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Adventure - 8

Mon May 20th
Weather not startling so we went for a little walk along the clifftops. At least it was meant to be along the clifftops but the narrow track through the forest looked very uneven so we decided to leave Dylan parked near the road and walk through the forest to get to the clifftops. The road up was narrow and extremely ziggy and zaggy but no problems getting Dylan around the hairpin bends this time. The forest walk was pleasant but we didn’t see anything exciting today. We got to the first viewpoint and amazingly there was a bench to sit on while we looked at the view. Except Cliff said ‘stay there while I just take a look from the side’ – and sure enough, the bench was parked right on the edge of the cliff. Er, no thanks. Too close for my liking, I gingerly took a few steps backward and sat myself down on a nice stable rock! After coffee, back to Dylan and down to Le Rozier for lunch at a lovely little café overlooking the Tarn. After lunch we went across the bridge for a stroll around the village – very pretty. Back to Brian for tea. We worked out Plan A for getting off pitch on Wednesday and decided if no-one came and parked opposite us or beside us it would be a piece of cake. Of course – if they did…

Tues May 21st
Low cloud around today so rather than head for the hills we walked into Millau and spent the morning wandering around, doing a bit of shopping, drinking coffee in various cafes and generally lazing – most unusual for us, well for Cliff anyway! After lunch the cloud seemed to have lifted a bit so we drove up the hill overlooking Millau, only to find when we got to the top that it was misty and drizzling. Too cold and damp to go for a walk so we came back to Brian and started to pack up ready for moving to Espalion tomorrow. Cliff craftily parked Dylan in the pitch opposite in the hope that no-one would then attempt to go there. Dinner in the site restaurant again (consistently good). We thought there was a dead bear lying in the entrance but when it lifted an eyebrow and looked at us we realised it was Jessie the resident Newfoundland! Got back to Brian and – Aaarrrgggh! A caravan was parked neatly next to us. So much for Plan A – a hurried pacing out of the pitch and Cliff decided that providing the chap next door didn’t park his car right next to the hedge we should still be OK. Ah, that’s alright then.

Millau Millau resident Sammy playing sticks Jessie not playing!

Wed May 22nd
Moving day. Up bright and early. Hoping to get away before the neighbours wake but no such luck. We are to have an audience! Fortunately the couple next door offered to move their car (the couple opposite had already moved theirs!) so that helped. With a shuffle forward, a shuffle sideways and another shuffle forward, Cliff managed to get Brian off the pitch and on to the road – we only had to occupy three pitches to do it!! And by dint of going around the roundabout in the road the wrong way we managed to get out of the site without hitting anyone, anything, trees, cafes, cars…. Phew!! We had already visited Espalion so we knew we could get onto the pitch there, it was whether we could get through the wiggles in the town OK that we were uncertain about. But there was little traffic and apart from workmen and their truck in the road at one point we managed very well and arrived safely. We have a very nice pitch backing onto the River Lot which is very full at the moment so we hope we don’t have too much rain while we are here. Not raining today so we went into Espalion for lunch and then drove to Estaing and Entraygues to have a look around.

Estaing we had cycled through before and Entraygues we had stayed at. We found the hotel we stayed at 10 years ago – much changed and modernised. We remembered the lady who had been there before as she’d had a grey parrot which sat outside with the customers. We asked the waitress about her and apparently she is now retired but still has the parrot!

 Estaing ----- Entraygues

Thurs May 23rd
Weather forecast not too good so Cliff suggested we take a walk up to the ruined Chateau at Espalion before the rain reaches us. Walked into town expecting to see a sign to the Chateau, couldn’t find one. Cliff thought he knew which road we should take so off we went up the hill. And up, and up, and up. Still no signs. How odd! Where’s the map? Ah - back in the trailer! Ok, Cliff has an unerring sense of direction so we carried on. After about half an hour we could see the Chateau above us and tantalisingly close – but still no signs, which would seem to suggest we’d come the wrong way. Eventually we did run out of road! Before we turned back Cliff spotted a little track leading down to the main road so went to investigate. Aha – there was a sign on the main road which said turn right for the Chateau. We followed that and about 15 minutes later found ourselves at the top. Hooray! Except we then found out that the Chateau is closed on Mondays and Thursdays and – yes – today is Thursday! Still, never mind, nice views from the top and good exercise. Next time we will go by car!

