Stage 7 to Moissac

From last night's gite - the ever-present image of St Jacques:


During this morning's pre-race briefing, the word boue had come up more than once. My rusty French had wrongly thought that boues were cobblestones. Well, I was epically incorrect - la boue is in fact mud. At least a third of today's 43 miles was a sheet of slippery, cloying clay. The spring rains have turned the slippery slopes into semi-vertical ice rinks. At a couple of points today, forward progress became totally and almost hilariously impossible. It felt like mud wrestling but without an opponent. I had cleverly left my ski poles - which would've come in mighty handy - in my suitcase.



But when actually running was possible, I felt surprisingly good today. The weariness of the previous couple of stages seemed to desert me, and I ran strongly and fresh - at least between mud baths.

At the end of a long stage, we arrived to a big gym with warm showers. Life is good.

Location:Avenue de l'Uvarium,Moissac,France