Business men in suits were coming in and eating while scanning the newspapers, a small group of older men came in and took over one corner of the room and Yves, who we would properly meet that evening was just finishing his breakfast as we arrived. We saw him and his companion exit the hotel as we were getting ready to go up stairs and sort ourselves out.
The guide that we are using tends to take you to the church in the town or village then guide you back out onto the Camino. We found the church but it was not quite clear which route to take so I opted for what looked like a short cut on the town map we got from the tourist information office. It took us past a secondary school and a local college perhaps more like a sixth form college... and eventually led us out to the road we wanted. The map and the real world didn’t quite fit together – some French maps are more schematic than they should be and leave out details that would actually be helpful.
It kept feeling like it was going to rain but the most we got was a cold wind and a fine dampness in the air as if we were walking through clouds. Too fine to be mist but enough to take lots of sharp edges off the landscape.
Sarzy was amazing (see the photo below) and it looked like there was a small chamber d’hote there, too.
The roads were all very quiet today as Alison said and it was not until we reached Cluis that we really started to see any vehicles. Cluis seems to be significant for three things. Alison mentioned the castle, which was a grand ruin and would be worth visiting on a return journey.
Also, just outside Cluis, close to the road we walked along, is a vast hole in the ground which is being quarried. They were blowing up part of it and lorried were filling up on the resultant rubble as we passed it.
Finally, as well as being a small, passable town, it is also the snail capital of France (according to its own publicity) and has a set of statues of snails in the centre of the town just round the corner from our refugio and close to the odd little grocers we bought our evening’s food in.
The place we stayed in was just behind the church and is run by locals as a service to pilgrims, ensuring that around half a dozen stay the night there most days during the season. This ensures a little more added business for the bars, cafes and shops for very little effort. And people like us will return to look around when we are not passing through on foot!
We were interested to find out more about Yves, who comes from Condom in the Cognac region and Bernard, who is a German (can’t remember where from). Bernard does not speak any French or English and Yves is helping him by being able to speak German as well as French. Not sure what Yves used to do for a living (he is retired) but he has walked the Camino many times and on many of the routes. He is a strong walker with a very direct approach and uses a German guide book (one like Christian’s who complained that there was not enough information - especially when you are trying to walk the route in reverse). Yves compares the Way with the road and usually chooses the shortest one. Bernard is happy to follow his lead as long as Yves keeps booking places and ordering food etc. Yves teases him mercilessly.
The two French women kept themselves to themselves. They are walking very short distances each day and, as they are very large in girth, I am not surprised at their decision – ‘though it does look a bit like they are going to take for ever to get to St Jean! After today we are unlikely to see them again – we will be about three days ahead of them by tomorrow night, if you see what I mean (their day = 10 km, ours = 34kms).
Our route includes Placemarks 103 - 106 today.
Alison’s Log - Camino Day 39 mercredi 12/5/10 - La Chatre to Cluis
Excellent breakfast in the hotel and no rain!
Took us a while to work out how to leave La Chatre and we decided to follow the road other than the chemin to keep Ian’s feet dry. The road was quiet (all day) and his feet were much better for not being wet. It was pretty much dry all day but quite cold.
The road took us through Sarzy which had a lovely little castle we would have missed if we had gone on the chemin. We easily made St Sepulchre for lunch and ended up eating our lunch in the church (after a beer in the cafe).
The afternoon was very short – we arrived about 2 hrs before I had predicted – but it gave us the chance to look around the town centre. The Germans (in fact it turns out that they are actually 1 German called Bernard and a French man called Yves) had already arrived and as we were wondering how to get to the refugio they came along the road with the woman I phoned last night.
The refugio is full – 6 people! – with us, B&Y and two French women.
Ian and I are on the futon in the dining area on the ground floor, but at least the loo is indoors! There is a tumble drier so we have done washing and Ian cooked sausage and lentils for tea.
Pleasant times talking to our fellow pelerins. Should say Cluis is very historic with a ruined castle, and I phoned to book for tomorrow – a cheap hotel again as there is no real alternative – which is good because it will be a long day (34 kms).
Mum ‘phoned to let me know that dad is having his operation tomorrow morning. We hope (and pray) that all goes well.
The view from our hotel window:
the roads were all quiet:
Sarzy castle
the roads were so quiet we kept on them and made good progress.
the poor weather continued, brightened by the scenery and oddly shaped trees.
The castle guarding the approach to Cluis must have been quite something - dwarfing the little one at Sarzy!
the famous snail statues.....
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