Friday sept 13th Nasbinals to Saint Chely-d'Aubrac

Our friends Martine and Jean Luc

We had a lovely walk today through the Aubrac plateau and down 400 meters at the end of the day in primarily over cast weather. We had an excellent breakfast of croissant, a fresh crepe, juice, coffee and yogurt before getting some cash from the bank-o-mat and heading out of town by 9:45. The bare landscape of open grassland dotted with bizarrely-shaped outcrops of basalt rock from yesterday was now softened with green carpeting along drailles or drove roads for cattle. We were also walking through the cow pastures and climbed about 200 meters to reach the lovely town of Aubrac right at lunch time.

The village of Domerie Aubrac has been a pelerin (pilgrim) hospital and place of rest since 1120 AD. The village was founded by Adelard de Flandres, the Flemish knight, who was attacked by bandits on his way to Santiago, and, in gratitude for surviving the attack, and the another near death experience in a storm on his return from the Camino, decided to found a hospital for pilgrims on the site. We ate lunch at restaurant Chez Germaine and had the most delicious cheese soup, salad and then an incredible berry tart!

ec

 The restaurant was serving the area's specialty of aligot (mash potatoes and cheese but they pull it out of a big pot and cut it with scissors like taffy.) With full stomachs we wandered on down the trail for another 2 and a half hours to find our Gite  in St. Chely-d'Aubrac. We were fortunate enough to have our laundry washed and dried by the proprietress of our hotel. Our room has 2 twin beds, a sink, and a shower. The toilet is down the hall, which we find to be an interesting room configuration.

We were sad to learn today of the passing of David's Uncle Art Boynton. Uncle Art had just had a big party  a month ago for his 90th birthday. We called David's mother to express our condolences and then figure out how to send flowers for the service tomorrow.