Photo: Country road
September 5, 2017 Despite jet lag and the heavy snoring from a few of the ten men in the sleeping room, I fell asleep around midnight and awoke energetic. After a minimal breakfast, I was walking out of Vezelay at 7:00 AM. For the first two hours I was on forest paths. After that I went through several villages, but no food or coffee. I walked 35 km to Varzy and found the tourist office. The young black woman in the office was very helpful and gave me directions to the municipal campground.
At 5 PM the campground manager opened her office. She had a copy of the email I had sent a few days earlier to reserve a bed in the refuge. I shared the 4 bed space with a 28 year old married couple, Quentin and Aurelia, from the Paris suburbs. They were both architects and were in between jobs. They were moving to Nantes after their 2 week walk and were looking forward to living in a more affordable, slower paced city.
Photo: Arbourse village street
September 6, 2017 I was up early and stopped for coffee at a cafe in downtown Varzy. There was another young pilgrim just ahead of me. I stopped at the Chapelle St Lazare, a place where lepers were cared for dating back to 1200 AD. At Champlemy, I had another coffee break and bought some food.
After another long forest walk, I got to Arbourse and the municipal refuge. The Mairie was closed and so I called many of the contact phone numbers posted on the refuge door. Eventually I spoke to a women who did not speak English. But she did call the man with the key who soon came and opened the refuge for me. He had not answered my phone calls because he thought my USA phone number was a sales call. I walked about 25 km (60 km total).
It was a very nice hostel, well stocked and clean. Later, Guilhem from near Paris arrived to share the refuge. He spoke English and worked for an optical manufacturer. He was on the same train I had taken from Paris to get to Vezelay.
Credencial stamp of gite:
Photo: Chemin forest path
Photo: Chemin signs
Photo: Varzy city refuge
Photo: Varzy refuge interior
Photo: Lazare Chapel
Map of camino segment
Map of camino trip
