But it is high up above the Lac and so we walked out of our hotel, across the river and climbed up into the town. Then we followed a wonderful path that took us out, over the town and the Lac and then down into a deep wooded valley, as Alison says in her log. Unfortunately, my camera’s batteries finally gave up as we arrived in this valley but the two pictures I took give a good idea of what the place was like.
We spent quite a bit of the morning walking up a series of valleys and each had, at regular intervals, old mills many of them now renovated and refurbished into homes but none of them seemed to be taking advantage of the water power resource that caused the buildings to be there in the first place. Starting with the mills we encountered after our descent into the river valley I counted twelve but I could have easily missed a couple as I didn’t really think about the counting ‘till later. Each one of these would have been able to enjoy most, if not all of their electricity fro free and they could have been contributing to the French equivalent of the National Grid too.
I did reflect at the time that we had encountered many mills en route so far and virtually every single one was now “ornamental” rather than a working mill. Mmmmm.
The place we stayed in at La Souterraine was lovely and has a website (pointed to in placemark 104 The 104 after 110, 111 and 112 that is....)
As we were sitting down in our room there, going through our papers and maps, Alison began to read one of the photocopied sheets given to us by the man in the church. They were extracts from books and some info written by people interested in the history of the church and the town. In it she found a reference that surprised us. Shortly after leaving Chartres we passed a small village with a notice at its entrance saying it was the village of Bretigny where The Treaty of Brétigny between France and England had been signed on the 8th May 1360.
We had been walking along ever since wondering what the treaty had been about and thinking we should check it out the next time we got on line but we had never done it.
Now here we had a direct reference to the treaty! The treaty marked the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years War (and started a period od peace that lasted for nine years). The English came out of this phase of the war with half of Brittany, Aquitaine (about a quarter of France), Calais, Ponthieu, and about half of France's vassal states as their allies and, La Souterraine was included as part of this treaty. Of course, it eventually reverted back to France... although it seems like a number of Brits have returned to reclaim some of the land for themselves again.
We had a delightful meal in a very fine, wood panelled room with a large fire and elegant, long table. The Chicken breasts roasted with chicory and fennel served on a warm salad of Puy Lentils was particularly good.
The Dutch contingent all opted for the meal so we had a lovely evening talking with them about the attitude of the Dutch to the Camino (they like it, want to do it starting at their own front doors and they, like many countries in Europe, like to see it included on young peoples’ CVs – a bit like the Duke of Edinburgh Awards).
The young cyclist told us that he had stayed the previous night in a castle in a place called Sarzy. We said that we had walked past it a couple of days before (cyclists can cover a lot more ground than walkers in the same time). He told us that he had arrived at the place quite late, around 6pm, and had asked how much to stay the night as a pilgrim. They quoted over a hundred Euros and he said no thanks, so they said that they would accept fifty just to fill the room. He again declined saying it was too much. When he then refused an offer of a nightly rate of thirty they asked him how much he was willing to pay. He said he only had ten Euros and they shrugged and said he could stay – as long as he did not mention his rate to the other guests. So he was treated like a lord and enjoyed great food and a fantastic room for virtually nothing.
It was good to touch base with Rene, too. He has had an excellent walk on the northern route out of Vezelay and recommended it as worth the walk. But the rain had been very bad causing the paths to be almost impassable in many places and it had been very hard going indeed. It sounded much worse than the route we had taken.
The house was very quiet and had an extremely good atmosphere so, despite it being a bit cold, both Alison and I enjoyed the evening and the night there.
Alison’s Log - Camino Day 41 vendredi 14/5/10 - Crozant to La Souterraine
Late rising and breakfast (8am !) and on the road by nine. Place cheaper than I had thought... it was a bit difficult to get out of Crozant but, with the help of a man in a car park we found our way to a spectacular path down the side of the lake and along a heavily wooded river valley. Then we were on roads and small paths all day. Very rolling countryside and occasional cyclists and other walkers (but not pilgrims). Found a bar for a drink before lunch. But although the day began with blue sky and sunshine (first time since pre-Vezelay) it clouded over and got colder as it went on. So our picnic lunch was a chilly stop in the square.
I called the hospital there and got a positive update on dad – re-enforced by a phone call from mum this evening.
We didn’t book anywhere for tonight but arrived with a fall back plan of camping (despite the fact that the campsite was a few kms in the wrong direction out of town).
We went to the church and paused to pray and then walked around it. When we arrived the pilgrim table had no one at it but as we made our way passed it to leave there was a man who asked if we wanted our credencials stamped. He also asked where we were staying and when we said we didn’t know he directed us to a pilgrim gite run by English people.
It is a huge house, beautifully renovated (very Kath Kidston) and we have an ensuite room for E20. We have dinner here, too (E16 each). The other guests include Yves and Bernard, but also Rene who left Vezelay at the same time as us but went the northern route.... Also a Dutch couple and a younger Dutch man who are all on bikes. We had dinner with all four Dutch people – food excellent. Not sure where we will stay tomorrow but it is unlikely to be as good as this....
Here is an image of the hotel from the bridge as we headed towards Crozant:
The castle at Crozant from the bridge.
the Lac below Crozant
The castle
The first mill in the valley (both this and its neighbour are for sale currently)
You can see the path we used to the left...
for the last couple of days we had noticed that the cemeteries had a few greenhouses in them.... the French are obviously keen gardeners to the end
This church is not only out of place (with its Normandy-style spire) but it is also very wonky!(It is called the Eglise se Saint-Germain-Beaupre)
A French style traveler's encampment - a different attitude to the travelling people?
And, of course, I do not see imaginary figures in naturally occurring shapes and materials...
No comments:
Post a Comment