Compostelle – Caminobleu

Chateauroux Day 2

Thursday, May 22

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.

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.

As I wandered through the house, my main thought was that I should get rid of all my stuff when I get home.

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.

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:

“Come on!” he says

Chateauroux

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.

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.

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.

The time has come to wrap it up…

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

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.