proposed a place and when we got there I was not really feeling it was the place for us, we were just about to say bye and move on when a van pulled up.

...actually this is how the kids looked when I decided we should walk on...

 A women started talking to Mark and he turned to me in broken English and said, " she wants to help you", I kind of froze as I didn't feel we needed help and feared we'd be signing up for some " dinner cruise" or something....

She hopped out of her van with the biggest smile and said she owns a gite in the town we passed but that she has a cabin a kilometer away that we could stay at for free. ..

She offered to drive us and I declined as we have a pretty strong primitive pilgrim mentality where, with our pack, we will walk every mile of what we can. She explained she has horses at this cabin. She shared a pilgrim, John-Michael, had asked her if she'd seen us which is why she stopped us.

We almost skipped to her property in glee. Her name is Gladis and her hubby is Michael...at the property horses ran free, a dog was in charge her hubby was waiting and so were her beautiful children plus a friend. We were at amazing peace, this was a special place on Earth... and on this property was a teepee where our heads would crash for the night. Reichen set up hammocks asking if their children wanted to stay with us and instantly a handsome horse came up to him for some loving. The boys spent another wonderful summer with Landry Academy and this year Reichen has been talking about horses ever since, they had some time riding and he really loved it!

Marc camped near by and showed the boys his top of the line, well prepared equipment. We all drooled over his Jet Boil, his equipment that lets you cook, we have studied these as we have been active reading AT blogs. He shared soup, sausisson, fromage ( cheese) and cookies with the kids.

 I didn't feel right about him literally giving the kids all he had but he insisted.

We slept great!!!!

....and if we thought things couldn't get better in the morning Reichen yelled," mom, tree mail". Unless you watch Survivor on TV you won't know what that means. It is yelled when the host suprised this starved castaways with food. Here came Michael with a SILVER PLATTER of hot crepes and jellies!

I love these two as if I've known them forever!

Amazingly they have an interest in North Carolina as they are really love Blue Grass music. 

About six years a homeschool mom reached out to me via email asking me a question. A few emails later I felt I had met a kindred spirit. We really don't stay in touch but about once a year we'll touch base as if we might be days away from planning a road trip to get the kids together. It ends up her hubby is in a popular band, she actually emailed me words of encouragement while we were in the airport for this trip. So imagine how neat it was for him to mention this band out of nowhere telling me they were his favorite. The bands name is Bella Fleck and the Fleckstones!!!! Holly, if you are reading, I found this the most amazing coincidence. I knew there was reason I felt you might join me one day for one of these walks...a sign maybe?????

Trail Angels Gladis and Michael we love you!!!! We will never forget you!!!! We welcome you to our home anytime....

We will see eachother again, I know it!!!