The Chateau ----- View from the top

We thought we’d do a reccy on our next planned campsite which is at Jassat, near to Murol. Google told us it would be a 2 hour drive so we thought that’s OK. We had an early lunch and set off. Surprisingly our satnav thought it was going to take us 3 hours to get there – must be wrong we thought. Well, the journey was very picturesque, up hill and down dale, then up hill and down dale again, and again, and again! Hmmm, we won’t be bringing Brian this way – it would take all day to get anywhere! It was very interesting to go through little towns and villages we remembered visiting years ago and the hillsides were beautiful – we came around one corner and there in front of us was a wall of yellow flowers –a hillside smothered in broom, stunning. We stopped at one viewpoint and looked down on the river nestled among the trees, it’s very pretty countryside.

As we neared our destination we were amazed to see snow on the hills – they weren’t at any great height so that was a real surprise! Well, our satnav was correct – it took us nearly 3 hours to get to Jassat. It’s a lovely site, very large pitches but quite a way from Murol, the nearest village, certainly not within walking distance. We had a look around and found that there were just two pitches we could get Brian onto without invading any others. But that was all. The rest either had trees in the way or would prove too difficult to manoeuvre on to. Need to go back and have a think. Cliff decided we’d go back a different way, along the motorway, which although longer should be quicker, then to take another road to Espalion to see if that would be a better route as it seemed more direct. Well, you’ve probably guessed – the road was tiny and although it looked straight on the map it wound up the mountain and down the other side - it took longer to get back than it did to get there! Very tired when we finally reached Brian so we had dinner out in Espalion. Nice meal, just Monsieur and Madame who owned it and one other person besides us!

Fri May 24th
Very c-c-cold this morning. This weekend is the Fete Du Transhumance. All the farmers in the local villages get their troupeaux (herds) together to take them up to the summer pastures. The main event is at Aubrac, about 26km away, but apparently they start from St. Come D’Olt, just 4km from Espalion, and walk the cattle up to Aubrac. So having got as much information as we could from the tourist office but still not being sure of what exactly happens where, we decided to drive to both places to see what was going on. Got to St. Come and we could see that the main square was going to be fenced off with no parking. We went into a café for coffee. The lady there told us that nothing much would happen on Saturday but the cattle would be there on Sunday, she didn’t know what time. After coffee we set off for Aubrac which is much higher. Well, we knew it was cold – but we didn’t expect to see snow! Yes, 24th May, South of France, and it’s snowing! Aarrrgh!! All the beeches with their beautiful new green leaves had a covering of white. We got to Aubrac and it was freezing! Winter has returned. We found a parking place and went looking for information. There was none, apart from what we’d already seen. We could see the huge marquees that had been erected for the various events. A herd of cattle passed us, obviously early starters, not sure what they thought to the snow. The tourist office lady had told us it was all ‘organisee’ for parking but we saw no signs at all, all we knew was that parking would be ‘dans des pres’ – in the fields. Well, the fields nearby were full of rocks - we wouldn’t have risked the truck on there, never mind an ordinary car. We walked some distance down the road and Sammy had a lovely time, rolling in the snow. But we still saw nothing so, mystified, we walked back and found a nice warm restaurant where we sat and had more coffee while we thawed out. Back to Espalion none the wiser! I did take some pictures of roadside poppies and cornflowers to remind me it’s supposed to be Spring!

We went out later to find the Kingdom Hall – it’s just 5 minutes away by car so that’s great. Almost opposite is a road leading to the hamlet where one of the participating farms is situated, so we drove down there to have a nose. Yes, there was the farm and a lady coming out of the yard – we asked her if she was taking part on Sunday – yes, were they going through Espalion? – yes, what time? – 7 in the morning! Hooray. From the horse’s mouth, so to speak! So now we know! Back at Brian we decided that we would not go to the campsite at Jassat as it’s 2000 ft higher than Espalion so will be colder and we have a nice pitch here and it’s only a few minutes walk from the town. So we are going to stay here until 19th June.

