Day 5 Les Quatre Chemins

Wednesday 21 September and it is 27km to the small settlement of Les Quatre Chemins, the four ways, and 11km after the lunch stop town of Aumont-Aubrac. With shorter days I can dawdle but today I do the first 16km in four hours leaving three hours to do. It's a beautiful day. 


I pass a couple while eating a baguette and can't reply with my mouth full when they say bon appetite. Later in Aumont-Aubrac they see me with my mouth full again and laugh assuming I am always eating.

There isn't the same volume of graffiti you see on the Camino Frances on this route though I imagine the person who wrote this knew what they were doing.


They seem to have a thing about beasts here and in Aumont-Aubrac it is La Bete du Gevaudan. Sorry for the lack of diacritics. 

I sat in the town Square for 30 minutes and everyone from last night's gite wanders through calling out to say bonjour. I tried a local patisserie's speciality which turned out to be a variety of the British bread and butter pudding but without any of the French upgrade I would have expected. 

I'm more aware on this walk that the pilgrimage route takes in Chapels and churches or that chapels are built because the pilgrims were passing by.

It is a day for walking, and as I am walking I see a woman ahead climb a short bank to the side of the path to a small plateau that is a natural spot for a picnic bench. I need a break and am close enough to veer off to join her when she rises from the undergrowth wriggling her hiking trousers up. I walk briskly on.

My gite doesn't officially open until 4pm though in practice some gites stick strictly to time and others will welcome you in early. Today's gite is the latter and by 4pm I am showered and clean sat in the communal area drinking a beer. Bliss.

Today I have completed a little over 100km in five days which is the relaxed start I had planned and it let me do some great runs on top of that. 

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