Day 4 - Ste Lucie to Burgo

Distance walked: 17km, Time Taken: 7 hours 13 minutes (including stops),
Ascent: 960m, Descent 1228m, Alcohol Consumed: 250ml beer, 250ml red wine

Walking notes stats
Distance: 20km, Time: 6 hours, Ascent: 675m, Descent: 945m

After my meagre breakfast I headed into the village (not included in the stats above) and had a second breakfast at the cafe - coffee and a croissant. I then bought myself some bread (a baguette), cheese, salami and an apple from the local store.  As I did this I realised I hadn't packed a knife so I would have to just tear them apart with my hands, caveman style.

On my way out of Ste Lucie I picked up a dog.  It was very friendly and didn't so much follow me, as escort me on my route.  It obviously knew the way and would go on ahead, always taking the right path.  It would wait for  me when I got too far behind.  It has clearly escorted other hikers before. 

Below is a picture of Ste Lucie from the hills above as I left it.  The scenery around here is gorgeous.

My guide dog ran off investigating something in the bushes and then chased some goats, but always came back so after about 2 hours of walking it was still  with me.  I was getting worried about how to get it to go home.  I eventually met a man fixing a fence.  I told him the dog wasn't mine and it had just followed me and asked how to make it go home (this was all done in French).  He first thought the dog was mine, then he said it had been abandoned and would follow anyone who would feed it.  I don't think he was right as the dog had a collar and tags and was clearly well fed.  Plus he originally thought it was mine so I doubt he recognised it. In any case, he told it to go home in stern voice.  Either the dog knew him or knew that tone of voice and headed back the way we had come.  I hope it had a home to go to.  This is a picture of my guide dog.  It is blurry as I couldn't make it stand still.

I could have used my guide dog on the next bit of the path as I came to a fork which was helpfully marked with a painted rock in the middle of the fork.  I had to guess whether this meant go right or left and, for a miracle, guessed correctly.  The waymarking has been pretty good, with the exception of that fork.  Mostly just splashes of orange paint, but enough of them that it is easy to keep on track.  Although, I can see you could get very lost, very easily if you didn't keep an eye out for them.

The hiking today wasn't as tough as I was expecting.  The uphill bits were just hard work.  Downhill was tricker as it is tough on the feet (your toes get squished up at the end of your boot) and it would be very easy to slip and hurt yourself.  I wouldn't want to be doing this hike if it was raining or had rained recently.  Some of the paths would be dangerously slippery if they got muddy. 

I tottered into my hotel here in Burgo at about 4pm, after having left Ste Lucie at 9am.  Not too bad.  Tomorrow is the distance is supposedly only 15km and the predicted duration only 5 hours.  I will take a longer break around midday rather than marching on in the hottest part of the day.  It has been beautiful weather here.  Mid to high 20s and clear skies.  I'm definitely getting all my daily requirement for vitamin D and then some.

My bag was waiting for me when I got here, which was a pleasant surprise. I was also expected, which was even better.  This place isn't so much a hotel as a hostel for hikers.  However, I get a room to myself with an ensuite bathroom.  There are also dormitories.   My bathroom was a real bathroom with a bath, rather than a shower which is all I've had until now. I washed myself Japanese style and then  had a good long soak in a hot bath to ease my tired muscles.

Dinner was available from 7pm until 7:30pm.  I went downstairs a little before and had a beer on their verandah admiring the beautiful veiw as the sun set.  I then beat a hasty retreat inside to annoint my ankles with inspect repellent before heading back down for dinner at 7:15pm.  There were four tables set up on the balcony, all facing the view down the valley to Propriano I think - a town on the coast in any case. There was a table for one for me, plus 2 tables for couples and another set up for 7.  The remaining guests didn't show up until between 7:30pm and 8pm.  I wonder if they were given a different mealtime to me.  All the other people were  sitting behind me so I couldn't see if they got served different food but at least one couple either ate very quickly or had fewer courses as they started after me and finished before me.

Here is the view from the verandah where we ate.  This is looking back to the hills rather than
down the valley to Propriano.

There were no menus, you seemed to just eat what was given.  My entree was a salad of lettuce, tomato, spanish onion, olives and cubes of a feta-like cheese, which I suspect was a local variety.  It was OK.  My main course was a huge piece of roast lamb with potatoes, this time roasted not boiled. It was big enough for two but I ate it all anyway.  Next was a local hard cheese with fig jam, which I beginning to really enjoy.  Dessert was a very satisfactory creme brulee.  All in all, very similar to my meal at the fancy 20123 restaurant but I suspect the cost was far less.

Then I tottered upstairs to bed as I was exhausted and just longing to lie down and stop moving.

Here is the track I walked and a matching elevation graph.