We had a fairly quiet day, sleeping later than usual before walking out for coffee and pastry at a nearby boulangerie, then exploring more of the old town and the parks and gardens along the Indre before lunch at a lovely restaurant, Jeux 2 Goûts in the old town.
Along a canalPavlova dessert with strawberries
Afterward, we visited the Musée Bertrand. Bertrand was one of Napoleon I’s marshals and generals and was with him on St. Helena when he died. The museum was an odd collection of art, memorabilia, and objects collected from Egypt and elsewhere. One of the most interesting pieces was a large sculpture by Camille Claudel.
Sculpture by Camille Claudel
As I wandered through the house, my main thought was that I should get rid of all my stuff when I get home.
stairway in museumA platter with a snake— why?Bust of NapoleonCamille Claudel signature
We also visited the enormous Gothic church of St. Andre whose gleaming white spires helped us get our bearings.
Inside was the banner for this year of Jubilee proclaimed by Pope Francis one year ago, “Spes Non Confundit.” Hope does not disappoint.
Spes non confundit
Feeling without hope, I read through much of Francis’s proclamation, which moved me to tears. It seems our world continues to accelerate in a direction opposite of that Francis urged us.
Tomorrow we take an early morning bus to Bourges. I realized only today, that this city, too, is on the Vézelay northern pilgrim route. There is a brass scallop shell right in front of our hotel.
Here’s a video Kent took a few days ago when we walked through tall grass (oops, I guess you have to go to TikTok to see it:
May 21, Wednesday, 7,900 steps. 3.1 miles (mostly without backpacks).
Thanks to Mme Tessier, we arrived in Chateauroux about 8:30 this morning. She left us at the train and bus station and our hotel was just across the street. We brought our backpacks over, and it was Ok with my mixed up day for our reservation. They took our packs and said come back at 2. Did they have a city map? No.
Kent with Mme. TessierHôtel de la Garebus and train station
So we sat in the lobby for a bit and pulled Google maps before heading toward the tourist office, closed until 10. I gaped at the shop windows filled with elegant clothes, shoes, and travel brochures. Of course nothing was yet open. We wandered toward green trees, and spied a golden Mary atop a dome. The Eglise de Notre Dame was open and filled with luminous stained glass. I spied a St. Leo, and wondered if this was the one from whom the new pope chose his name. I was fascinated by windows with Martha and Margaret with dragons at their feet.
Back outside we followed the green spaces to the impressive chateau, now holding government offices. Then down through old streets to an original gate to the city, later a prison, and on to the Indre River with ducks, a fisherman and walkways through parkland.
Most interesting public we. Push a button inside to lock and unlock and toilet flushes.Lunch with wine and pizza and we paid by scanning a card on the table. Ah! technology!The other sign says “fried chicken”whoever dreamed this up?
Back up through medieval streets to a welcoming tourist office with maps. After espresso and pastry and we continued wandering. It was getting colder and windier, so we joined a group of people waiting for a bus (free city buses). We ended up at what must have been a suburban shopping mall, but stayed on for the return trip and lunchtime in the city center at a lively Italian restaurant where we had pizza and too much wine (at least for me).
A sweet perhaps 3-year-old girl at the next table waved goodbye to us, so I showed her a picture of Amar, and then one of Psyche and all 3, and she smiled and said, “Bebe!” before she and mother and two friends left.
We have a rather quirky split-level hotel room with bed atop two steps and windows at the other end of the room.
It is cold, high of 60, with rain predicted, which could have been good walking weather
One day would probably be enough here, but we’ll see what tomorrow brings. On to Bourges on Friday and Paris on Sunday.
We heard from Alain. His knee is giving him trouble, and his wife will pick him up in Gargilesse, where we were going to finish and could have arrived today.
We are 2-3 days short of Eguzon and a train station where we thought we’d finish. But after two longish days and learning that a place about 15 km from here was not taking guests, we’ve decided to spend a rest day and in Neuvy Saint Sépulcre. This small town is the home of an unusual circular church holding a piece of stone from the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. It was brought here by a crusading local lord in the 11th century. The church was inspired by circular churches in the Middle East. It also has a drop of Precious Blood in a glass vial. The tiny stone and the glass vial are visible in the church.
Our chambre d’hôte is spacious — we were able to make our dinner here last night (no complex cooking unlike the Algerian workman who was making a dish with chicken, onions, potatoes, rice, a can of vegetables and a salad) for himself and two companions. He offered to share with us, too, but we finished our soup from a box, chèvre and canned oysters, a pastry from the boulangerie, and a bottle of rosé from the Loire district and climbed the stairs to bed before he was finished cooking.
We were able to wash our clothes in the washing machine, and hang them out to dry despite threatened rain.
With some reluctance and relief, we are going to stop walking here, facing up to the fact that we are not up to the physical challenges we handled five years ago.
Our hostess has offered to take us to Chateauroux tomorrow, the capital of the Berry region with connections by train and bus to the rest of the world.
I’ve spent the afternoon, when I’d rather have been napping, checking train and bus schedules and finally booking hotels for 2 nights each in. Chateauroux and Bourges. Connections to Paris are better from Chateauroux, but the Bourges Cathedral and old buildings along the water seem too enticing to pass up.
At this point I can hardly remember the names of the places we have stayed, and what we saw where!
