Loop of the Lookout Hill

Meet us at our farm "Les Anes de Monédiès", located in the Lot Valley, for the start of your 8-day trek with one of our Pyrenean donkeys.
Advice and explanations will allow you to leave, in all serenity, to the discovery of the paths of Aveyron, by starting with the heights of the hamlet of Bréfinies where we are located, on the plateau of Almont-Les-Junies, with the unspoilable sights on the Plateau of Aubrac and the Mounts of Cantal.
After a path in the heart of beautiful chestnut groves, you will arrive at the Chapel of Monédiès, an ideal picnic stop, for your donkey who will find a beautiful green and fat grass to graze, and for you who will appreciate this superb historical monument dating from twelve hundred years and restored in 2003.
The rest of your hike will take you to Grand-Vabre where you will spend the night.

Your day can start with the discovery of this small typical village of Rouergue which is Grand-Vabre, located at the confluence of the rivers of Dourdou and Lot, and at the limit of three departments, Aveyron, Lot and Cantal.
Your itinerary will continue in the Lot Valley on green paths, alternating open clearings and shaded forests, until Vieillevie where you will stop.

Before starting your hike, discover Vieillevie, a charming village in the Lot Valley, where donkey and horse fairs were held in the past and which made its reputation in the canton.
Today, it is its architectural heritage that will stop you: its 15th and 16th century castle with wooden hoardings, and its church, small, but rich in ornaments.
To get to Le Fel, where you will spend the night, your hike will take you back to the history of the region, in the 13th century, when the gabelous who lived in the hamlet of Montarnal, built on its ancient fortress on the left bank of the Lot, hunted smugglers.

This stage will be full of surprises and will not fail to impress you! Take the time to visit the village of Le Fel, so representative of the nuggets of the Rouergue: a picturesque village, perched on a narrow ridge at 500m altitude, overlooking the Lot Valley, with a breathtaking view.
Le Fel is a real oenological treasure with its vineyards whose history goes back to the 1st century AD, when pioneers came to plant the first vines on these steep and rocky slopes. Here you will find several grape varieties, red, white and rosé, which will delightfully accompany the local gastronomy.
Your hike to Entraygues will follow the meanders of the Lot, between forests and vineyards.

Here you are in Entraygues, heart of the economic life on its territory at the time of the Middle Ages, strategic point at the crossroads of the communication routes, at the intersection of the roads of the Auvergne and the Lot valley.
Its name meaning "between the waters" in Occitan, the village would have been founded in the middle of the 10th century at the confluence of the Lot and the Truyère, allowing it to trade with other regions open to the Lot valley. This is how wine, rye and cheese were brought down to Cahors and the cod was brought up by gabare (flat-bottomed boat) from Bordeaux.
After having immersed yourself in the medieval atmosphere of Entraygues, take a little altitude by heading towards Golinhac where you will stop for the night.

In the atmosphere of the Chemins de St Jacques de Compostelle, Golinhac is a village where pilgrims have left their mark, and it is here that you will begin to follow its path, on the Via Podiensis (the way to Le Puy en Velay).
Your day's hike to Sénergues will be a gentle slope, through fields, pastures and meadows, an opportunity to admire the panoramic views and green landscapes of the Aveyron.
Take the time to stop at the Puech de Regault, located at 684m of altitude and offering a magnificent view on the Entraygues valley, the Viadène, the Aubrac and Auvergne mountains. Also called "the Hill of the Look", you can see the Plomb du Cantal (Auvergne) by good weather.

Sénergues has been a stopover village for pilgrims on the Way of St. James since the 11th century, located on the route between Le Puy en Velay and Conques. For your hike of the day, leading you to Conques, you will be like one of these numerous pilgrims.
Your itinerary will lead you to Conques, arriving from the west, the most beautiful way to discover this medieval village, clinging to the side of a green and wooded hill.
You will enjoy walking through this small village, recognized as one of the "Most Beautiful Villages of France", with an incredibly rich heritage: the basilica and its reconstructed cloister, the half-timbered facades filled with schist, the corbelled houses, the St Roch chapel (XVIth) on the rocky mound...

You will return to our farm of the Anes de Monédiès by taking the Way of St Jacques (GR65) while passing by the Chapelle Ste Foy de Conques from where you will be able to ring the bell while hoping for the answer of the bells of the Abbey.
Your hike will pass by the farms of Aujols and Lissoulière on a beautiful plateau typical of the Lot with breathtaking panoramas. You will then follow a welcoming forest track that winds through the woods, crossing the flowery hamlet of Clémenties from where you will reach Les Bréfinies.