Day 8 - Fruit Tarts and Festivals : Nasbinal to St Chely d'Aubrac

We awoke at 6:15 this morning after an evening of enjoying the cooling mountain air throughout the night, which was a welcome relief from yesterday's heat. After the usual breakfast of coffee, juice, baguettes and jam we headed out of Nasbinals around 7:30am.

 

 

It was another gorgeous day, and as the path left town we again found ourselves in the vast, open, rugged landscape of the Aubrac plateau. The first section of the trail was shaded by a mature beech grove, which was very beautiful and provided some welcome respite from the heat. 

 

The rolling hills of the plateau were divided up with many stone walls, and we also spotted several cow herder's huts set amid fields dotted with white, yellow, purple, and pink spring flowers.

We reached the town of Aubrac around 10:30am, and could see the Festival of La Transhumance was in full swing. We saw quite a few weekend hikers in the hills this morning, many sporting high fashion, and most of them were headed in the direction of Aubrac. Once we reached the road outside of the town we saw many cars parked and people streaming into the town, and we passed a field filled with camper vans.

The approach to Aubrac was beautiful, providing a great view of the church and the stone buildings of the old town. We walked up into the town, visited the church, and then stopped at an outdoor patio with a view of the valley and the festivities to enjoy a fantastic piece of fruit tarte!

 

 

 

After a short break we walked down through the festival, past pens with cows and stands with cheese and other agricultural products, to a large white fair tent. There were lots of people, and live music produced by an accordion and special wind instrument. As we did this we realized we had mistakenly followed the GR6A, not the GR65, as had several other pilgrims, but the detour was certainly interesting!

We eventually decided to continue our hike, and headed out of town. The trail soon began a beautiful and at times very steep descent into a river valley. The views were fantastic, and at one point we passed just under the exposed tip of an old volcano! As we hiked we noticed that the rocks along the trail seemed to be a mixture of volcanic rock and granite.

 

Around noon we crossed a bridge over a small stream, where a group of young ladies were enjoying their lunches and dangling their feet in the river. This seemed like a good idea, so we continued up the trail, found a shady spot under the trees next to a mossy stone wall, and stopped to enjoy the last of our fruit and nut bread along with some Nutella.

 

 

After this the trail descended quite steeply along a rocky, tree-lined path into the valley and the town of St. Chely d'Aubrac. As we entered the town we heard the sound of many cowbells in the distance, but getting louder.

 

 

 The road into town was lined with spectators, so we stopped at the side, and soon a procession of decorated cows came of the road, accompanied by the sounds of bells and shouts of 'Vivent les vaches!'

As the procession passed we joined the throng of people at the end and followed it into the centre of town. The cows were herded into a pen just outside of our accommodations! We watched the festivities for a while, then got checked into our room, which was in an old gendarmerie, had a shower and did the chores, and then headed back out to the festival.

There were stands set up all through town with agricultural products, and at the centre there were demonstrations of cheese making, and judging. We walked through town admiring the produce, visited the church and the pilgrim bridge we will cross tomorrow morning on our way of town, bought a glass of local beer, and watched people dancing in the street. During our explorations we also found a new style of UNESCO markers for the Way of St James.

We returned to the hotel where we were staying for a dinner of Aligot and sausage, salad, cheese, and fruit tart.  It was a fantastic meal with a view of the festivities in the heart of town.

 

 

Afterwards we walked down the road in fading light, and heard the sounds of the locals singing in the community centre, outside of which they were holding a huge barbecue in celebration. A thoroughly enjoyable day!

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Practical Information:
Distance: 16.7 km

Cumulative ascent: app. 536 m

Cumulative descent: app. 1469 m

Max Temperature: 27˚C

Accommodations: Les Coudercous