12 April Murat Sur Vebre-La Salvetat 22 kilometres in the snow

Easter Sunday I was amazed when I looked out of the window in the morning to check the weather to find that it was snowing! Hard! Our host had welcomed us to the gite the previous evening with a fresh baguette and had turned on all the heaters so that we could dry out soaking clothes and boots. When we asked if there were any shops he opened a store cupboard and invited us to take what we needed and leave the money in a tin. We dined hungrily on sausages and lentils, ratatuoille and local wine. In the morning as we were leaving our host appeared through the snow to warn us that it would be dangerous to take the path in the snow. It would be slippery and if we had an accident the mobile phone coverage was not good. We wondered what to do. The prospect of spending the day in the hostel was not very appealing so we decided to walk along the road to La Salvetat our next stop. The Swiss pelerins had stayed in a hotel a kilometre or so back and were also taking the road route so we followed in their footsteps until they drew ahead.