During my 5th and 6th days we climbed higher and crossed the wild, windswept plateau of the Aubrac. I loved this harsh, bare landscape of open grassland dotted with bizarrely-shaped outcrops of basalt rock. The mornings were frosty with a cold wind pushing at our backs. We moved along drailles or drove roads and passed delapidated burons or shepherds' huts - transhumance is still practised here. One night we ate aligot, a local speciality dish of melted cheese (tomme d'Auvergne, a low-fat cheese made from skimmed milk) and mashed potatoes with a little butter, cream - and garlic of course.
The photo shows my companion Thierry and Pascal, the other pilgrim in Saint-Privat-d'Allier I mentioned earlier, who arrived after me chez Jean-Marc et Marie. We have been drinking tea with honey in a hotel bar in the village of Aubrac. This small village was founded in 1120 by a Flemish knight, Adelard de Flandres, who was attacked by bandits on his way to Santiago and who almost died there on his return journey. In gratitude he founded Aubrac as a place of refuge for pilgrims. That hotel bar was certainly a warm and welcoming place of refuge for us that lunchtime.
2 comments:
John Muir spent his first summer in the Sierra in 1869, working with a sheep-owner, a herd of sheep and a St. Bernard named Carlo. They journeyed up from the Central Valley of California to the mountain meadows of the high Sierra -- their travels an example of "transhumance," a word I had not heard before. Thanks for the new word!
I don't always have something to say about your pilgrimage, but am following along with appreciation and gratitude nonetheless.
I do appreciate your interest. Thank you very much!
I'm trying to create as much a mosaic of connected thoughts and impressions as a linear narrative.
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