St. Sever to Hospital d’Orion: Gluttony in the Gascony

Gordon:  After a few weeks of cycling there is no more welcome sight than a smorgasbord.  I do not believe they are a part of traditional French culture, but we have seen evidence (including advertisements and expanding waistlines) that they are becoming more common here.  In any event, we stumbled upon a buffet in our search for a lunch out today.  At 13 euros per person, including a 1/4 litre of wine and coffee, the price was right.  After informing the host of our intentions, we hurried to the spread of food to start the feast.  We were not really certain of the protocol, so Ruth in particular filled a large plate in case we only got one shot.  We were therefore quite surprised when our host came by to confirm that we wanted the main dish: a plate full of tender veal and rice.  We rose to the occasion, however, not neglecting the excellent selection of desserts.  We did have a few regrets later, as we struggled up a series of steep hills with our overfilled bellies, but as Swainson’s says in ads for their TV dinners “it’s good to be full.”

We feel we earned our buffet experience today, as we have now cycled half of the distance to our destination of Santiago.  Our tripometer will turn over 1,000 kms tomorrow, which is also Bruce and Marg’s last day of cycling.