The Aubrac Plateau

Today marks our first week of walking.  We reached the village of Aubrac at 1307 metres early this afternoon, having traversed across the Aubrac Plateau all day. The countryside is open farmland and almost treeless. We had a lot of long steady climbing today. 

Very cold today, -3 when we got out of bed this morning, fortunately the hotels still have the heating operational. It remained cold all day but it made for pleasant walking untill the icy wind hit us on the exposed grassy hills in the afternoon.  When we first set out this morning at 8am the puddles had a layer of thin ice on the surface and some sections of track where it was a bit muddy and damp were covered in ice crystals. Apparently there is the possibility of snow here right up until May.

Last night at dinner we had our first taste of aligot, a French speciality from this region. It is a dish made from melted cheese blended into mashed potatoes which can be stretched like a dough, and it was served with sausage.  Very tasty, but a little heavy for us so we did not indulge like the locals.

Unfortunately I have to report that I have developed a blister the size of a 20 cent coin on the back of my right heel. I am so annoyed!  Cannot believe that I walked the whole of the Spanish Camino without blisters and here I am only 7 days in on this one with a blister.  I think it has been caused by not having my boot tied tight enough causing friction  with all the climbing. Today I padded it with wool and tape and was able to walk without too much trouble so we will see how it goes.

An even bigger problem has been caused by our USB charger getting zapped in a power point two days ago and now no longer works.  We have tried in every village we have walked through since to buy a new one to no avail.  Fortunately we have borrowed a spare one from Hanna for now, but Hanna may be pushing on ahead of us after the weekend. We rely on the charger for six devices, the mobile phone, which is a necessity to call ahead to make hotel bookings, the Samsung Tablet, the camera, my kindle, and our two fitbits which are our watches.  

We pass through a larger town on Saturday, Espalion, which will be our last hope of buying a charger for some time. It is also the May Day holiday weekend so we are hoping shops will be open. If not, plan B could see us leaving the trail, catching a bus to a large town somewhere and then coming back to rejoin the trail. Not something we want to think about right now.

For the past two days we have been walking on and off with Hanna and our two Aussie friends, staying in the same accommodation, drinking wine and having our evening meal together which has been great.  

Tonight however, as is the way of the Camino, we are all seperated.  Sandy and Karla are in a Gite half a km from town, we are right in town, and Hanna is staying in the next village a few km away.  We are bound to meet up again on the track tomorrow, a 24 km stretch, our longest so far, mostly steep downhill, to Saint Come d'Olt, where we will be spending the night in a restored medievil convent.