Saint-Chély d'Aubrac to Saint Côme d'Olt

We left Saint Chély late as usual - about 8:00. I would like to be leaving at about 7:00 since it takes us so long to put on any distance, but somehow we just don't get going. The Gîte André was a very nice place to stay. The host spoke a fair amount of English and the hostess spoke a little and what she couldn't say she spoke in very simple French so we could understand. They greeted us like welcome guests they were fond of and made sure we were as comfortable as can be. Our room was good- just two beds and a window that opened (most don't) although it was a really cold night so we could only crack it. Still, a little air was refreshing. And we had a shower and toilet inside our little area for our private use. There are some of the strangest showers in France. In this case the shower was in the middle of the bathroom with no floor separation from the toilet on one side and the sink and mirror on the other. The floor is also not sloped although there is a drain. The plan seems to be that you use one of those rubber squeegee things to clean up the water after every shower. And there's no recognition of the fact that gravity can be very helpful in certain circumstances - like a slightly sloping floor for instance. Anyway. It's not a huge problem and in this case, everything was very clean and quite new.

We sat at a large table with about 20 people, most of whom we had met at other spots. The food was delicious as well. The hostess had prepared a casserole of duck and scalloped potaoes for the main course. I think it was the only place on this trip that I had cooking with any kind of spice in it. In this case it was thyme and very pleasantly used. One new person we hadn't met before, Jesse, was a young man from Victoria who is doing a combination pilgrimage and work placement trip. It was nice to talk to him a bit.

It was a lovely walk out of  Saint Chély today as we walked into a deciduous forest where many of the leaves were still on the leaves and the rest blanketed the ground in soft orangey, rusty browns. Some of the leaves were a golden yellow and others so pale they were almost white. The trees were large and the name beech came to mind although I don't know why since I have no idea what a beech tree looks like. They may have been cottonwoods for all I know, but they were large and lovely. Part of the way there were old rock walls which were covered in a brilliant green moss as we're the bases of some of the trees. Down and up we went admiring the brilliance of the colours and the general loveliness of it all. That was the first four kilometres.

After that we started to go uphill in earnest and the trail was covered in large rocks making picking our way through them quite a challenge. Then the creek started running right down the path and with barb wire on both sides of us we had no alternative but to go right through the middle of the creek for the next few kilometres. We really appreciate our poles at times like this and are glad that our boots are reasonably waterproof even though they're not up to actual creek walking. After about another 4 km the path started to go downhill in earnest but what a downhill it was. Steep, rocky and 'the river runs through it', covering the sides with a thick, sticky mud. We spent most of the rest of the day in water, rocks that were difficult to negotiate, mud and rain. We were soaked right through. It's hard to tell from these photos since I didn't take pictures when it was raining and forgot as well when it was hard going! A photographer I will never be:)