Walking the Camino de Santiago
The Aubrac plateau very much reminds me of the Spanish Meseta, with a couple of important differences. For one thing, it’s a lot smaller. While walking across the Meseta on the Camino Francés will generally take you more than a week, the Aubrac is closer to three or so days. There are more rolling hills and trees on the Aubrac, […]
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It was a day of stiles and gates. The Camino cuts through many cattle pastures on the Aubrac plateau, so we passed though a large number of gates and other clever ways to keep cows in the correct places and off the roads. This little maze is one of my favourites. It’s actually a little awkward for backpacks, but I […]
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There’s just something Hobbity about this photo that I love. I mean, the road wouldn’t be asphalt in the Shire, but other than that, it’s perfect. It was indeed a pretty perfect morning, even if Alex and I were constantly climbing for the first part of the morning, as you might be able to tell from this photo, which shows […]
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I seem to have taken a lot of cow photos on the Aubrac plateau. I left Nasbinals at 6AM, pain au chocolate in hand. I ran into Alex from Sweden on the main street, and within thirty minutes, we were out in the countryside amongst the cattle. This particular cow might have been the model for the statue I saw […]
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For centuries, cattle have been the primary industry on the Aubrac plateau. So much so, that after spending the winter in lowland stables, in the spring the herds are led up to the grazing pastures on the plateau amidst a great festival and parade. The cows are bedecked with flowers, and people come from all over France for the festival. […]
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Perhaps more than from the outside, inside you can clearly see the Romanesque heritage of the church of Sainte-Marie de Nasbinals. I sat here a good long time, having arrived in town at about 1pm, and not being able to check into my gîte until 3:30. At the time I said, “I sat and cooled off in the medieval stone […]
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The church in Nasbinals was already at least several hundred years old when it first appeared in a charter giving it over to the Benedictines in 1074. It has, of course, been restored and remodeled many times since then. It was a monastic church until the Revolution, and it now serves as the village parish church. It is, like most […]
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At just about 1pm, I entered the town of Nasbinals, my destination for the day. According to the electronic sign at the pharmacy, it was 32° C, which is about 90° F. The pilgrim in the photo is Delphiné from Brittany. I caught up to her as we were entering the town. First step: find my gîte (which in this […]
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To complement the forest cows of a couple of days ago, here in the Aubrac we have the river cows. A little later on, the Camino would cross over the river on a stone bridge, and there I got to see some river pilgrims as well. I believe that this is the river Bés. Date: 22 August 2023 Place: between […]
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Just before the village of Rieutort-d’Aubrac, I found a food truck with an attached outdoor café. It was a quarter to eleven by the time I finally had my breakfast, and by this point I’d been walking for about 20 km. The temperature was already 81° F. This was the best bread and cheese ever. I had a brief reunion […]
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