CHÂTEAUMEILLANT – NEUVY-SAINT SÉPULCHRE
Today, I had to walk 24 miles so I got up early. My alarm clock was not necessary – at 5:30, the alarm in the house went off. The noise was loud and shrill. What happened? A fire? Or did somebody try to break in? After a while, the fire department came and turned it off. There was only the other pilgrim Michelle and myself in the house. It was strange.
After a short breakfast in the kitchen of the municipal house, I left at 6 am. It was great to feel the cool breeze of the morning air, smell the tangy scent of the walnut trees lining the path and watch the curious cows peaking over the fence- a fence made by blackberry shrubs.
At noon, I arrived at Châtre, a medieval town built on a hill. As in every town, I followed the shell placed on the pedestrian walkway to guide the pilgrim through town. This town also has a museum of the well- known female writer George Sand, a pseudonym for Aurore Dupin. She lived in the 19th century.
After Châtre, the roads were mainly unpaved. This was great! The smell of hey always filled the air.
When I arrived in Neuvy-Saint-Sépulchre, I was so tired that I was just interested in going to bed. I had ordered a place to stay and the lady of the refuge did pick me up, as agreed on the phone, at the entrance to the church. But I could not stay with her – family problems, she said. She took me to office of the camping place where I stayed overnight. It was the worst place of my whole pilgrimage – dirty, in the window lived a nest of wasps and the bed was so bad that I pulled the mattress down to the floor. But I had the best sleep of my whole pilgrimage that night.
