Easy Days and Blisters
After the soggy stresses first few days and the epic mileage of the next two the few couple of days have been really pleasant.
The campsite at La Bastide-Puylaurant was excellent, if a bit of a trog (2km) out of the village, see the title picture, so I booked in for two nights. I’d been walking for six days, so this gave me a whole day to laze around, rest and get ready for the next section of the walk.
This will take me from La Bastide-Puylaurant to Florac, some 50 miles in four days walking.
It also marks a change in the underlying geology of the landscape and therefore the character of the path and the countryside.
So far the underlying rocks have been mostly volcanic or igneous in nature, the have produced the quite high, rolling, gentle hills of the Auverne’s ‘volcano country’ and have broken down into pretty rich soil which the local farmers exploit.
I’ll soon be leaving this behind and enter the more rugged and unforgiving limestone land of the Cevennes.
One of the great things about a day off is you have the chance to watch every one else pack up, it’s nearly as much fun as watching strangers putting tents up.
I got to talking with a French lady and a German couple, mostly about the walk, but also about the donkeys.
This was prompted by the lady who had hired a donkey, quite a pretty little thing. The woman said that while it was slow walking with the donkey she loved it for its load carrying and company on the trail.
Nice donkey but I don’t fancy hiring one.
Once all the campers had left I virtually had the campsite to myself and could have a look at my toe.
Although I had dressed the blister on the side of my left big toe it had been surprisingly uncomfortable the previous afternoon, not painful but more uncomfortable than I’d expected.
With no one about to watch I got to work. After removing the old dressing it was pretty clear what the issue was, I’d developed a blister under my big toe nail. This has happened before, although not on LEJOG, which was blister free but on other long walks, the last time being on the Norfolk coast path.
The treatment is easy, burst the blister, drain it and let it heal. If it was a big one the nail would probably fall off of its own volition sometime in the future which is actually pretty painless.
Surgery completed I read, washed some clothes, chilled and drank beer. All was good with the world, if a little throbby in the foot department.
The next day, invigorated by the day off I was up and off early, down to the village for some bread then breakfast of coffee and pain au chocolate.
Finally, it was onwards and upwards, quite literally
The walking was an absolute joy, initially there was a long easy stroll up a forest road that wasn’t churned up.
This went on for a couple of hours, I slowly gained height, although the views were often hampered by the forest.
After the climb, the path followed the crest of a ridge of a mile or so, still in heavy forest, but with a long row of wind turbines.
These are surprisingly large when seen up close and rotate with a low, slow, “woooosh, woooosh” sound as each blade passes over head.
After the forest of turbines I had an idea say descent to the Camping Municipal at Chasserades.
Normally a camping municipal are nothing special, they are basic campsites, with basic facilities maintained by the local council.
This one was exceptional, the showers and toilets were clean and had toilet paper, a couple of sites I’ve stayed at don’t!
There was also a large kitchen, it had gas rings, electric rings, a microwave, tables and chairs etc.
It was without a doubt the best campsite I’ve stayed at this trip, and all for €6.50, absolute bargain.
After a good night’s sleep I was up early and packing when at 7:30 the campsite warden opened up her office and offered said there was free tea and coffee, unbelievable!
After free tea, it was back on the path and a pleasant walk for about 5 miles on a good track that slowly climbed up through lovely spring woods to the high point so far, 1414 meters.
That’s over 4600 feet, higher than Ben Nevis.
I hadn’t really thought about the altitude of the route I was traveling, but started out at Le Puy at 600 meters and has been rising ever since. This is no where near high enough to notice a drop in atmospheric oxygen but does bring a significant chill factor.
From this high point there was a long, easy descent to Le Bleymard, a lovely village with an adequate campsite but bring your own toilet paper😳.
Le Bleymard has a very nice bar and as it would have been rude not to pay my respects I enjoyed a very nice beer and sandwich.
While enjoying my lunch I checked my progress and was pleasantly surprised to find I’m now over half way.
I expect quite a few people are unsure where exactly I am and where the path I’m following goes, so here is the best map I’ve found, hope it makes sense.
I’m really looking forward to the next few days walking, it will take me over the Mont Lozere massif, along wilder paths and over Mont Finiels, the highest point of the walk, just over 1700 meters (5,500 feet).