Aubrac (1307 m) to Saint-Côme-d'Olt (385 m)
May 21
Annie: Very odd
breakfast situation. Dave and I were the
first in the large “salle à manger.” Bad
sign. Nothing on the tables, no coffee. When I looked closer, though, I could see a
little tray with our room number on it, some bread wrapped up, little jam
packets, and a note that milk and butter were in the fridge. Dave found coffee, and made some in the
incredibly slow coffee maker. Michel and
Micheline joined us. I noticed Michel
spoke of the “Royal” Aubrac with heavy irony.
Dave: We left early at 8:30am, just as the fog cleared, and
walked through the town. The wind seemed even stronger than yesterday. As we
walked on the short stretch of D road heading out of town, I was nearly blown
off of my feet by a strong gust – I held onto tight to a road sign. Then we turned left onto a track, passing a
cairn (which appear sporadically on the trail), and began what was mainly a
descent through a series of gorges.
Dave: We walked into a beautiful gorge, around a dramatic
volcanic, passing a group of friendly retiree on a day hike. We walked through
a cattle farm and had to stop while the farmers rounded up their vaches and
moved them down the trail to another field. 
We reached Saint-Chély-d'Aubrac late in the morning,
stopped and had a cup of espresso at the Bar Tabac. Annie ordered a
jambon-buerre and we were off again.
The climb out of
town was very steep, with beautiful trailside flowers.
We had lovely views of the town behind us.
Soon we were on a shady path that wound through a deciduous forest,
and then through fine rolling fields.
We stopped for lunch on a narrow walled lane, sitting on the trail, just outside the little hamlet of Combrassats.
 |
| lunch on the trail! |
Then we continued on across undulating hills,
first on another blacktopped road, and then on wide gravel farm path. The wind never really died down, though it
grew sunny and almost hot for a while.
Annie: A few times I almost lost heart. The first time, happily, we came across a
“pop-up buvette” set up in an old communal oven: coffee, 1 euro.
 |
| Our two pelerins friends, and the tree en route |
Then, down more rocky paths, with a gusty wind, downed
branches, and even a few fallen trees.
We came across 2 women hikers who needed help figuring out where the
“balises” were. It’s amazing how cheered
you get sharing even a bit of the path with fellow pèlerins!
Dave: We decided to take the shortcut recommended by Alison
Raju. It saved us about 5 km or so, shortening the walk to 24 or 25 km. The downside
of this route is that it was on the hard blacktop of D 557road. Tough on the ole
dogs.
Annie: The final 3K to the Couvent du Malet were tough. How wonderful it was to see the twisted spire
of the church of St Côm d’Olt! We had a
warm welcome at the Couvent, and we have a beautiful room – very spacious. Dave’s blisters really took a beating today,
and we both hobbled down 4 flights of stairs to dinner.
When we lined up for dinner (cafeteria style),
who was there but Jazzman, our friend we had met at Saugues! And the “trois femmes” we had met at Le
Villeret, and the “amis d’Angers” we had met at Monistrol!! It was like something out of a Hollywood
movie, a mini-reunion with some of the people we had liked best from the
various gîtes we had stayed at.
 |
| The Ursaline convent at Couvent Malet |
 |
| Couvent Malet |
No comments:
Post a Comment