Nasbinals to Saint-Chely d'Aubrac to Espalion to Estaing!

Sunday was our second day on the plateau, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. Leaving Nasbinals we climbed right from the start, which we are getting used to as our morning routine! It was rather surreal to be so high, but walking through green pastures and sharing the path with the cows as they grazed or rested. Many people passed us going in the opposite direction, and appeared to be locals out for a Sunday hike on a beautiful fall day. We had a break in the town of Aubrac, which is the highest elevation we will reach on this walk - 1307 metres.

The descent down to Saint-Chely d'Aubrac had some fairly steep rocky parts, and we somehow veered off the trail at one point and ended up going down a trail that became smaller and so overgrown with foliage that we knew we were no longer on the GR! The map on the iPhone indicated that we could reconnect eventually, but it meant we had to do more descending, and then climbing back up again! We were annoyed with ourselves for having to expend the extra effort. This trail we took actually went to a gite (Sarbonnel), and there was a sign for it where we turned off by mistake.

We loved staying in Saint-Chely d'Aubrac - very much like a fairy tale village with its old buildings. We had great wifi at our Chambre d'hôtes, Brasserie Le Relais Saint Jacques, and were able to have a FaceTime conversation with our family, which was definitely the highlight of the day!!

Yesterday was a very difficult day.....we had an early start and knew that we would not be passing through any towns with facilities for 12 km, plus it was Monday, the day everything is closed, so had taken "pique-nique" lunches with us, supplied by our Brasserie. We actually walked for 4 hours before arriving in Saint-Come-d'Olt, which was 13 km away, as there were quite a few rocky steep sections that slowed us down. We really felt our feet by the time we reached the town, and were so thankful to find a cafe open and have a cold drink. According to our guidebook, we only had 6 km left to walk to our destination, so were looking forward to an easy walk, along the river! Not happening! We started out by the river, but then the GR65 signs led us way above the town on a path that was challenging and rocky. It seemed we went up and down constantly, so we were absolutely exhausted by the time we dragged ourselves into Espalion. Russ's feet were very sore, and our Chambre d'hôtes was a bit of a hike through town and off the trail....grrr! Our host could tell how fried we were, and immediately gave us a cold beer. He spoke some English, so it was a pleasure to get to know him. The house was amazing, a mixture of lovely antiques and very modern art, and we climbed a curved staircase two floors to get to our room, which was right at the top. The former attic had been renovated to make a very comfortable spacious bedroom, with attached bath that was modern and attractive. Dinner was served at 7:30, and we ate with our hosts and another guest, who turned out to be an American man who was also walking the trail. He spoke passable French, so the conversation was a mixture of English and French, and all of us doing the best we could to communicate. Dinner consisted of a starter of cantelope slices and local ham sliced thinly so it resembled prosciutto. The main course was duck, in a reduced sauce that was heavenly. We have no idea what part of the duck it was, or how it was prepared, but it looked like a sausage shape, and was very dense and dark coloured. It was served with the tradional aligot, with cooked snap peas on the side. As if that wasn't enough, a platter with two wonderful cheeses was passed, which we sampled, and following that, a big piece of fruit tart was given to each of us! During dinner the subject of photography had come up, and our host had asked us if we would like to see some very old 3D photographs that had been passed down from his grandparents and were 100 years old. Of course we were intrigued, especially when he brought out a beautiful wood box that was the viewing instrument. It was about 18 inches tall, and 9 inches in diameter, highly polished and in perfect shape. There were two eyepieces to look through for the stereo effect, and inside the box the glass negatives flipped over as you turned a knob on the outside. The photos were of a wedding, and everyone was in their best attire, posed family photos, with all of the people popping out in perfect 3D!! It was amazing, and he was understandably very proud of it. It was certainly a nice ending to the day.

That brings us to today (Tuesday) which was a short 11 km walk to Estaing. We stuck to the road which for the most part stayed fairly level, as we did not want a repeat of yesterday! The GR trail branched off and went who knows where, but we knew if we followed the road we would get to Estaing. Still haven't talked to anyone who took the trail today, so we don't know how challenging it was. Russ's feet are still sore, so we have decided to take a taxi to Golinhac tomorrow morning, which will give us a short walk to Espeyrac of 8.5 km. We are hoping that with a short walk the following day to Conques followed by a rest day there, that his feet will recover. The town we are in today, Estaing, is so picturesque...will get some photos posted soon. It is dominated by the castle and the church, and many of the houses have turrets, so again we feel like we are in a fairy tale! I have a feeling that many of the villages we will see on this walk will be like that. Restaurants are few here, so we ate both lunch and dinner at the same place. The best part of the meal was definitely the black current ice cream which was just one of the flavours they offered.....Maureen and Jim, think cassis dessert wine in ice cream form!! Incredible!

We are still experiencing difficulties with internet access and wifi. For now I am drafting the blog posts and then publishing them when we have connectivity. Photos will follow for this post......

Until next time,

Au revoir!

 

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