Nasbinals

The Via Podiensis, leaving from Le Puy-en-Velay, is one of the 4 main routes leading to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. This is the stage between Aumont-Aubrac and Nasbinals

Nasbinals appears at last, with its beautiful and robust Romanesque church dating from the 11th century. This is the starting point for the Aveyron department and for the route to Saint-Chély d’Aubrac.

The 17 km section is one of the seven parts on the Puy-en-Velay trail (the Via Podiensis) that are listed as a World Heritage site by UNESCO. This is probably the most striking section in terms of landscapes and diversity. You cross the undulating Aubrac plateau with its vast pasture lands, often walk alongside drailles (drovers’ roads), once used to take cattle to pasture and providing a very clear view. Then you gradually go down into the Boralde and the Lot valleys through the woods, following the beds of little streams or going round the hillsides.

Aubrac is always a surprise for visitors! Yet the village had a sad reputation. A place inspiring horror and vast solitude, cold and rough, a land of wolves and bandits… But the village is at the heart of the Aubrac plateau, with truly breathtakingly beautiful landscapes! Here you can see the hospice dating from 1120 with its church, the convent buildings that were destroyed during the French Revolution, the hospital where exhausted pilgrims would be welcomed, the English Tower built in the 14th century to fend off attacks and the old Dômerie with its famous “bell for the lost”, since it helped pilgrims find their way.