Via Lemovicensis: Short and Sharp
Today was a very short day. I had been anticipating 16 km, but apparently the gîte is about 3 km before the actual town. Effectively a half day.
After lauds, breakfast was out of my food stash, as the village of Saint-Révérien is definitely a village in decline. The only café has been shuttered, and it stands next to the only hotel which is fallen to ruin.
There are many stories of increased Camino travel reviving villages that were in decline, or even abandoned. I hope that happens to Saint-Révérien; it’s decrepit but it’s got good bones, and I think it could be a beautiful little village with some care and effort… and a big infusion of cash.
I left at about 7:45 AM.
Another lovely, chilly morning. Today I actually did put my gloves on, and I seriously considered a jacket over my fleece. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, though the forecast was calling for rain this afternoon.
The way out of town was not particularly well marked, but I eventually found the route through a process of elimination. It led along what claimed to be a Roman road into the forest, the Foy de Sannes Rivian. It looked more like a rocky, winding dirt road to me.
It was only here that I saw the first marker I had seen since the gîte.
The forest was lush and beautiful in the early morning light. Birdsong filled the air. The rocky path soon became a smooth dirt road. Through breaks in the trees to my left, I could see the ever present farm and pasture land.
The forest way ended after only a kilometer or so, and I was back on a road through farm country. It didn’t last long, either, and soon I was walking on the narrow shoulder of a two-lane highway. The speed limit was posted as 70 KPH; it takes me three days to cover 70 km.
As I passed through the hamlet of Sancernay, I was startled by a mallard suddenly flying out of the grass right beside me, practically at my elbow. It wasn’t nearly as terrifying as the speeds some of these cars were whipping past me, though.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a very busy highway.
By the time I passed through the hamlet of Les Ombreaux at about 8:20 AM, it was already starting to warm up. Or maybe I was already starting to warm up. Although highway wasn’t terribly busy, when the cars did come it was unnerving.
And it was only as I was leaving the hamlet that I realized that the 70 KPH limit was actually a speed reduction for going through villages. I have no idea what the actual speed limit was. Way too fast, anyway.
The fields and forests through which I was passing were quite lovely, though. So there’s that.
I entered the village of Moussy (speed limit 50 KPH) at about 8:40. I could see the steeple of a church, and I hoped that meant the village was big enough to have a café as well.
There was no café. There was a boulangerie, but it was closed. The church was locked, so I sat on the steps and ate a couple of cookies and imagined coffee.
As I was finishing my second cookie, a lovely lady drove up and opened the church. I don’t know when the church of Saint Rémi was originally built. The architecture suggests medieval, but the interior fixtures are pure 19th century. It is lovely and well kept. The pews are numbered, and some folks have left cushions at their spots, which I found quite charming.
There was no place to light a candle, but I was moved to leave Francine’s card near a bust of the passion on the side altar of Saint Rémi.
The church bells tolled 9 AM as I left. The Camino took me through the village, where I noticed many pilgrim shells, some of them brightly painted, on buildings and fences. Nearly every house had them.
There was a fantastic, panoramic view of the surrounding countryside as I left the village. And then the road plunged back down to the highway.
Most of the rest of the stage would be highway walking through seemingly endless fields of green and amber, with the occasional island of trees. Often there was no shoulder at all.
About 9:30, I started to notice dark clouds rolling in overhead. Fortunately they passed on by with no rain.
About 9:50 AM I passed through an unnamed (or at least unmarked) hamlet.
Just about 10 minutes later, I entered the village of Boulon. It’s just big enough to have a gîte, but not big enough to have a church or a café.
It was here that the Camino finally left the highway for a one lane blacktop road. I could literally feel my heart rate go back down.
As I arrived in the farming hamlet of Vilaine at about 10:15 AM, I felt a few brief droplets of rain.
Vilaine has a roadside cross marking the Camino route, a small château, and a mysterious single tower standing at the end of the village.
The Camino bridged over a series of small streams, as well as the River Nièvre, as it passed by numerous farmsteads that didn’t even rise to the level of a hamlet.
One of these homes proved to be my ending point for the day – Le Coeur du Chemin, a gîte in the middle of the countryside. I arrived at a ridiculously early hour, but after about 10 km of highway walking, I was OK with that.
I had coffee with the owner, Ruud. He was Dutch, and after three Caminos he quit his job and he and his wife purchased this gîte to serve the pilgrims walking the Camino he loved.
Joes arrived about an hour later, and the two of us had lunch together in front of a roaring fire.
Wim and then Judith joined us before 1 PM. It was as almost 1:30 before Tineke arrived. She is not walking the Camino – she is supporting Wim (who has some health issues) by car. And she got completely lost on the way here.
Later in the afternoon, Ruud kindly took us to the supermarket in town by car so that we could restock our food supplies. Support is thin in this area, and many places will be closed tomorrow, as it’s Sunday.
Shortly after our return, the rain began. We spent our time around the table near the fire in the sort of conversations that you only seem to get on Camino, everything from practical route planning to deeply personal and emotional revelations.
Our little Camino family is going to break up tomorrow, as half are going to Guérigny, while the others are pushing on another 11 km to Nevers.
Date: 11 April 2026
Place: Gîte Le Coeur du Chemin
Today started: Saint-Révérien
Today’s Photos!
