Hotel de France, Auch, 31 August 2025

For breakfast we all had coffee at the local patisserie. John and Paul ordered Jesuits which are not monks but flaky pastry with cream filling and almond topping. Delicious.

We started our walk at L’Isle-Arne and almost immediately were directed onto a shorter path to Lussan by a local runner. The route was on roads through farms growing corn, sorghum and sun flowers. On reaching Lussan we stopped at the church for a rest before continuing on to Montegut. Here we travelled through similar farmland on tracks around fields, along streams and hedge rows and through patches of native forest consisting mainly of oaks.

For a change it wasn’t raining or overcast and it became very warm. We only missed one turn on the path with an easy correction that only cost us a couple of hundred meters.

Navigation has become easier as the Via Tolosana and the GR635 now match.

On reaching Montegut we were very hot and tired and quickly decided that 5.7 kilometres was much better than 10 kilometres following the designated path even if it meant walking down the busy D924.

That part of the walk was long and hot and on reaching the outskirts of Auch you quickly discover that there is still over half an hour’s walking to reach your hotel situated in the main square on top of yet another steep hill.

We are staying in a very old hotel that requires some difficult navigation to get to the lift to find the first floor. The lift is hidden in a courtyard down narrow corridors that pass the toilets and the kitchen. Our room is clean and spacious although I am not too sure about the pink and grey decor.

Wayside cross

Great views

Montegut

Approaching Auch