Crestfallen **

Day 4 - Saturday, 28 September 2024 - Lajo to Aumont-Aubrac (+/- 26 klms).

** (noun) - that devastating feeling of disappointment that one experiences when one gets to the top of the hill, expecting to see one's destination, only to find yet another hill waiting to be climbed.

That definition comes from Pedro's dictionary of travel, not necessarily from Oxford, Webster or Macquarie. But you get the drift.

And so it was today. An endless set of neverending uphills that were put on Earth simply to disappoint. Of course I exaggerate. It wasn't nearly as dramatic as that, but it did seem that we had more than our fair share of hills.

But let me first go back to last night's accommodation. For a variety of reasons we have tended to book private rather than gite accommodation. We were a bit option-less last night which is why we ended up at the gite Bouleaux nains. My very early interactions with hostess Rachel were positive (all by email and heavily assisted by Google translate). Rachel has no English at all, and is an ebullient, larger than life figure. When Trish arrived she found her a little brusque (my description), but that didn't materialise further that I could see. At dinner we were invited to introduce ourselves, an ever so slightly challenging exercise given the language differences. But that small hurdle was easily overcome.

Where I'm heading with this is a commentary on our dinner companions. There were 16 of us in total; 6 young Parisians, us, Maelle (see yesterday's brief comment) and a few others. We'd seen the Parisians on the road a couple of days earlier, but not engaged with them. This time, in a somewhat forced environment we had no option other than to do so, and what lovely folk they were. 4 (5?) of them had reasonable English so we were able to chat a bit. [And then tonight, at Aumont-Aubrac, where they are finishing their walk, we ended up at neighbouring dinner tables, so organised a lovely group photo - see below.]

But back to Rachel, our gite hostess. I had forgotten (overlooked) letting her know our dietary requirements, and so we were not catered for. When we told her, at the table, a look of (understandable) annoyance flashed over her face, to be replaced with an acceptance, and in nothing flat she'd materialised a dozen eggs and whipped up a delightful omelet. She might have been bugged at my oversight, but her professionalism quickly took over.

Gites will never be my preferred accommodation choice, but this one was just fine. We departed early-ish (a bit before 9am), by which stage the temperature had risen to positive figures.

It was a full wet-weather day, although the rain thankfully held off to a large degree. We arrived into Aumont-Aubrac with dry boots, which is areally big deal (for those of you who've not experienced the opposite). It really wasn't much of a photo day either, but here's a few all the same:

Various walking scenes. Note the snow markers in the last photo.

In and around the town of Saint-Alban-sur-Limag. The rose granite stonework on the XVth C chateau was stunning.

I mentioned Maelle previously. We walked extensively with her yesterday, and again more briefly today. She and Janet chatted at length. A lovely woman; we are the better for our brief interaction. She was also most helpful and accommodating with translations at last night's dinner. Our paths may cross again, but if not she can at least read about herself here!!

Lastly, a few random snaps from today:

The world's neatest woodpile ...

The local horses are just the most handsome beasts ...

The world's biggest mushroom ring??

Where there's a bow there must be rain ...

On the road to Santiago ...

Until tomorrow. Another big day.