We woke up to a dark grey cloudy sky. First time since we started our pilgrimage. The first seven days were blessed with beautiful and sunny weather. Today however is a totally different story.

As we were getting ready to start out walk, the wind has picked up and we can see the tree branches bending back and forth out the windows of our breakfast covered patio.

We packed up our morning bread and head out. We followed the trail and started a mild climb through the mountains. Shortly after our start on the trail we got to a warning sign: attention all pilgrims and hikers: no animals of any sort, on leash or free, no animals allowed. Please take the route to the left. The trail is for walking pilgrims only.

Then more warning signs: no 4×4, no motorized vehicles, no utility vehicles, a long list of forbidden vehicular objects that should not be on the trail. All animals and vehicles must take the route to the left.

At this time, Ed and I should have stopped and asked ourselves: why? Why only pilgrims with their walking sticks are allowed on this trail and no dogs, cats, and donkeys etc …while all such animals were allowed the first 200 km? This is when we should have made our one allowed telephone call to our lifeline somewhere and ask if we should take the route to the left with the dogs, cats, donkeys and 4×4. If we had made that decision, there would not have been any adventures in our lives! Life would have been too boring for doctor Ed!

So we walked on to the designated trail, pilgrims only allowed. We hiked on, climbing slowly uphill, walking through fields that were walled in with stones and the nice looking Aubrac cows were grazing. We climbed higher and higher and as we ascended, we reached one of the highest points of our camino Le Puy at 1380 meters.

Then we got to first locked gate. There was a small metal box and a signs that says: the farmers of these fields maintain the trail you walk on. You can help with any amount of donation. It is much appreciated. Thank you.

Ed got out some coins and put them into the box. What the sign should have said is : sign here to give up all your life’s worth, your house, your car. You might not survive the next 5 km to see your belongings again!

We entered the locked gate, closed it nicely behind us and started walking through the field.

One thing I must say, on the walk as well as when I am skiing or hiking in the woods, I like to wear bright color. I was told that’s a safety call. When you need to be rescued, bright red is the best color. Don’t wear white when you ski, don’t wear dark green or black or dirt brown color when you hike. You look like tree and rescuer can’t spot you from a helicopter etc … So I like to wear bright red and my light jacket on the camino is very bright and very red.

So we walked on and soon we came upon a large group of cows grazing on the field. We are now with the cows, no fencing dividing us and the cows. We are walking through some farmer’s fields and these are his cows grazing all around us. These cows are huge. Big and huge.

I am a city girl. I don’t know if cows are gentle creatures or mild or nice? All I know is they are big and huge and they can do damage. I don’t mess with them. Problem is they like to hang out right on our walking trail. Well, I don’t think I have any right of way here. I think who ever is bigger has right of way. So I just kind of find myself some places where I can put my foot down and move forward, kind of away from the cows, what ever way I can even if I have to go around big rocks or little dips in the fields, it’s ok. As long as I kept my distance away from these very big cows. Some of them are looking at me. I don’t know really who’s more afraid of whom at this time, I know for sure I am afraid of them, I don’t know what they are thinking in their head.

My zigzagging strategy kind of work for a while. Then things got more serious. We now came upon more threatening looking animals with very big horns. Some of those horns look like they can really hurt. I have to start to strategize a little bit with my walk. Looking at all the options and keeping my distance as far away as I could from them. I also got myself closer to the electric fence. I can always crawl under the fence. I thought to myself. Things got very tense but at least I am slowly moving forward. We walked on for a little while, trying to stay out of the way of the big animals, and just making ourselves as small as possible. We don’t want the big cows to notice we are there troubling them.

Things were quiet for a little while then all of a sudden Ed said : watch for that big bull ahead! Oh my goodness, the bull was big, mean looking, with big mean looking horns! And it is looking straight at me! First I unzipped my pack. Then I unzipped my jacket. If it makes a move toward me I will use my jacket as a matador flag and perform a bull fight right there on top of the Aubrac mountain. My other thought is I can just throw jacket and pack on the ground and roll under the electric fence and be safe on the other side.

The bull and I stared at each other. It’s decision time now. Am I his lunch today? Is he going to charge forward now? Who’s going to make that first move. Even Ed was quiet. He loves to take out his camera and video tape the scene but he was so afraid any click from the camera of any off sound would just set off the bull. We move carefully forward, I can just see headline in the Aubrac village newspaper: “American doctor and wife crushed by angry bull on camino Le Puy trail”. It was the longest few minutes of our lives as we moved past the huge big bull with long sharp horns. Once we got enough distance we took a breather. But we were stil scared. We needed to get out of this field, get behind the outside of the locked gate. Only then are we really safe from the big mean bull.

We finally made it safely out of the field. Once the gate is locked behind us, Ed started jocking around. We can relax now. That was a close call!

Then the weather turned really bad. We walked through thunder storms but no rain yet. The day was still dry but very very windy. The thunders are louder and louder. After braving all the wind and the continuous ascend, we needed a break and we stopped for some snacks. It was a good thing we did that. We ate some bread and cheese to get some more energy to go on. Soon after we started to walk again, the rain started to come down. We are now 1 km away from Aubrac. There were a small wooden shelter on the side of the trail. We took shelter while the rain started pouring. We got our poncho on and we must go on. We kept on walking. The rain came down harder and harder. We are now soaking wet. Our socks are wet. Our shoes are wet. We are starting to shiver. The cold is getting to us. The wind. The rain. The cold. What a day. It’s so dark in the mountain we could hardly see anything now it’s a miracle we can keep walking on and not getting lost in such bad weather.

We finally got to Aubrac.

The village of Aubrac was founded in 1120 by a Flemish knight, Adelard de Flandres. He was attacked by bandits on his way to Santiago and almost died here in a storm on his return journey! In gratitude for his survival he founded Aubrec as a place of refuge for pilgrims. I can certainly say this: we were almost attacked by the meanest looking bull and almost die in a storm here ourselves on our pilgrimage just like Adeland de Flandres!

We descended to the historic hamlet of St chely d’aubrac where we checked in for the night. We are told we must put our pilgrims boots on the shelf again here in st chely d’aubrac. Can’t bring them up to our room. You know who’s waking up early tomorrow. I can loose my shirts and perhaps many other things but if I don’t have those boots I will definitely suffer!

I came up to our room. Our wash today, the laundry was totally muddy. It took many many rinse to clear out the muddy socks. What a day. We will remember Aubrac for a long time!

We came down to the dining room for a bite to eat. The past three days we have been in this region and their specialty is l’aligot. It’s a mashed potatoe with cheese and garlic. Half mashed potatoes, add cream and add same amount of fresh cheese. It’s fattening for sure. But for too cold and hungry pilgrims, it’s just what the doctor ordered!

More petitions for prayers to read tonight and hopefully tomorrow the weather is better than today!

Bon Chemin!