Did I say that I don't like wind?!

I was surprised that after the pouring rain last night even after leaving R and F, the thunder, the lightning, that this morning was clear once again. Mind you, the wind whipped up and before long it was raining, it cleared for a few hours, then poured as an introduction to Auch, so all of my stuff is hanging in my room, hopefully to be dry in the morning.

I had full intentions of only going as far as l'Ile Jourdain, and when the wind made it hard to even stand up, that was the final straw.

The only thing was that at that point it was sunny out, I could see the Pyrenees growing in the south - and they had this whitish tinge to their tops that must be icing or something. What else could it be? I guess this tinge means that I will head for a much lower pass. I left my bike's tire chains back home.

So, I kept going. To just one more intersection, and then another. The rolling hills were so beautiful when I could glance away quickly from the road and the buffetting wind. Did I say it's bugging me? Then I was only about 10 km from Auch, which was my intended stop for tomorrow, so I thought I might as well go the rest plus there were no more towns. Then the wind blew in dark clouds, and driving ice-cold rain. But all of a sudden there was the Cathedral up on the hill, and before I knew it, I was in the centre of the town being photographed by a group of British tourists who were amazed that I would come all this way from Canada to cycle all this way - I will be in their photo albums forever.

I got my room, and took off into the town, a little later than normal. Nappy exclaimed how a Cathedral like this one should be in a museum - the stained glass windows are beautiful. I'm surprised the wind didn't blow them out of the walls, for the building was groaning and creaking because of it - I have never heard that in one of these huge cathedrals before.

Next, I came down the Escalier Monumental where there is a statue of one of my all-time fictional heroes - D'Artagnan. I had to have a picture of his statue with the tower and cathedral up on the hill behind. Ever so cool.

I am going to eat soon, having had only one lunch so far today, so I am really hungry. This i-net place closes early, though, so I wanted to get in here first, then off for some fine Gascon fare. I am not quite sure what that is, but if it is anything like the duck I had yesterday, that would be amazing!

Not much planned for tonight if the rain and cold continue - anxious for a hot, windless and sunny Spain (ya right).

Heart

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