Day 21 / La Charité sur Loire - Brécy / 39.9 km

This night I partied hard with the 4 ladies with whom I shared the room. I was awake until 2 in the morning. Until I was to tired to hear the snoring and finally fell asleep. All 4 of them are snoring champions league material. 

At 6 in the morning 2 of the 4 ladies decide it is time to start the the day. I try to ignore I’m awake. I’m not succeful. At 6.30 I get out of bed and start packing. At 7.15 I buy 2 pain de raisin and lunch. At 7.30 I  have a large coffee and my breakfeast in a nearby bar-tabac. At 8 I start running. 

I take the RN to leave the city. After 3 km I see 2 of the 4 snoring ladies who have left around 7. One of the ladies is using a chariot which she intends to pull to Compostella. After a short chat I say goodbye. Today I want to reach Brécy some 40 km further. 

The landscape is flat with big fields. The path is either a track through the fields or long straight roads, somewhat similar to the landscape of my first week, but flatter. If the last 3 day’s have been world class, today’s running landscape is provincial at best. I’m getting spoiled. 

Sometimes I pass a village where,if  you hurry, you can make some great clothing deals. 

As there is not a lot of other things to do today I mainly run. Around 11.00  I have  done 29 km of the planned 40. Only 11 to go. The path is mainly tracks through the fields. The tractor tracks and high grass doesn’t it make easy to run. My left ankle starts to complain. It’s still a long way to Compostela and I want to avoid an injury. I decide to walk the last 10km. I’m feeling sensible. After 2 km I enter a village. A market is ongoing. I buy some cheese and “farcin” (minced meat in a pastry). I have a lengthy lunch in the local bar-tabac. After a coffee I continue my path. 

The last kilometres is a mix of long straight roads with a short distraction though a forest.

I arrive at Brécy where I will sleep in the pilgrim room managed by the community. I ask the key at Restaurant Claudette. The room is perfect. There are no other pilgrims expected so no partying tonight. Which suits me fine.

At night I have dinner Chez Claudette. Claudette, together with her husband, are running the bar-restaurant-post-breadpickup-social center-... since 36 years,7/7. She tells me she never had holiday. I ask her why ? She answers : “people wouldn’t have bread in the morning”.The dinner served for 12 € (including starter-main-cheese-dessert-wine) is excellent in his simplicity.A lot of restaurants , who are asking a multitude, will never reach this level. You should although not care of hygiene to much or regulation. In the kitchen 4 puppies of 2 month’s are kept besides the oven. My main was rabbit. I’m not so sure anymore.

Lessons learned today :

- One can eat very tasty for 12€

- CloClo is still very alive in France.

- It can’t be Vézelay paths every day 

- Looking forward to seem friends tomorrow.

Song of the day : Alexandrie Alexandra - Claude François

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