Aubrac
The Vía Podiensis
The village of Aubrac is barely a village at all. A handful of stone buildings at about 1,300 m on the open plateau, clustered around the remains of a medieval monastery that once gave shelter to pilgrims exactly like you. In bad weather, this is one of the loneliest spots in France. In good weather, the views across the high pastures are endless.
The Domerie d'Aubrac was founded in 1120 by Adalard, a Flemish viscount, after he was attacked by bandits during his own pilgrimage to Santiago. He vowed to build a hospital on this exposed plateau so that future pilgrims wouldn't suffer as he had. At its height, the domerie sheltered thousands of pilgrims each year and rang a bell through the night to guide lost travelers in fog and snow. The bell was called "La Perdude" -- the bell for the lost.
Today you can still see the Tour des Anglais (a 13th-century defensive tower), the church, and parts of the monastery buildings. There's a gite d'etape and a restaurant. The atmosphere is austere and quietly moving. You're standing where pilgrims have stood for 900 years, on one of the wildest and most remote stretches of the entire Santiago route.
The Domerie d'Aubrac was one of the most important pilgrim hospitals in medieval France. Founded in 1120, it grew into a vast complex that included a hospital, a church, a hospice, and a community of monks, nuns, and lay brothers called "domins" who lived under a semi-religious rule. They were responsible for maintaining the road, sheltering pilgrims, and ringing the bell through storms and fog.
The domerie was also a significant landholder, controlling much of the surrounding plateau and its pastoral economy. It survived until the Revolution, when it was dissolved and its properties sold. Most of the original buildings were demolished for their stone. What remains -- the tower, the church, and a few structures -- gives only a faint impression of what was once a remarkable institution.
From Aubrac, the path begins a long, gradual descent off the plateau toward the Lot valley. The landscape transitions from open pasture to scattered woodland and then into the steep-sided Boralde valley. The descent to Saint-Chely-d'Aubrac covers about 17 km and drops roughly 600 m. The first section across the plateau is easy, but as you drop into the valley, the path becomes steeper and more wooded.
Accommodation in Aubrac.
| Gîte d´etape communal La Tour des Anglais 10€ 16 |
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