It has been a mix of long stretches on small roads,some lovely tracks through fields and woods and some very wild, high grass or brushy slogs on unmaintained paths. There have been times we sat in the grass at the edge of the road because there was nowhere else, and times we were delighted to encounter a bench or picnic table.
Unlike on the LePuy Route, there have been no sources to replenish water, although a couple of times people have called out from their yards to ask if we would like water. After our first couple of days we learned to carry lots of water, which of course has made our packs heavier.
We’ve both noticed that our hearing-aid batteries have lasted much longer than usual. Kent says it’s so quiet because I lost my voice for several days, but I think it’s because it has been so quiet in the countryside, apart from the occasional passing tractor or car. We’ve heard lots of birds singing.
We have passed clusters of houses where we’ve seen no one. It has been an escape, for the most part from our noisy, busy world. When we walked past car dealers, gas stations, and busy roads on the outskirts of La Châtre, I realized that we as pilgrims are not part of that world any more.
When Booking.com lists nearby places as 10 and 15 miles away, we realize they are not a few minutes away by foot, but several hours of walking. We’re not part of the motor world, or have not been recently.
We rested today! What a treat to go back to bed after breakfast! We had a real lunch, and no supper. The day has flown by and I haven’t put on my boots!
I made a mistake in our hotel booking for tomorrow. I mixed up dates. I’ve called, texted, and emailed, and hope it will be OK. Stay tuned. Our adventures aren’t over yet, although I folded up my hiking poles, put them inside the pack, and drained the hydration pack.
Buttercups along the roadGentle rolling farm fieldsPilgrim refuge along the waychateau at SarzayKent doing a bridge danceTurns out to be our last villlageLast encounter with Thomas and his dog interior of the churchDinner in the chambre d’hôteMain Street in Neuvy Saint sépulcreLunch today
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.
Scenes along the way on FridayMosaic floor, St. PierreMosaics in St. PierreRecent semi abstract window in the CathedralCathedral of St Julitte and St. CyrPèlerin cross for Jubilee, St. EtienneSt. Étienne interior shotsStreet scene, NeversSt. Étienne façade
We left Albuquerque on Monday morning, April 28, to find our flight to Dallas delayed by hours. We left that afternoon, spent the night in a hotel in a Dallas suburb and most of the next day at DFW before flying overnight to Paris, arriving on April 30.
I will attempt to copy my Facebook posts here. Writing on my iPhone Mini is difficult and today is the first we’ve had a little breathing space.
Going backwards
Our flight from ABQ to Dallas was delayed from about 1 pm to 8:30 pm. So here we are. Home for lunch in the patio, said goodbye to the roses again, and back to the airport for a 4:40 pm flight. Unless the plane to Paris is incredibly delayed, too, we will arrive a day late. The deadline just passed to cancel our Paris hotel without penalty. We may be spending 24 hours in DFW.😒
Morning, May 30. Paris
Hurrah! We’ve arrived at our hotel in Paris! Here’s the view from our window in the 13th. We had the usual queues and way finding difficulties and unbearable seats—can they possibly make them any smaller? It is quite warm here — upper 70s. Tomorrow we take the train to Vezelay.
Evening. May 30, Paris
After a very short rest (Kent totally conked out) we decided to walk 4 km each way to Notre Dame and back. It was 80 degrees F, but we stood in the long queue to get in. Seems like it is not true you can get a pilgrim credential there, but we spent quite a bit of time. Then we took &a different route back, stopping twice for drinks and a light supper. I can hardly stay awake to type this, so here are a very few photos. To Vézelay by train tomorrow before 1 pm if we slept on the 9-hour overnight flight, it was only for a few minutes. Lovely to be back in Paris!
May 1, Vézelay
We walked through Paris to Le Gare de Bercy,had a lovely train ride and then a very hot walk 9 plus km from Sermizelles to Vézelay. It took us from 3 until 7 pm., with one short stop for beer at the only place we came to in Asquins. We had a warm welcome at the St. Madeleine Centre, and we were exceedingly hot.
It is a busy long weekend starting today with May Day, so we will be here two nights. and we will walk only 12 km on Saturday. No room at that distance tomorrow. By the time we got into our dorm room — the restaurants were closing, and there were not many of them. Thanks to the English-speaking priest who carried both of our packs 3 floors up curved old stairs.
We did find a most interesting place run single-handedly by an innovative chef, but that’s too long to tell here now! Plus it is already 11 pm. and past lights out! We’re both in the women’s dorm as the men’s is pretty much full.
Thanks to daughter Psyche for managing to set up a Verizon wireless month-long travel plan for me as WiFi has been hard to come by and I couldn’t even connect with them through WiFi because I couldn’t receive text messages.
If anyone want’s to reach Kent in the next couple of days, contact me.
On the trainOur first bridge, GivryFirst sight of VézelayWelcome drinks to exhausted walkers in Asquinsalmost there!dinner at cuisine a vue
May 2 much Needed rest day in Vézelay
We are taking it easy, washing our clothes viewing the Basilica, having a leisurely lunch, getting money from a well-hidden ATM, impromptu concert, practicing my French, taking an afternoon nap. We’ll be ready to go early tomorrow morning! 11 k to Domecy sur Cure. Should be fairly short walk in cooler weather —maybe rain!
Caminobleu 