Today is long day of walking. The longest since we arrived into Le Puy.

We are now leaving behind the Margeride Plateau and are beginning to cross the Aubrac Plateau, a wide expanse of pastures, old barns, drystone wall stones.

We first passed through the hamlets of La Chauze de Peyre and Lasbros rather quickly as it was early morning and we were full of energy. The trail was flat at this section. I was walking fast, trying to get some miles behind me for the day. I was walking and all of a sudden, boom! I flew and fail flat on my stomach. I thought I step on my shoe lace but the laces were all tightly tied! No loose laces. Ed thought i probably tripped on a rock. What ever it was, it sent me flying forward landing on top of my hands and knee and gave my stomach a big “thump”. My hat flew up, my sun glasses flew out, my walking stick also went flying! It was quite a disaster! Luckily I got the minimum of damage. Only a scratch on my hand which I used to stop the fall. Ed said everything about me is done in style. Even my big fall. It’s elegantly performed. He even captured my getting up on video! Well, I did ok on the steep climb and nasty descend and decided to take a big fall on the day the trail was as flat as can be. Ti go figure this out!

We were able to move on and keeping walking as there were only some minor scratches here and there. We saw a lot of Aubrac cows grazing in the fields on today’s walk.

Around 12 noon we took a break for a picnic lunch. The usual spread, baguette, cheese and 2 peaches. We sat on some stones to eat and enjoy the vast expenses of grass vista dotted with cows grazing here and there. After lunch we quickly got back on our feet as we have a very long day to go yet. As we walked on we passed through a farmer’s field among the cows. Ed had to go first. When it was my turn to walk through the cows to get to the gate on the other side, I was quite afraid. The the Rieutort d’Aubrac and took a break Montgros. We needed it. We were so beat by now. It was 4 pm and we still have another hour to go. Avery long day! We found a nice inn and got a cold limonade, and some ice cream! What a treat! It was very hot and we were seeing double. Almost to the end of the day’s walk. We needed some energy to finish the last few km.

On the way today, we saw many small prieures where pilgrims in medieval days took refuges. They are small, often tiny, simpler style churches that are situated right on the camino and not in the center of the villages.

We finally arrived into Nasbinals and headed straight toward the superb 14th century Romanesque church Sainte Marie de nabisnals built of brown basalt. A true triumph of romanesque architecture. We got a place to sleep the night with a view of the church bells and the main plaza! Sweet!

Nasbinals is a small village of about 400 people, with all the houses surrounding the church and give the village a very lively character, very warm and welcoming as you can see people sitting out in coffee shop patio chatting and drinking their afternoon drinks enjoying the beautiful weather.

Of note in this village is man named Pierrounet, born in 1832 who discovered he has a gift of fixing luxation on animal fractures. Later he worked on people too and many people came daily to be fixed by him. He relieved many people’s pain and became a legend in the region. He passed away in 1907 and he was one that gave the town part of its notoriety and fame.

Today’s pilgrim story: a young French pilgrim told us she arrived yesterday to the gite early and was sitting outside reading a book enjoying the afternoon sun. A young German pilgrim ( who speaks French very poorly ) approached and asked her in French ” can I sleep with you tonight?” She was offended and answered “No, I don’t think so”. He repeated the question again “can I sleep with you tonight?” Pointing toward the main gite. She answered firmly “No, you can not sleep with me tonight”. The young man stood there for a little bit then slowly but clearly asked again “Can I sleep with you tonight?” So she said she answered him slowly and clearly “no you can not sleep with me tonight”. So the young man moved on and walked away. The next moving on the trail, this young French girl was talking to other people and they told her the story about the young German pilgrim who kept going around the village asking woman “can I sleep with you tonight?” And getting “no” for an answer, only later, the mystery got sorted out: he asked the wrong question. He needed sleeping room for the night. Instead of asking people “can I sleep here tonight?” Or “do you have a room available for me to sleep for the night?”, he went around town asking puzzled women “can I sleep with you tonight?” !!!!!

Speaking of French, Ed has made huge progress in his French speaking ability. He now asks pilgrims on the way “ca va?” (Everything ok? Or an informal way to ask how are you?) and he can answer them “ca va bien”. This afternoon of course he said “ca va mal”. Boy we were hurting! He got a few things to say to carry on a conversation, basics like “je suis fatigue” (I am tired), j’ai soif ( I am thirsty), j’ai faim (I am hungry). And of course merci braucoup, bonjour and Au revoir.

We met two bubbly German pilgrims today who walked with another young pilgrim who walked out of her house in Austria ad had been walking for 33 days. She says she had a bad 3 years, very very bad and decided to go on a pilgrimage. And with a smile, she said “life had changed, I have a much better life now, I have turned my life around!”. Supported by her new friends, she was very happy and cheerful and full of hope of a better life ahead for her. That’s wonderful! She is walking in to Santiago. That’s another 1000 miles away. But her miracle had happened for her. We congratulated her and sent her on her way.

Tonight we had, for the first time, a specialty of the region called “aligo” which is a mashed potatoe with cheese and garlic. More cheese than potatoe! It’s thick with cheese! We have never had anything like this. A lot of local would just go to the restaurant and order a bowl of this and they thoroughly enjoy this dish!

We settled in early and crashed into a deep sleep very soon after. The day’s walk took it out of us. When we were at the last break in Magros, I almost told Ed “we bit out more than we can chew today” but I held my tongue. I think we did bit out more than we can chew, but we did it. We came in later but we came in nonetheless!

Our body hurt every where. Ed said his whole legs hurt. For hip to toes! Nothing a good night sleep can’t heal!

We are looking forward to the next few days as in 2 days’ walk we will arrived into st Come d’olt and Estaing, part of the pays d’olt, which is declared a UNESCO world heritage site and these two villages are designated the most beautiful villages of France!

Until tomorrow!
Bon Chemin