Another nice day. Little on the cool side but we are daring the elements and wearing shorts. Aumont-Aubrac to Nasbinals will be 26 kms/16.1 miles. According to average walking times, this should take a little over seven hours (only a little over seven hours?…be still my heart…) Hotel Pruniers has won the best croissant of the trip award, making up for last night’s dinner. Extremely flaky and buttery with little bits falling all over the place. The flakiness is what separates an excellent croissant from a mediocre croissant. Orange juice, bread and coffee and we’re off on the road again.

Today’s route would primarily cross the mountains of Aubrac…rolling hills according to the dossier. The original Saint James path would have followed the ancient Agripan Roman road which is now the D987 highway. Across many different farms, over stiles and through turnstiles. Explanation, if you’ve never seen a pasture stile or turnstile. A “stile” is either steps or rungs to climb over a pasture fence, and a “turnstile” is exactly what it says. Instead of climbing over, you spun through an opening.

In additional to the stiles and turnstiles, we were always opening and closing barbed wire gates after passing though so the cattle didn’t get out. There were wildflowers in profusion and always the white and red markings of the GR 65.

Finieyrols, France
Our new friends from Augsburg, Germany on the trail with us, on and on until we reached Finieyrols, an absolutely charming old “hamlet” with beautiful stone houses and barns. Approaching Finieyols, we saw a stela at the entrance to this village memorializing its local hero, Louis Valle, born there in 1922. Louis Valle resisted the Nazis during the World War II and was sent to Buchenwald. He miraculously survived and devoted the remainder of his life defending the Andean people, in Peru. During the last 10 last years of his life (deceased in 1982), he became a priest. There was another commemorative plaque outside the house he was born in.

Louis Valle stela in France 

Louis Valle’s birthplace Finieyols, France
Finieyrols was so stunning that we actually stopped for a short rest in an area the village had set aside for pilgrims on the trail with toilets, and stone picnic tables in the shade. A short rest and we remembered the main reason we through hike without resting. It’s very difficult to get back up on your feet again. All muscles go into a big lactic acid block, and the backpack feels heavier than before.

picking stones out of his sock while cat friend watches, Finieyols, France 

ex-Marine takes a short rest in Finieyols, France
The entire day was spent walking in wide open pasture/farmland, across plateaus and wasn’t that interesting. Five and one-half hours later, Nasbinals. Hip, hip, hooray… Nasbinals had a very pretty center and for a town of 508, quite a few services. A tourist office, Internet inside one cafe, bakery, grocery store and taxi service. (Where was the taxi when we needed it?) Supposedly, the hotel for tonight was La Route d’Argent, but the man who owns it also owns three other hotels in this little village and shuffles pilgrims around. (When you are the only game in town, you can do whatever you want.) He put us in La Randonnee, a good half-mile up the road with dinner serviced in La Route d’Argent, a half-mile back down the road. La Randonnee was very nice…we just didn’t feel like doing any extra walking at this time.)

Nasbinals 11th century Romanesque church built of local brown basalt, France
The dining room at La Route d’Argent was completely filled with walkers…every table taken. Not only was dinner excellent, but the wait staff equally responsive and friendly. They refilled water carafes on every table without even having to ask. Dinner was a stuffed tomato with some sort of ground meat; green salad, pork chops, a choice of cheese; and creme brulee. Plenty to eat and very good.

La Route d’Argent dining room, France
Also included on the dinner plate was ALIGOT. Aligot is a local speciality of the Auvergne, make from mashed potatoes, garlic and “tomme.” Tomme is the fresh curds used in making Cantal Cheese. Delicious but there was a trick to eating Aligot. All that cheese turned the mashed potatoes into the consistency of thick paste. You have to dip your fork into it, lift and start twirling the potatoes around and around the fork until the glue-like strands finally separated. My potatoes were always permanently welded together and I finally either physically pulled the potatoes apart with hands, or took a knife and cut it in mid-air! There is always a new experience when you travel…

Back up the road to our hotel, fell into bed completely exhausted…and it’s starting to rain again…
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