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| Breakfast at Aubrac-Rando |
Not only did we spend a comfortable evening in the apartment at Aubrac-Rando, but breakfast was included! The owner of the apartment, and the hiking store downstairs, brought us breakfast at 7h30 as promised with baguette, 2 croissants, jam, honey, butter, juice and coffee. He described the pilgrims who stop in at the hiking store to buy new shoes. Since Aumont-Aubrac is located 5 to 6 days walk from Le Puy, it is the point at which people realize that the shoes they had purchased initially are too small or not appropriate. His store does very good business.
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| A foggy start to the day |
Morning was foggy and cool and the mist soon settled on our hair and packs again. We spent the morning walking up into the Aubrac plateau, through forests and along farms. We met up with Beaudoin and Vicki again, met friends from Paris, Claire and Juliet, and another couple, Fabien and Anne. These people, as well as the group of men testing the hiking boots would be our infrequent travelling companions as we made our way to Conques.
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| Our own shadow picture! |
The scenery was again stunning and the day tuned out to be sunny and cloud free.
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| Susan in shorts and t-shirt on October 10. |
At lunch we had the leftover pasta from the previous evening, cheese, and an apple. The afternoon was again particularly relentless, because of the long asphalted road we walked along in the sun. We were thankful to be walking in October and not during the summer heat. The road was tough on the hips, feet, Achilles tendon, knees and back. The afternoon seemed long. During the long afternoon I was trying to decide whether I was supposed to have meditative or spiritual thoughts, to overcome the physical discomforts.
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| Aubrac plateau |
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| Aubrac plateau |
The Aubrac plateau was beautiful in an austere way with expansive plains, rocks, cows, gravel trails, barbed wire fences, with a big blue sky. We often were thankful about the perfect weather. We knew that the plateau would not be as appreciated had it been cold, windy, rainy or even snowy.
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| A wonderful place to rest. |
The town of Nasbinals finally came into view and we checked into a very nice room at the
Lo d'ici. I was glad to be stationary, even for just a moment, to lie down on the bed and not move.
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| Supper with aligot. |
We went out to supper at the main restaurant which was packed since it was Saturday night. We ordered aligot, a crepe with salad and charcuterie. Aligot is a local specialty, made with cheese, garlic, and potatoes. It is the type of dish to either love or hate; we really enjoyed it. We struck up a conversation with a French couple sitting beside us, who had spent some time eyeing the aligot and all of the charcuterie. They were on a spa weekend, and had each had a salad, while we were happily eating as many calories as we could. They were very talkative, and we heard many French cliches about the government, fat Americans, the cold in Canada, and the apathy towards work in France.
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