After crossing a bridge over a very full, muddy river we found ourselves in a quiet corner of Rural France. It seemed that the place had once been covered in forest and that the clearance had taken place early in the twentieth century. Roads seemed to curve around wide areas of farm land that had once been woodland, villages were on the main routes with a few hamlets down narrow side roads all with names suggesting that they had been hidden in the trees, etc.
the central place and you could see where these forests used to be. The place had been a major tourist hub for hunters and others interested in woodland pursuits but it was a bit run down and threadbare. The bar we stopped at for a drink and to eat was in the process of being re-done in a sort of hap-hazard, low budget way and there was hunting memorabilia and related pictures everywhere.
Perhaps in the sunshine and in season the place will have a brighter, lighter and more prosperous look to it.... The local patisserie was very good and people were very friendly. Check it out at Placemark 96 on our map and look around the town in better weather.
The key Placemarks for today are 95-97.
Alison's Log - Camino Day 34 Samedi 8/5/10 - St Piere le Moutier (Marcigny) to Valigny
Good night’s sleep and pleasant breakfast then off my 8.15. Very quiet because today is not only Saturday but also a public holiday in France – celebrating Liberation/VE Day. We began in sunshine, walked through heavy rain to lunch and then more sunshine and cloud in the afternoon. The rain came again a few minutes after we sat down in the hotel at Valigny. The day was about 28kms after we cut out a bit of path to walk on the quiet road in the morning. After that we opted for the paths – some very muddy – and a slightly shorter day...
We found a Boulagerie open to buy croissants for a morning snack and a bar/tabac in Lurcy where we drank coffee and ate our lunch (including hard boiled eggs from last night’s stop) and sheltered from the rain. Also 2 open churches today. One in the morning and one across from the hotel when we arrived. The hotel is very odd. When we arrived they seemed to know we were coming – as they should because the lady phoned and booked for us last night – but had no rooms ready, so we sat and drank welcome beers while things happened behind the scenes. Eventually, the man showed us across a muddy yard to the “garden rooms” – a lounge (really a hall with a dresser, table, fridge and TV) a loo, shower room and 2 bedrooms. Radiators on but very small towels (Dougal went back to ask for bath towels and came back with more of the same.... ) And the hot water ran out before Dougal could get a shower.
So, just had the pilgrim dinner – 4 courses and wine and coffee – and the lady phoned the Franciscan sisters in St Armand to book us in for tomorrow. No idea what all this will cost, ‘though – the basic price was quoted as E71.... Betty and Dougal will leave us after tomorrow to set off back to England. It will be strange to be on our own again.....
We stopped at a small town where there was a huge tourist map on a wall in The overnight stop was in a place that claimed to be a hotel but the rooms we had were in an adjoining house as described by Alison. We had checked it out on line when we were in Nevers and it looked like a nice hotel but it was yet another whacky rural French place. I think the advent of the euro-travelling motorist with expectations of en-suites in every room, satellite TV and so on has decimated the countryside of small, family run, simple hotels. Which is a very sad thing.
As we sat at the bar chatting about the day and about the small church on the other side of the road from the hotel we watched as the heavens opened and the rain just emptied itself on the place. In came a couple of locals who were looking for papers and bread, a couple of men popped in for a drink and some cigarettes. The sleepy little town just ticked along with the delicate support of the hotel’s many services as we sat quietly savouring the cold beer and the cool tiles on our sore feet.
The food in the evening was very simple but both generous in portion size and high in quality. The woman was very warm to us after a bit of brusque banter during the ordering stage and she lamented the fact that there should have been another pilgrim that night. The person had not turned up and not told her they were not going to turn up. She was worried for the person as well as upset that the no show was discourteous. After phoning the Convent, explaining they would not let people just turn up – they had to call in advance – she explained how to find the place. I thought that I understood what she said but the details just seeped away in my mind. I thought, well the rest heard, too. But, of course, we were all just a little bit too tired and we should have asked her to write it down.
Another lesson we learned the hard way the next day.
After the first day out of Vezelay we saw no vineyards but endless herds of cattle.
And, as Alison mentioned in her blog, we saw a lot of mud!
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