Arrondissement de Mende

We were very excited about our morning activity today. We were off to Laguiole to see the Laguiole Knife Museum, to learn about their history and see these most beautiful knives being made. Unfortunately, due to COVID, they have lost most of the staff who speak English, so the guy who gave us the history talk couldn’t parler Anglais. The solution was to have myself and Ian, with some help from Mary, interpret! (Ed - Danielle did a fantastic job.) There were a couple of moments where things got lost in translation, but overall I think it was a great team effort. The most amusing part was when he was explaining the use of the “spike”, the third element added to the knives. It was developed to punch cows in the stomach to relieve gas pressure if they had eaten too much green grass. He also seemed to be suggesting a similar use if people had eaten too much. But, in the end we realised it was to punch an extra hole in the belt.

After the history and a demonstration of how the knives are made, polished etc, and a walk through their museum, we were let loose in the shop. There were so many options, it was quite overwhelming, but we all made a purchase.

After our close encounter with knives, we hit the road and travelled to Buron de Camejane, a typical dairy farm from the Aubrac region to see Aligot being made and then having it for lunch with a grilled beef saucisson. This dish comprises, potato, Tome and Fourme cheese, butter, cream and S & P. (Ed - more or less a heart attack on a plate.) It was delicious, but virtually impossible to finish. We had a rum punch to start and wine was also available. For the meal we had charcuterie for entree, a cheese course after the Aligot main, and the best blueberry pie I have ever had for dessert. Everything was delicious and I think we will need to walk some way to burn off the Aligot.

As the weather was quite bad (cold, wet and windy), especially as we were on an escarpment 1,300 metres above sea level, we reviewed the schedule and, instead of walking from Aubrac to Les Cambrassats (which was over 10km), we did a much shorter 3 km walk finishing in the delightful town of Saint Côme d’Olt. Fortunately we had good weather for our walk. We walked around the town and picked up some supplies before arriving at our accommodation for the evening, a Covent that has been converted into a simple hotel. The rooms were basic, but clean and comfortable and we were served meals ‘cafeteria style’. It was a nice experience and the nuns were lovely (not like the horrible nuns I had at school).Read more