The other way to not come down from Nasbinals to Saint-Chely is via the GR 6 from Aubrac. Ahem. She says, from painful personal experience. Here's my tale, and I'm sticking to it:
That was my first year walking in France, and my first day walking alone, as the others of my party had finally split off to pursue their individual itineraries. There went the French language expertise, also. So I departed Nasbinals per normal along the GR65 and arrived Aubrac in good order for lunch. There was a large billboard sign, obviously communicating something that required detail and importance. But since I didn't speak French, it was all lost on me. One side was written in red, the other in blue. I decided red was the international warning color and I shouldn't go that way. Ah well.
That was the day I learned that every GR route is identically marked, with the red-and-white balise. After passing a number of shooting blinds and cross-country ski route markers, I arrived at the edge of the plateau. It had been quite some time since I'd seen a balise. I remember going cross-country, through a cow pasture, and eventually arrived Saint-Chely by the old road. That was in September. I cannot imagine doing so in snow.
