Day 3: Stage 1: Vézelay 10km, 15°, cloud & sun

An Old Familiar Feeling!

The first steps taken
Great joy overwhelms my heart
A journey begins

I’m sitting in a small cozy teahouse in Vezelay after travelling a short distance by train SE from Auxerre to Sermizelles. From there it’s a nice walk along a small country road through a couple of villages. Everywhere there is a brilliant display of spring time green!

I was carrying a heavier load than usual because tomorrow is a French national holiday (Labour Day) and all the grocery stores and most eating establishments will be closed. There are no grocery stores in Vezelay or for the first several stages so I stocked up in Auxerre. However, that means that for the next few days I’ll be carrying a little more than I’d prefer. Such is life.😊

The route was relatively easy and wound between a number of hills. As I approached Asquins I started to see the impressive Basilica of St. Mary Magdalen ahead in Vézelay, aka “the Eternal Hill”. From what I’ve read, in the 10thC a monk brought Mary Magdalene’s bones to the basilica, and said bones are apparently housed in a tomb down in the crypt. I was unable to verify this, but there must be something to the story because both the town and the basilica are UNESCO sites. Who am I to question this?

As I entered the small village of Asquins that old feeling came flooding back as I started to see some familiar route markings. Hello old friends!

The emotions of the moment kind of took me a bit by surprise. I realized that I hadn’t been on a route to Compostela since 2019 when Annemarie and I walked the Camino del Norte. My walks the past 2 years have of course taken me to Rome so it was nice to see these old friends. Perhaps next year.,.

I continued onwards. I’d planned to follow the route I’d sorted out and avoid the stiff climb up to Vezelay, but I admit that I just couldn’t resist following those familiar markings. So I climbed. Dang but those groceries were heavy!🤣

Perhaps I should have done a bit more pack training on a few hills?🤔 Oh well, too late now. However I soon reached the top and frankly it was pretty straightforward.

I made straight for the pilgrims office before they closed for a couple of hours at lunch. Up two flights of rickety stairs in a centuries old building brought me to the right door.

Inside sat an older gent who looked as though he’d walked a few kilometres in his younger days. He welcomed me warmly and after chatting for a while (read, he talked and I tried to understand him) we got down to business and he produced two very nice credentials (AM, I have yours) with a pretty cool timbre. The number 97 means that only this many (few?) have been issued this year! A very quiet route.

From there I walked BACK UP to the basilica. It’s actually pretty non- descript inside. Beautiful in a simple way.

I would be remiss if I didn’t tell you a little more about this place as it has an impressive history. It’s been a very important centre of pilgrimage (Mary’s bones are of course planted here) as well as a main focal point of the crusades. In 1146 St. Bernard preached in favour of the 2nd Crusade in front of King Louis VII and Queen Eleanor. Later in 1190 Richard the Lion Hearted met other leaders and their followers to depart for the 3rd Crusade. Of course he later returned to England just in time to preside over the marriage between Robin Hood and Maid Marian (at least that was what my book said when I was 9 years old).😉

Tonight I’m sleeping in the monastery here with demi-pension (two meals ). I’ve seen a couple other pilgrims around so perhaps I’ll have company at dinner tonight. Tomorrow morning I follow the chemin out of town and then go off route to find my accommodation. It’s a bit of a challenge in some places to find a bed because of all the holidays the next couple of weeks. The people who are hosting me sound very friendly in their emails. I wonder how their English skills are?

Bon chemin!

Geoff🚶‍♂️🍷