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We got up at
the usual time, packed, cleaned the gite and
had petit dejeuner at the village bar. Sent A
to get 2 pain au chocolat and 1˝ litres water
from the boulangerie. The water was because I
reckoned that we might need it. The day
promised to be long, hot and thirsty.
We were on the road by 9:20. It was still
very rural to beyond St. Saturnin - green
fields and small scale etc. but after that
things opened out onto the wide open spaces of
the Limon. A lot of the way was along a newly
tarred road but later it was dirt road then
across the prairie.
Navigation was fairly easy although we had
to use the compass to confirm direction. - We
might have been off in a very wrong direction
otherwise. As ever we met our two Frenchmen.
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The Limon is a
sloping plateau. According to the books it is
the slope of the original Cantal volcano.
Water can be got at various cattle troughs
on the way. It looked pure, tasted pure and I
don't think it made me ill. And very welcome
it was too!
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Eventually we
got to the Puy de Niermont when we had some
fruit. The bestest peach I have ever had!
Shortly after this we headed down to the GR400
which we followed (endlessly) to Le Claux.
There were no rooms for 2 at the Gite d’Etape
(dortoir (dormitory) only) so we went to the hotel (Le
Peyre Arse) and got a very nice room. This was
about 5:20. We unpacked, showered and did some
washing.
Went down at 7:30, had a large meal which
we couldn’t finish - too much food! It would
have been a very good meal for an Auvergnat
shepherd in winter, but was rather too much
for people who had only walked 20 miles.
However this did not seem to be of much
concern to the many trenchermen around the
dining room who were emptying their plates.
Had a stroll, phoned home, came back
and I went down to review Monday’s route and
have a beer. |
We decided to
avoid the Burons d'Eylac as we would have
reached them very late in the day. If they
were full we would have had a dispiriting walk
to Le Claux. So we decided safety first and go
to Le Claux straight away. Anyway I felt that
I deserved a comfortable night!
Also Alasdair did not like the idea of
sharing a bedroom with strangers in the gite.
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