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| Susan carrying breakfast |
We woke up to a beautiful sunny morning. I was ready to go, as usual after a good night's sleep, but I was looking forward to a short day. The previous evening we had found a boulangerie and a bar for coffee and we headed there on our way out of town. We bought 2 croissants and a pain aux raisins, then had 2 coffees at the bar. We began the walk up out of town and stopped to eat the viennoisseries. We checked in with people as they passed or as we passed them: Juliet, Claire, Fabien and Anne.
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| Farm fence with reminder to hikers. |
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| Aubrac plateau |
The day's walk was up and into the Aubrac plateau. The walk was lovely and the scenery was stunning. The weather was beautiful, sunny, cloudless, cool in the morning and not too hot in the afternoon. We walked through grazing pastures with cows, passed through fences and through other fields.
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| Chez Germaine |
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| Two delicious pies at Chez Germaine |
We had read about Chez Germaine,a restaurant in Aubrac famous with pilgrims for pie and its stamp. Late in the morning we walked down into the village of Aubrac taking a detour off the main trail. Inside was a large room divided into the more formal left restaurant, and the bar/cafe on the right. It had a vintage feel, frozen in time, but somehow modern. There were only three customers present and the server. We ordered two pies, one mixed berry, and the other pear chocolate, a coffee and a small hot chocolate. The three customers seemed to be shocked that we would order pies mid-morning, but we knew we could use up the calories. Each slice of pie was huge, but wonderfully balanced and not too sweet. As we sat, we saw some of the other pilgrims and convinced them to stop and have a snack. Chez Germaine is also know for its unique raised stamp and Rene and I each got one for our credential.
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| The rocky trail |
The walk after the town of Aubrac began to descend. We had seen the profiles of the area and I was a little worried about the steepness of the trail and its toll on my knees. The walk was down through forested areas, by streams, and on rocky trails. The steepness was never too bad. Interesting how the mixed deciduous forest looks and feels the same here as in Quebec; we could have been at Mont St Hilaire.
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| Our stop for the night. |
We walked down into the little village of St Chely d'Aubrac and were shown to our cute deluxe room at
Les Coudercous hotel. We had arrived early, 14h30, and so we took advantage of the extra time to nap, watch some television and wash extra clothing. At 19h00 we made our way to the brasserie in town and had two omelettes, fries and aligot with 2 beers and a cheese course. The food was unfortunately very greasy, but would turn out to be the only greasy meal of the trip.
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| Mostly down! |
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