Sat May 25th
Miserable cold, wet morning so we did chores first thing and then ventured into Espalion for coffee. Took our Portuguese ‘homework’ with us and did some of that in the café – it’s disappointing how much we have forgotten already! Bought two waterproof ponchos from the shop next door, which we can wear over our rucksacks – very elegant (not) – all the best walkers have them! Back to Brian for eggs and bacon for lunch and then we set off for St. Come to see if there was anything going on. Not a lot it seemed, as we wandered around, although the main square was cordoned off obviously ready for the troupeaux to arrive tomorrow. We went into the café we’d gone in yesterday, only to find it was jam packed with drinkers and diners so we went across the road to the cafe by the fountain, got ourselves a coffee and sat watching the world go by and the rain pouring down! While we sat there a car pulled up and out piled several very loud Frenchmen, clearly the worse for wear – they went to join the other drinkers across the road, thank goodness.

When it stopped raining we started back to the car. On the way we met a French couple who asked us if we were going to follow the troupeaux. We said no and they said there was a herd expected to arrive at 3pm. Since it was 2.45 we turned around and headed straight back to the café for more coffee and more sitting. And then we heard it – the noise! Bells, drums, shouting. Then we saw them, coming up the little road right opposite us – the troupeau – all with bells and many with beautifully decorated head-dresses – I wouldn’t have wanted to be the one to get those on their heads with all those pointy horns! Immediately, all the men we’d seen earlier rushed across and it became clear that they were part of the show – they all had sticks and were helping to control the herd. The cattle came right up to the fountain for a drink – a wonderful opportunity to take photos. Sammy woofed – he didn’t mind the cattle but he didn’t like all the noise!

After they had all had a drink off they went along the road on their way to Aubrac. We dashed back to the car and caught up with them, overtook them and stopped along the road to take more photos as they made their way past us. It was a wonderful sight. Cliff asked the chap leading them where they were from and he said Bozouls so they had already travelled 8 or 9 kilometres. As we set off to go back to Espalion the heavens opened and we drove through a hailstorm! Poor troupeaux – although I guess it might better for them than walking long distances in the heat. When we got back to Brian we checked the programme and they are due to arrive at Aubrac on Sunday at 1pm.

Sun May 26th

Up at 6am to get into Espalion before 7am when the local Troupeau are due to arrive. It is a misty morning and still cold but not as bad as yesterday. There were only a few people around and we thought perhaps we were either in the wrong place or they weren’t going to come this way after all. But then a little car came along and stopped opposite us, a lady with a Stetson, red neckerchief, wellie boots and camera jumped out and rushed up the road. Aha, we thought, she’s part of the team so we are in the right place after all. And then we heard the bells and drums and around the corner they came, filling the road and spilling over onto the pavements and sidestreets – the drovers were hard-pressed to keep this lot in order! All of the herd had some form of decoration and they all looked beautiful!

We watched them go by and then dashed back to the car to try and get in front of them to drive up to St. Come where they were headed. We managed to do that by means of little back streets and arrived in St Come a few minutes later. The herd were travelling at about 3km/hour so it would be a while before they arrived. We settled down outside the café by the fountain with coffee and croissants to keep us occupied while we waited. Everyone was commenting on how cold it was – we were so glad we hadn’t attempted to go to Aubrac yesterday – 15cm of snow had fallen and all the motorhomes that had tried to get up there to see the troupeaux had been turned away! We’d just started our 2nd cup of coffee and we heard them coming – from a different direction this time. Instead of allowing the cattle to come to the fountain in small groups as they had done yesterday, they all came together so there was much mooing, shoving and headbutting going on. It wasn’t long before they were off again on their long journey to Aubrac. So back we went to our coffee. 

A few minutes later we were just about to leave when, to our surprise, more bells, drums and shouting and yet another troupeau arrived! So we stayed for more entertainment and pictures. Again the herd all came to the fountain together, more jostling and bellowing – and that was just the drovers! The cattle were all milling about and trying to get to the water at the same time. Needless to say one or two of the head dresses came adrift in the melee and one of the drovers was rushing about with what looked like a drill, attempting to rectify the damage! The noise was incredible. I think Sammy was used to it by this time, he sat quietly watching, as good as gold.

Contributed by Chris & Cliff

(Published 6th Mar 2013)

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