Part 2, day 14 : Les Cassès to Avignonet-Lauragais

The gîte La Passeur Elle in Les Cassès had been a nice haven. As I mentioned, dinner around the table with Isabelle also found me with three brothers from the Dordogne, Bernard, a Quebecoise named Dominique, and Francine from Moissac.  It would be the last time I would see Bernard, and I would spend the next two days with the two women I met there, who had fast become friends. The three brothers had decided to take a shortcut and to squeeze two day's walking into one.

 Isabelle told me about a shortcut to reach La Rigole, and the next morning I set out to find it.  Along the way I ran into Dominique and Francine, and later on, briefly, Teri, who I was not to see again. It was difficult figuring out exactly where to leave the canal, but I finally figured it out, and made my way towards the Canal du Midi.  Along the way, I ran into Dominique and Francine again in Montferrand, where we ate lunch at at bus shelter, and the three of us continued on together. After a relatively short walk along the Canal we then hiked an extremely long upward path to Avignonet to the gîte La Goutille, again in the heat of the day.  Somehow the distances on a map seem a lot shorter than when actually walked by foot...

La Goutille