Day 4: La Clauze to Saint-Alban-sur-Limagnole

 

The next morning I woke up well rested but rather weak. I was hungry, but also very thirsty. I think yesterday had been heat exhaustion, as I’d started pouring water over my head in an attempt to cool down and I’ve never felt that overheated before. 

I had breakfast, which was great, and the hosts had saved me some flan from the night before, which was tasty. They had lots of variety in their breakfast, but there were not enough boiled eggs and apples to go around and everyone ate them before I managed to snag one. Bit annoying, but I wasn’t walking today so I guess they needed it more. 

I packed up and watched everyone start walking and waited for the taxi to turn up at 8:30am. He did and we drove the 25km or so to Saint-Alban. Man, country taxis in France are expensive, and this journey cost me 70 euros. 

I reached town at about 9am and had a wander around. Some lovely people kept indicating the way for me, because I was just wandering, but little did they know I wasn’t going anywhere! I walked up to the tourist information office and got a map of the town, but it wasn’t a very good map unfortunately, and didn't really help much. There was a big chateau nearby that was being used as a hospital, very interesting. 

I found a bakery and ordered a sandwich and a pain au chocolat then set out to find a bench or somewhere to sit in a shady spot. I managed to find one in an out-of-the-way spot underneath a tree behind a music centre. I don’t know if I was trespassing or not, it did feel a little like I wasn’t meant to be there. But the good thing about being a pilgrim is that you’re seen as trustworthy, or at least not dodgy. So people left me alone to sit on my bench, drink my water, eat my food and read my book. It wasn’t the most thrilling day but at least I wasn’t cooking myself in the sun again. 

It was 3pm when I started moving towards my accommodation for the night. I was, of course, the first one there. The lady who ran the place, Nadege, was fluent in English which was so nice. I went to the barn to take out all the bits and pieces from my backpack that I needed and a whole lot of school kids came over and asked if I spoke English. I said yes and they stared at me as though I was a museum exhibit. Then some of the braver ones asked me questions and tried out their English. Then the teacher came over to shoo them away and apologise, but I said don’t worry about it. Then she asked ME how their English was! It was a funny exchange. 

I was shown to my room, which was one with 3 bunk beds. I picked one and went to have a shower and lay on my bed for a while reading. When the sun was going down, I went out for a walk around. It was a lovely little village, very photogenic. 

Dinner that night was a very lively affair! There was a mother and daughter from Belgium who spoke very good English, and Nadege did too so it was really nice to feel included – dinners could be quite difficult as a non-French speaker. There were also two dogs in the party (the mother and daughter had one, while this other group who was using a kitchen to themselves had another).

Nadege was also an amazing cook. She made this beetroot soup, which was delicious! Then we had lamb pot au feu, which I LOVEEEEEE and dessert was a semolina pudding, which was also really nice. I then had a cup of tea to round out the evening, perfect! Also, no one else came so I had the room with the bunk beds all to myself. I had a really good night and a great sleep. 

 

Gîte l’imprévu en Margeride. 10/10. Great hosts and great food.