Day 29 – May 4th
Rieutort to St. Chely d’Aubrac
(Though I stayed in Aubrac)
23.5 km
‘An epiphany, another snake and meeting the incredible Remi’
It had rained heavily during the night so when I packed up in the morning my tent was soaking wet which added a lot of weight to my pack. I left the L’Ange Camping Garden in Rieutort late around 8.30am glad that the rain had stopped and looking foreword to the days walking. Today I was to cross the wildest part of the Aubrac Plateau.
Nasbinals
After crossing over 6 km of the most stunning moorland I entered the small town of Nasbinals ready for lunch and my first pint of the day. I was sat outside the Hôtel du France enjoying some rare sunshine and some tinned mackerel with a baguette when who should walk past but Swiss Kathy! It was big hugs all round and she joined me for lunch. When I told her about my snake experience yesterday a German pilgrim sat nearby said that almost the same had happened to him a few days ago. So it wasn’t only me then! Kathy was having a bit of a rough time as she had developed tendonitis (inflammation of the tendons) in her ankle. I lent her some ibuprofen cream and suggested she should take a day off, Nasbinals being a nice town too. She took my advice and went off to find a gîte.
In Nasbinals a sign on a barn told me it was still 1,396 km to Santiago de Compostela. I didn’t really want to know!
Just outside of Nasbinals I came across the sad sight of a memorial stone commemorating a French pilgrim, Patrick Coudert, who had died here on The Way in 2011. I was to come across dozens of these memorials all the way to Santiago. It goes to show that not all of us make it there, and it was a sobering thought. In my research I had read that the most common death for pilgrims was traffic accidents and most of them were bicegrino’s. However, the next most common death for those that walk was a heart attack, usually in older pilgrims.
To Aubrac and an epiphany
The Way from Nasbinals to the medieval village of Aubrac was 9 km of more beautiful open moorland and a few wooded copses with stunning views. The highest point of the Aubrac Plateau is just before the village of Aubrac at 1,324 metres, which explains why the weather can change up here in seconds. In fact there is an emergency storm shelter near the highest point where pilgrims can wait out passing storms. Today I was indeed lucky, the weather was clear with even some sunny spells, though it was not so warm due to a stiff breeze. This meant I could take in the splendid views.
It was on this stretch of The Way between Nasbinals and Aubrac that I had an epiphany that reduced me to tears. As I was walking, up ahead in the far distance I could see two pilgrims. When I looked behind me there was two more about two kilometres away. I looked at the ground in front of me and I could see footprints stretching ahead far into the distance. When I again looked behind me footprints again stretched back far into the distance, including mine. This was an original ancient part of The Way, walked since medieval times and it occurred to me that millions of people had walked this very path to Santiago before me, including the two I can see up ahead, and all of them left their footprints too. Also, millions of people will walk after me, like those two now behind, and even those not even born yet will one day leave their footprints on top of mine. It made me feel small and humble in the universe and in the great scheme of things, but also powerful, knowing I am playing my part in history. I sobbed my heart out as I walked along.
Aubrac
The village of Aubrac was founded in the middle ages by a Flemish pilgrim who walked to Santiago called Count Adallard who out of gratitude to God built the Dômerie (pilgrim hospital) at Aubrac. (The medieval word ‘hospital’ does not mean the same in English, in fact it comes from the word ‘hospitality’, and so ancient hospitals were more like our hostels). The village of Aubrac grew around the hospital. The Dômerie was home to monks and the knights of the Order of Aubrac until the French Revolution. The monks fed and sheltered passing pilgrims, and rang a ‘Bell of the Lost’ to guide pilgrims off the moor during times of snow and fog. Today the beautiful tower that is the Dômerie is still serving pilgrims as a gîte and has hardly been modernised.
I didn’t linger too long in Aubrac as it was still early; I just had a look around and a quick pint at one of the hotels before passing on. Little did I know I was to come back later today and spend the night here!
From Aubrac The Way winds downhill 4 km across muddy and waterlogged lanes to the village of Belvézet and the incredible huge rock called Le Neck that stands above it. I stooped off here briefly and had a packed lunch at a picnic table in the village before heading off for last further 4 km to St. Chely d’Aubrac where I was planning to spend the night.
Stopped by a snake
It was nearly 6pm when I was about to enter St. Chely d’Aubrac, but as I trudged down the road into town I was stopped in my tracks by a huge snake sunning itself dead centre in the middle of the road. The snake was about 2 metres long and as I got near it raised its head and hissed at me. It didn’t seem scared off me at all! I tried going around it but each time I tried it hissed even more. There was nothing I could do; I just couldn’t get past it. So, I thought to myself,
‘the bloody thing has the right of way’ so I just waited until it could be bothered to move. I was there for at least ten minutes before it slid off into the bushes letting me past at last. At least it was there long enough for me to get some excellent photographs of it. Later researching it I found out it was a Couleuvre Verte et Jaune or Western Whip Snake. Online I found out this about it;
“The Couleuvre verte et Jaune is above all else a powerful snake, though normally discreet it can be obstinate and aggressive, thrashing the ground with its tail and hissing when angered, sometimes tilting its head back and then striking and biting with force, it is this force which gives it the ability to overcome its victims but is of no serious concern to humans. It is also an agile climber weaving its way with speed through bushes and hedgerows.”
