{"id":20178,"date":"2026-04-13T12:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T19:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/?p=20178"},"modified":"2026-04-16T08:52:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:52:19","slug":"via-lemovicensis-bernadette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/via-lemovicensis-bernadette\/","title":{"rendered":"Via Lemovicensis: Bernadette"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

T<\/span>he jet lag might be a thing of the past. I did wake up around 4 AM, but I quickly fell back to sleep. I think I probably got nine hours of sleep last night, which is crazy. The long hours of walking might be catching up with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn’t leave until about 7:45, and Judith was still at the refuge when I left. The air was cool and damp, and the forecast called for rain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was on the immediate hunt for breakfast, but I also wasn’t in a tearing hurry because the distance today would be short and I had a bed reserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn’t walk more than a few dozen steps before finding an open boulangerie. No coffee, alas! but the most amazing pain au chocolat. The lady there immediately identified me as a pilgrim, and was very excited about it. She even wished me a hearty Ultre\u00efa! as I left. That new French Camino movie must be very popular. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next stop was the town hall to drop off my key.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I walked down the Rue Grande, I was struck by what a lovely little city this was. The coffee bar along the route, however, was closed, and there was no indication as to when it might open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google maps was no help \u2013 I have found it to be almost useless in France \u2013 so I would just have to keep my eyes peeled. I found the edge of town before I found a coffee. Without a break in the urban landscape, I entered the suburb of Demeurs at about 8:20 AM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a lot of traffic on this road, but fortunately I had a nice broad sidewalk that was actually dirt rather than concrete. I very much appreciated that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although houses tightly lined the road on both sides, I would occasionally catch glimpses to the right of fields and forest beyond. Eventually, the Camino turned off the busy street into a quiet neighborhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later at the edge of town, I crossed over the River Ni\u00e8vre for the third time in three days. It is quite a bit wider now than last I saw it! And suddenly I was walking through the familiar French countryside once more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fairly soon, it was road walking through woodlands \u2013 but first I crossed the River Ni\u00e8vre one more time for good measure. I suspect that this is actually a tributary, as it’s a great deal narrower than the previous bridging. Or do all rivers around here just have the same name?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometime before 9 AM, I passed through the cozy hamlet of Chantemerle, a mix of traditional and more modern construction. This was just the first of a series of very different hamlets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just afterwards, a road sign announced the hamlet of Bocage de Niffond, which seemed to be a string of widely-spaced, relatively affluent houses on the left and dense woodlands on the right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le Plessis soon followed, and this seemed to be mostly sprawling and rundown farmsteads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After this, the woodlands ended, and I was back in farm country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Camino took a sharp left at the hamlet of La Balanderie, which was full of old stone houses, many of them grand, and several with terra-cotta roofs. But it was quickly back to wide-open farm country, peppered with occasional farmsteads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point in the distance to the right, I saw a ch\u00e2teau nestled amongst the wooded hills. I think this was Ch\u00e2teau de Luanges. It certainly fit the description (19th century Neo-Renaissance). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At about 9:45 AM, the Camino finally left the asphalt for a dirt and gravel road. Within ten minutes, I was once again walking through the dense forest, if only briefly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly thereafter, the dirt road ended and the asphalt began again. I crossed a bridge over the massive A 77 highway. I was now on the final approach to the city of Nevers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took a little break on a convenient bench. I could still see cows in the distance, so I wasn’t quite out of the countryside yet. I was also passed by a dog walker, so the city was obviously pretty close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just a few minutes after I started walking again, I saw the cathedral steeple in the distance through a gap in the trees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I crested a small hill, through the trees I could begin to see the great city of Nevers laid out in the valley below me. Soon I was walking through a suburban neighborhood, the core of which might once have been the village of Coulanges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I descended into the city proper, the Camino briefly left the road in favor of a dirt path by a park-like meadow filled with yellow flowers. This took me through a charming little neighbourhood full of tiny old houses and eventually to a major thoroughfare into the heart of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As usual, the Camino markings all but vanished in the city, and I got turned around a couple of times. Nevers is a large city, but in its historic heart it retains all of its medieval and renaissance charm. This includes narrow, winding streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I arrived at the church of Saint Etienne at about 11:15 AM. This is a Romanesque wonder. It was built in the 11th century, and is one of the best preserved Romanesque churches in all France. The stone is so thick that I actually lost GPS signal in the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sat there a while in prayer before moving on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next step was to find Espace Bernadette Soubirous, where I would be spending the night. On the way I passed a government building which, charmingly, had a Citroen deux chevaux parked out front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I passed by an enormous 16th century church with no signage and no open doors, a triumphal arch, four French soldiers with slung rifles, a monument to the French Resistance, and then through an urban park that reminded me a bit of Wright Park in Tacoma (only with a bandstand). And all that was in just 15 minutes of walking!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I arrived in Espace Bernadette Soubirous just before noon, and just in time for lunch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After lunch I found the beautiful Gothic chapel of the Sacred Heart, where Saint Bernadette lay. There were no visitors there but me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spent a long time in there in prayer and also just sobbing. Francine was too young to have died the way she did, and yet here I sat in the presence of the mortal remains of Saint Bernadette, who was 35 years old when she passed to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole chapel was filled with the scent of Easter lilies, and I was immediately drawn back to the humble little Franciscan chapel of Cordelle near V\u00e9zelay. The two places are now inextricably linked in my mind, though they could not be more different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They come together in Easter lilies and in Francine Bernadette Mastini.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The place was once the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Nevers, but it is now retreat center and pilgrim hostel. I had assumed, wrongly as it turned out, that I would be in a dorm. In fact, I have a private room that was clearly once a cell for one of the sisters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After showering and getting settled, I set out to the nearest laundromat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been hand washing my clothes, of course, but the past few days haven’t really been great for getting things dry on a line. So I took everything to the nearest laundromat to get them properly washed and dried.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the wash was going, I popped over to the cathedral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cath\u00e9drale Saint-Cyr-et-Sainte-Julitte de Nevers is full-on Gothic architecture, with some very, very modern stained glass. While I’m not a fan of the window design work, the artists did a magnificent job with the colors. The place absolutely glows, and depending on where you are in the building, the ambient light is very different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, I was only able to see perhaps a quarter of the actual building, as the rest of it is blocked off and undergoing reconstruction work. I offered a quick prayer before running back to the laundromat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the laundry was done, I spent a some time in the afternoon exploring the old city center. Nevers definitely has an eclectic vibe to it, and Francine certainly would have loved it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you’ve got to like any city where you can be walking down the Avenue G\u00e9n\u00e9ral de Gaulle and make a turn down Rue Jeanne d’Arc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I returned to the chapel to pray Vespers with Bernadette. To my surprise, there were quite a few people there this time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was in sharp contrast with dinner, where the large dining hall served only three elderly ladies and myself. Based on the backpacks I had seen lined up at reception earlier, I had expected to see at least a couple of other pilgrims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Date:<\/strong> 13 April 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n