Cévennes

Awoken early by an army of flies, we packed, ate, ordered a picnic and were off by 9:00 a.m. It was cool but a nice temperature for hiking. We went back out by the spring house which had a stone and roof gable. Turning right we began a gentle climb up a sandy road (GR 44) until it turned left and joined GR 68. This leveled through monotonous short piney woods until we reached a clearing rocks to the left called Roc des Cheins Fous (Crazy dogs’ rock), a pile of large granite rocks overlooking a small lake. We quickly rejoined the trail which continued through the piney woods.

When the trail finally broke out of the woods we passed pleasant fields with narcissus and for the first time we saw wild purple pansies. There were also pink flowers and lots of violets and forget-me-nots.

The trail turned right a little before les Sagnoles, a little spring with flowing water, and continued along down long forested switch backs and into the village of Auriac. There were only a few stone buildings and the trail turned right after the first group of buildings. It mounted to a stone barn with an arch and turned to the left past a barnyard with two large stone arches. After Auriac we went through pine woods including a patch that had just been clear cut. At the beginning of our descent we decided to picnic in a field with a view overlooking the valley. Madame's sandwiches were delicious though huge - a lovely lunch. The sun had come out a little and we were soon off and down a hill into the town of Oultet. As we entered the center of town a dignified gentleman in blue work pants, probably retired, told us abut the “four” or oven which had the bell to warn travelers and a cross nearby. He bid us adieu at the edge of town pointing our way to Lozerette.

We walked past several streams, flowered fields and small waterfalls as we descended - one with an elaborate wooden bridge. A little further on, at a style through which we weaved, we began a steady and steep climb to Lozerette. It was hard going with switchbacks and then a long straight climb. I got ahead of Bon - we take the hard hills at our own pace but she took a wrong turn at a little ladder and had to backtrack. The town of Lozerette was sadly dilapidated. It had stone crafted old buildings from the 1880s but in a sorry state of repair. Even the stable had been condemned for tuberculosis.

We descended on the road through woods - mostly beech trees though different from ours - past fields and then off the trail a little to see a menhir. (We never did figure out why this menhir rated a star on the map). We walked from there to the village of le Cheyroux, passing another oxen shoeing station. We rejoined the trail outside of town at another menhir with cross and then descended, by an inviting bench as we turned out of town. The trail diverged from the road passing a church at le Mas just outside of Orcières. We proceeded into the town crossing a stone bridge to the Mairie and a telephone booth, where Bon was successful making reservations for us at Mas de la Barque.

We lost the trail but backtracked turning left off the bridge and mounting quickly into fields above the town. We passed between a few buildings in le Cayre. There was an old house that had been renovated with a large cobblestone area and barn in front. We passed two more buildings and mounted to where the trail turned right and then again rose steadily. We walked above stone walls on our left with dense vegetation and then began the descent into le Bleymard. Crossing a road first, through la Village des Vacances (a little rundown) and up through an amazingly large town with almost no restaurants or stores. We passed the clock tower and down the road where we found ourselves following the girl we had seen the previous day leading her pack-horse. At the next crossroads we turned right and were told that our chambre d'hote, La Combette, was about 800 meters down the road. It was a modern building in the town of St. Jean and our room was sunny and pleasant. And our hosts, Anita and Felix, greeted us in English! He was a gourmet cook and served us and another English couple an exquisite dinner. Very enjoyable and their large brown dog finished all we had not eaten.

We turned in about 10:30 p.m. with breakfast scheduled for 8:15 in the morning.