Electric nuts!

There is a chinese proverb that says if you want to eat grow rice, If you want to eat next year raise cattle, And if you want to be rich in 20 years plant trees.
There are very many tree plantations here with beautiful tall white trunks all planted in rows.
We also saw a plantation of nut trees that all seem to be wired together in a very strange way. I wondered if they were using the nut tree has some sort of eco power source.

This evening we have planted ourselves in a little pine forest. I am going to attempt to sleep in my hammock again because i'm too lazy to put up my tent.

Disaster day

I obviously spoke too soon, shortly after posting the last message Jeremy arrived saying that the thunderstorm had broken his tent And it was torn and leaking. Being in a small town there was no possibility of finding camping equipment nearby snd we were forced to consider the possibility of going to the nearby town of Langon or one further afield such as Bordeaux.
Unfortunately, even Langon had no camping stores worth anything so we had to go to bordeaux by train. Jeremy and i hitch-hiked individually with him going first and me following on. Both of us had shouts of derision from several drivers and we noticed a preponderance of national front propaganda on the various billboards that we passed. It seems as if the south of france, like the south of america is a region for extremists.
Arriving in bordeaux we went to the decathlon stores that i went to last week but unfortunately they were out of stock for all of the items that we wanted. Locating another store in town we managed to buy a tent but it wasn't the super light job that jeremy needed and he had to settle for one that weighed three kilograms. We also decided that as jeremy's rucksack was not particularly good I would buy a new rucksack for myself And give him the very heavy army sack of that i have. My bag on its own weighs five kilos which is a significant amount to carry, especially if it's just dead weight.
All that being complete we took the train back to Langon. I had been very uncomfortable with a back ache all day, And going to the toilet on the train i was horrified to see that i was pissing blood. I know that i have a 2 millimetre kidney stone In my right kidney But i am afraid that dehydration due to walking and not drinking enough plus the added stress of considerable weight loss may have caused it to become larger or i may just have passed the stone yesterday.
Today, my urine seems discolored but not red so i rather hope that the condition may go away. I don't want to rush for the nearest hospital and possibly cancel the trip.
Also today, we didn't walk very far because rearranging the bags as maids jeremy's one very much heavier and so there were many stops and re adjustments.
We camped last night beside the canal du midi on the Garonne river crossing by a trestle bridge just before dark. The river seems to be partially tidal as the level went up and down during the night and it was about 200 feet wide green and very greasy just like the limpopo.

Rain rain go away

We walked a good 27 kilometres yesterday And found ourselves with the dilemma of choosing to remain in a vineyard or to continue across a river into unknown territory where we might not find a place to camp. We opted for the vineyard and cooked up pasta for tea.
I decided that rather than put my tent up I would sleep outside in my waterproof bag thinking all the time that it had been fine and there would be no rain. well, i was wrong about that.
There was a thunderstorm during the night and a torrential downpour. Amazingly though i remind relatively dry and the worst of the damp came from the condensation of my breath on the inside of the bag.
Jeremy, who had broken his tent the night before, managed to fix it using the repair kit for my own tent I haven't seen him yet this morning but i assume that he is ok.
And so, i'm lying here in a wet vineyard watching the sun come up over the vines Doing my morning meditation and thinking just this moment. Just this moment. Just this moment.

A rude awakening

Last night we camped beside vines and played cards until we could see no more. I slept well enough apart from some unfortunately vivid dreams that woke me at four in the morning but drifted off again while wondering what sort of creature might be snuffling about outside. I suspect a hedgepig.

At six my alarm sounded and i heard a tractor but thought nothing of it until it seemed that it was working nearby. I called Jem who grunted a bit and said it didn't matter but I insisted and we both eventually went to look.
A tractor was spraying nearby vines but Jeremy said they were not on our field and it would take hours to traverse all the intervening vines so we went back to brew up.

A few minutes later to my horror I saw a tractor with cyclone sprayer bearing down upon us as we sipped coffee. The guy had started our field in the other direction making our end first.

We madly packed and moved stuff to the side of the nearby woods and the tractor had to wait while i removed the coffee stove. Grumpy farmer or what?

Still, after the bad start we made seven hours of walking and twenty seven kilometres of distance.

Tonight we are setting up camp....
Next to more vines. Gluttons for punishment.

Ps. Bit of a disaster beccause jem has busted his tent.

Across the Dordogne

Striding south out of castillon we hit a trestle bridge across the Dordogne. The wide valley bordering the river was oddly  devoid of the vines so common in this wine growing region. Jeremy pointed out the soil that was revealed in the wake of a tractor working in the fields nearby. It was rich, brown and damp. Not at all like the chalky, dry soil preferred by grapes.
Instead, varieties of cash-crops such as kiwi fruits were growing there.

Passing a hedge we saw strange fruit on the ground. All green and bumpy these odd pods had white milky juice. Jeremy was so suspicious of them he didn't want me to taste even a tiny drop.

Ascending a steep and winding hill we found a lookout point commanding a view of the valley below. Quite spectacular don't you think?

As we continued we found that the locals had novel ideas on neighborhood security employing dangerous domesticated rabbits as protection. We ran so hard from one marauding band of conies that the wheelbarrow had a blowout and Jeremy had to grovel underneath to remove the wheel before I could effect repairs.

Repose

Arriving at Jeremy's old stomping grounds in Castillon La Bataille we were greeted like long lost family by André, proprietor of a motorcycle and garden machinery workshop. André, who is somewhat Dutch, gave us the warmest welcome and use of his shower (a hosepipe in the garden) and washing machine.
We were invited to eat barbecued foodtuffs and music and beer flowed until the early hours. I had fizzy water I hasten to add...
The next day was earmarked for us too because we were also invited to eat with one of André`s neighbors who's African name I am unable to spell (Yahoun?) And who cooked us the most amazing slap-up meal.

I slept so well on a bed built of palettes and old sofa cushions. So much better thsn the cold ground.

André's son, Wim who is 13 years old showed me some of the computer animation work he had done. The surprise for me was Wim's use of camera angles and directorial tricks that made his work really stand out.  I think we'll see more of young Wim in the future. I have commissioned a manga style artwork of Jem and I from him. I hope he does it for me.

I weighed myself on André's big industrial scaled and have lost EIGHT KILOS in one week. I knew walking was hard work but that's crazy. Thirty kilos down in under four months and all while on a diet high in calories.

Walking food needs to be compact and calorific so we eat dried sausage, cheese, sardines and as many fruits, nuts and tomatoes as we can find. We drink a lot of orangina too.  Without exaggeration i probably eat a kilo of hedgerow fruits, apples, plums and blackberries a day.

Leaving Castillon today was a sad thing because we leave behind new friends and good memories.

Oi You!

We heard the cry after walking down a steep hill in the hot sun. Looking behind we saw a man coming out of his front gate and Jeremy said "uh-oh" and we were looking for an escape route.

The man looked at us and said "Are you walkers?" to which we shrugged and replied yes.

He then asked us where we'd been, what we'd seen, why we were doing it all and would we like some home-grown tomatoes. Of course we said yes.

The gentleman gave us a big bag with tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes from his garden, shook our hands and wished us a safe onward journey.

As we walked on we ate warm tomatoes with that wonderful fresh-picked smell and the juice and pips ran down our chins. Lovely!