Due to completely foreseeable circumstances and events that were totally within my control I messed up the dates on the reservation for last night and the journal entry from yesterday explains it all, (but not in real detail)
So, it was a short walk today to get to Amette.
Amette is the home of Saint Benoit, I would have to Google it or ask Grok. in order to make it sound like I knew something about it, but we walked through the gate and passed in front of his house and up the stairs through the park passing the stations of the cross along the way.
Because it’s such a short 8km walk today, (turned out to be even less), we took our time, and still arrived way too early to check-in, but just in time for the only restaurant in the village to briefly open, opening hours are 12:00 to 13:30 (order and eat fast.)
We had a wonderful lunch and wandered over to the Gîte around 14:00, just in time for the host to arrive, open the gates, and let us in.
Now we’re just going to chill and recover from yesterday’s stress before we maybe go out for supper again, maybe, at 19:00. They were so good to us at the restaurant that it’s worth a second visit, if we can manage to stay out that late.
On the other hand, the room in the Gite is very much reminiscent of my teen adventures travelling around Europe and staying in hostels. And it is definitely lacking in many of the comforts of more “modern” facilities, little stuff like towels for the shower. But we’ve stayed in similar, or worse places, once, when there was nothing else available. At least there’s a restaurant close by. But towels and proper bedding, like a blanket would be nice.
But Meh! And onto today’s journal entry…
Catharine with our host and saviour Genevieve from last night, as we leave our wonderful accommodation from last nightThe little “hook” at the top was were we walked out to the “cafe at the crossroads”, La Vert Dragon and back again to join the GR145 trailThis old looking building was the cafe where we went for coffee after leaving The Gîte. The outside looks old and rundown, and I was skeptical about what it might be like inside. But I was amazingly surprised. The interior was all very clean, modern and new looking.So it wasn’t just an illusion or a dream the other day. There really are pizza vending machines on the side of the road in other places. I may be tempted to try it once I can get Grok to help me figure it out.“At The Crossroads” looking back from the Green Dragon Cafe to the road where we came from, the pizza vending machine is to the right, out of the picture, in one corner of the parking lot. Now, the place across the street certainly looked pretty sketchy when we walked past it to get to here.Back on the trail in one of the quiet little villages we passed through with an obvious marker for pilgrims in the tiny park. Another church in one of the small villages. When I rode the Camino de Santiago all the churches I passed were open and welcoming to the pilgrims. That was in 2001. When Catharine and I walked it in 2018 all but a few were open, and some of those charged an admission fee. All the others were now locked shut. The same thing here. I can only assume they don’t want visitors.Catharine at a small shrine in the corner of a farmers field at the crossing of tractor paths. The gate to Saint Benoît’s yard and his house just around the corner. There was a plaque in the park with an interesting story about the place during the 2nd World WarLooking up the hill from St Benoit’s house and the 14 Stations of The Cross monumentsAt the top of the hill was a map of the Via Francigena along with all the various other trails and a brief explanation of the history of the trail to this region. It also helped us find a potential 3km shortcut from the otherwise 23km we’d have to walk tomorrow Catharine got a special lunch prepared just for her, by the chef who was very concerned about avoiding gluten when I conveyed the issue to him Me? I’m filling up on carbs and gluten after that strenuous 6km walk today, NOT!I’m not too sure if Google translated this properly but I think I’ll pass and order the chicken. The church as we approach the village of AmetteThe gate to our Gîte, and our room for the night. The courtyard of the Gîte. It honestly looks a lot nicer in the photo than it does in real life but we don’t have much choice for a place to stay tonight after all the expensive mix ups yesterday with dates and cancellation fees.
Leave a Reply