May 10, 2025, Saturday, rest day in Nevers

I haven’t written recently except for short Facebook posts. We arrived in Nevers after a lovely walk on Friday.  I came down with a scratchy throat on Thursday evening, and although I felt pretty good while walking on Friday, by afternoon I had lots of congestion, some coughing and by evening I’d lost my voice, which has made communication difficult.

L’Espace Bernadette is a very busy place indeed, with busloads of tourists and groups of school children, plus the occasional pilgrim, touring the extensive gardens and buildings, and viewing the “uncorrupted body” of Bernadette who was canonized in 1925, making this a big year of celebration. Bernadette is the famous 14-year-old girl who had encounters with the Virgin Mary at Lourdes, and spent the later years at this place ministering to the poor and sick until her death from tuberculosis at the age of 35. 

What ones sees now is the wax coated hands and face of this small woman in a crystal coffin, reminding me of images of Snow White.

I was touched to think of this young, very poor young woman being chosen to convey such a message of love and caring — such an antithesis to our mainstream culture.

Tonight at dinner a group of perhaps 20 people sang together before they sat down to eat, and again upon rising in unison at the conclusion of the meal.

We hauled a bag of our dirty clothes to a laundry service this morning, only to learn they could not wash our clothes and return them that day, so we had to brave reading all the instructions, finding the right coins, and pushing all the buttons in order. It took a fair amount of experimentation, but finally we got washing detergent and the clothes into a machine that actually worked. 

Then we hauled the clean, washed and dried clothes on the 12-minute walk back to our room, and started planning for tomorrow. 

It turns out the Augy Alternative, which cuts about 40 km off the regular southern Vézelay route starts here. The only information we’ve been able to find is in our Dutch Pilgrim Association guidebook, and the route as a purple line on our online map. We hope there will be trail markers along the way, too.

So, we heading into new territory tomorrow, with rain predicted and a chambre d’hôte tomorrow night with no dinner or breakfast and no one at home.  We have a code for a lock box to get keys, and have promised to leave 45 Euros in the room.

What could go wrong?

We spent the rest of our day exploring the city, getting lost, and eating a delicious light lunch. I was greatly moved by the 11th century church of St. Etienne, designated as a stop on this jubilee year pilgrimage of hope by Pope Francis.  People have been leaving folded papers with prayers in a basket. I added two folded notes of my own. The church is a stunning example medieval Romanesque architecture. Two women were discarding faded flowers and making magnificent new bouquets the entire time we were there.

We’ll say goodbye to Alain in the morning.  He’ll take the classic route. He’s saved us so many times, so it is a bit intimidating to be entirely on our own.

So bonsoir, and bon chemin to us.

Bridge dance