Though glad I saw it I was more than glad when it cleared off.
When I finally got into St. Chely d’Aubrac I headed to the nearest bar. I really needed a pint. Sat outside the bar were a young French couple who were pilgrims drinking with a scruffy local man. As I sat down with my grande blonde beer they gave me the bad news that the town was ‘complete’; that is it was full, there just weren’t any beds left in town.
“Oh well, sod it” I thought, and told them I would just freecamp as there was a forest just out of town. I could get a decent meal and have a few beers here before I go. But no, all three of them got on their phones and tried to find me some accommodation even though in my mind I was happy to freecamp. However, they were unsuccessful but the scruffy local decided I could stay at his house and I didn’t have much say in the matter. He turned out to be the incredible Remi. The thing is he lived back in Aubrac and he was going to drive me there. Now usually I would have refused to get into a car being a pilgrim as I wanted to walk all The Way, but I didn’t mind going back the way I had come in a car at all as it would mean I have not ‘cheated’. Tomorrow he would either give me a lift back here to St. Chely or I would have to walk the 8 km back here again.
Remi
When Remi was ready to go we climbed into his ramshackle car with his dog and his dog’s six tiny puppies. When we arrived at his house in Aubrac I was gobsmacked. He lived in the oldest house in the village, built in the 12th century, and it had hardly been modernised at all. It was a one room stone building with a high ceiling that had a mezzanine level halfway up on one side. It had no electricity, no toilet, bathroom or running water and the only cooking facilities was the fire in the centre of the room.
Remi himself was extraordinary too. By trade he was a forger (as in a metal forger) and his forge was the enclosed huge fire in the middle of his house that he also cooked on. The fire was enclosed in a box that he could heat to extreme temperatures for his work. To cook on it he had to physically climb into the box. Remi was a natural anarchist with a complete disregard for money, rules and the law. Even in his work he would not charge poor people, maybe only accepting a gift like vegetables, a chicken or wine. Rich people he would charge extortionate prices on the grounds that the rich are able and stupid enough to pay. He showed me his portable pizza making oven he had made and told me a story. He said that when he sees pilgrims peering at the menu in one of the posh hotels in Aubrac he calls them over for free pizza.
“Don’t give them your money” he would say. Weeks later I met a pilgrim who had actually been offered pizza by Remi and had taken him up on it.
One gripe he had was seeing people taking photos of porches and other posh cars in Aubrac instead of the beautiful nature surrounding the place. He said to me
“Do you know, rich b****** keep parking their f******* cars on my land?” when I asked him what he does about it he said
“I charge them 20 Euro’s and they pay” What if they are poor people I ask
“Then I give them free pizza!”
The local businessmen did not like Remi. His land was wild and uncut with knee high grass and wild flowers, to their minds it looked untidy and spoilt the spotlessness of the manicured tourist trap that Aubrac had become. They had even offered to cut it for him for free but he refused on the grounds
“It was for nature.” Even so, one of Remi’s thingswas to bake his own bread in his forge which he either sold to the local hotels or traded it in St. Chely for sausages, wine or other goods. In fact that was exactly what he was doing in St. Chely when I met him there.
We had a great dinner cooked on his fire of a pasta dish and local sausages, his own bread and local wine followed by rum. It was a great evening and he told me of his many adventure travelling around Africa in his hippy van that was parked outside. These adventures in Africa had a lot of run-ins with the police.
Remi not only had his hippy van parked outside but he had half a car. It was the back end of an estate car on two wheels, blocked off at the front and with a tow bar attached so he could tow it with his van. I could not work out what it was for as the windows were all painted over, so he showed me inside. Of course! It was a mobile sauna, what else? One of his hobbies was travelling around festivals in France with his hippy van, mobile sauna and pizza oven. He would exchange pizza or a sauna for donations of food or alcohol, no money accepted.
Soon I wanted to go to the loo. Remi explained that as he was a born and bred local he was allowed to use the toilets and showers in the Dômerie tower where the pilgrims stay. He had his own key. When it was dark though he just peed in his garden. So off I popped to the Dômerie tower where I had a shower too.
Remi said that he loved looking after pilgrims, but he wanted to sort his house out so he could help more. Problem was he didn’t have much time as he was busy with his forge. He offered me to stay and live with him to fix up the mezzanine as a bed space and to cultivate the garden for vegetables and generally look after the house. One day I might take him up on it.
I slept on the sofa with his dog.
Cross on the bridge over the Le Bes River
Memorial to French pilgrim Patrick Coudert who died on The Way near Nasbinals in 2011
Two pilgrims crossing the Aubrac Plateau towards the Medieval village of Aubrac
Looking back the way I had come
The emergency storm shelter on the Aubrac Plateau near the highest point (1,324 metres)
About to enter the village of Aubrac
The Way before Belvezet
The Croix du Chemin on The Way towards Belvezet
Stunning views on The Way towards Belvezet
Heading towards Le Neck de Belvezet
