Three Axioms

We dream to walk and walk to dream...

In the land of Aubrac near the village of Aubrac...

... there's a modern sculpture...

... upon which these words are inscribed...

In silence and solitude one hears only the essential...

What is this essential thing, this essence? Is it God, Tao, Brahman, Allah, the Ineffable, the Inexpressible, The Universal Life Force, the World Spirit, Nature, Infinity, Eternity? Or is it the voice of my own nature, my own soul, my daimon or tutelary spirit?

One thing's for sure... The road goes on for ever...

The Aubrac

After that, continuing to climb, it [the route] eases its way up onto the even higher open plateau land of the Aubrac, with its drailles (wide drove roads), its burons (shepherds' bothies) and its lush green meadows rising to nearly 4000 ft. Flocks were driven up from the valleys below every year to spend the summer months grazing there, an activity known as transhumance. Pastors, each with several hundred animals, would make their way there on foot, a journey often lasting several days. ALISON RAJU The Way Of Saint James: Le Puy To The Pyrenees

Dandelions And Daffodils

Fields full of dandelions...

... gradually gave way to fields full of daffodils...

In La Chaze-du-Peyre I picnicked on some stone steps in the village square and watched a craftswoman fit sections of new or repaired stained glass into the octofoil window of the church...

I remembered that the last time I'd been here a small dog had sneaked up behind me and snapped at my ankles, tearing a hole in my trousers.  I'm lucky, because this is the only time a dog has tried to bite me during all my Caminos.

Between La Chaze-du-Peyre and Lasbros stands the tiny Chapelle de Bastide, strangely situated at the junction of three roads...  

I was soon to encounter the haunting, open plateau land of the Aubrac: a region of wide, almost treeless vistas; bizarrely-shaped outcrops of basalt rock; high, tussocky meadows teeming with wild flowers; and long views of distant, snow-capped mountains. This is a remote and sparsely inhabited area, known only to the walker, the shepherd, the botanist, the geologist and the connoisseur of landscape...

The Aubrac Plateau

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.