Bourges

Thank god for Marie-Solange, our last night’s hostess! After our long walk yesterday as promised she drove us this morning, whizzing along these country roads which she obviously knows like the back of her hand, and we didn’t have a clue where we were going till she stopped in the middle of nowhere and said this is the chemin, it is 10 kms to Bourges and there is the cathedral in the distance! So we found in our notes where we were, and walked on through fields and then the suburban outskirts of Bourges and arrived. It again was SO hot, after 10.30 we were wiping drops of sweat from our brows, so the 10 kms that we didn’t have to walk were magic! It was 31° when we arrived, and now at 8.45pm it is still 26°…

Anyway, I must relate the details of last night. First, the accommodation…our room was very small, and opposite was the Dutchman, Edwin (presume that’s his name - Marie-S called him Edwina)…normally we would have shared a bathroom with him, but she said we could use another one where people weren’t staying. So we discovered the complicated arrangement of rooms upstairs! The family had 2 rooms with lots of beds and an allocated bathroom. Then we went along to an area with a kitchen area, with a shower stall about the size of a telephone booth (Amr could just manage without waving his arms widely), which led to a bedroom with 2 big wooden double beds, end on end, on one side and on the other side a big antique wooden wardrobe, a toilet and a wash basin!! We said that was just fine, and let Edwin have his own space, but have to admit it was weird to sit on a toilet in the middle of a bedroom…and while there I noticed a door in the wall next to one of the beds. Goodness knows where it led - thought it was the end of the house!! So it was a fun and slightly weird night. All the cupboards were full of chaotic pillows, blankets etc, and the “kitchen” was equally disorganised, but did have a fridge which was handy.

So dinner was lovely, except too much food as usual. Beautiful salad with the usual delicious home grown tomatoes, a veg quiche/frittata (which would have been quite enough) and a dish of chicken and potatoes. M-S had a little wine with us, and a bit of food, but said she had her main meal in the middle of the day…but we had a lovely time chatting to Edwin who is now wending his way home to Amsterdam…and amazingly, we helped him with the French - usually Dutch are so multilingual- but French was not his forte and we interpreted for him a bit!!! And M-S chatted solely in French - no English at all. This morning a breakfast laid for all, but we three were appointed at 8, and at about 8.30 children appeared from the family who obviously wanted to have breakfast, but wanted us to finish first (? Covid?)…so we did…

Started walking at about 9.45 and for a short while it was pleasant, before the heat. But we were so happy that we didn’t worry…the distant huge cathedral gradually came closer, and we arrived here about 1.30. Came across a market which we wandered into - fruit and veg…Amr is drawn to markets - yesterday when we were hot and bothered and not yet at Brécy he wanted to explore a junk market in Villabon and I would rather have had my teeth pulled…but today it was ok because we were at Bourges..but we didn’t stay long, and instead looked for a bar! A beer was very necessary and being Sunday, and a bigger town, lots of bars were open. At that point, being so hot and sweaty, we decided to go straight to the hotel before we looked around at all. So Amr used his Google maps to guide us there - this town is just a network of little cobbled streets, not long distances, but I would get lost very quickly. Anyway, successfully found our hotel Christina, bags here and room ready! Perfect.

So after showering and relaxing we set off again - still in the heat - and found our way to the famous, enormous and beautiful St Étienne cathedral and marvelled. Impossible to get good photos as it is too massive, but you can get the idea. Looking at restaurants we passed we realised that most do not do dinner on Sunday, so finally found one in the square near the cathedral which did and ate there…it was doing a roaring trade as think it was one of the few places available, and like Vézelay, Bourges is a popular place to visit…we saw quite a few French tourists with maps. So now back at hotel, Amr pretending to read but falling asleep and all is well. Rest day tomorrow…Read more