Day 5 Les Quatre Chemins to St-Chely-d'Aubrac

A day of rain, ponchos, puddles and glorious mud. 

Climbed up to the highest point in the surrounding area, the Aubrac Plateau, which was wild, bleak, cold, windswept with rain sheeting onto our faces. It was tough but a beautiful part of the walk. It was like being slap bang in the middle of the French version of Wuthering Heights. 

Passed a group of 16 pilgrims. Much fun and hilarity but little opportunity for silence. We thought we preferred to travel in a smaller group or alone. Later in the day we came across a contemporary sculpture which had this telling statement along side of it:

"In the silence and the solitude one listens more to the essential."

We walked through many farms and had to negotiate bulls with horns uncut. Farmers were visiting their herds to check on the cows and calves born over night. 

Gone through a few tiny hamlets today but little open in the way of shops and cafes. 

We came across large fields of gorgeous flowers and at one point a farmer was cutting them with a mechanical cutter. They were mainly narcissus. 

It was a long walk of 32+ kilometres today, made even more difficult because of the very strong winds, rain, thick slippery mud, rocky slopes and large puddles galore. The last 8 kms into town were the longest 8 kms imaginable - steep, downhill, narrow river bed - extremely muddy and rocky. Thankfully, the Gortex waterproof linings in our boots worked their magic so that we arrived at Saint-Chely-d'Aubrac with perfectly dry footsies. 

C'est la vie. 

Geoff and Lyn