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Looking for great food oriented and other activities in the Aveyron.

Posted by (madison wisconsin) on

Hello all,
I’m leaving mid September for a three month location scouting trip for a possible move to France and will be in nine different areas for ten days at a time. In this post I am looking for activity recommendations in the Aveyron, specifically within 1.5-2 hours of Estaing. I will be there mid-end of September.

As an ex Paris trained chef and editorial photographer I am greatly interested in all things food oriented. Markets, artisan food producers (bakers, organic gardeners,cheese producers,wineries,chefs,charcuterie producers)
I would appreciate any personal contacts people have for any of these artisans as I will be working on a potential photo project of these types of individuals. Restaurants on the more casual, regional, rustic, authentic side of the scale. I enjoy exploring villages, hiking a bit, scenic drives, vide greniers, photographing landscapes and local architecture. I may try to do a bit of canoeing and fly fishing. Not into museums in a big way and will be spending most of my time outside of cites proper.

Looking forward to any potential responses and thanks so much for reading my post.

wvdthree

Posted by
7301 posts

I'll be spending 3 days near Aurillac, 45 minutes north of Estaing, later this month, so I'll make sure to report back!
The Puy Mary and Plomb du Cantal areas look amazing, and are within 90-120 minutes from Estaing.

Posted by
7301 posts

I am reporting back as promised, after 3 days in the outskirts of Aurillac (specifically, in the amazing Chateau de Sedaiges).
The "surprise" was that the town of Aurillac was mobbed due to the yearly street theater festival. So, it was impossible to try any of the restaurants that I had shortlisted and we resorted to chain restaurants in the outskirts to save the day. My partner and I were not in the mood to mingle with the crowd, so we did not try to attend any performance, besides the one that a friend of mine (a local) took us to (it was...interesting let's say).

Food emphasis is strongly on Aubrac and Salers beef (which we do not eat, but the respective cow breeds are everywhere! There are pastures all over the place), and on local cheeses (Cantal, Salers - which is barely available this year due to the drought, Saint-Nectaire mainly).
If it's still open at the time of your visit, this place: https://www.bulledesalers.fr/ is apparently a great place to try the local meat. About 1h15 from Estaing.

Speaking about Salers, the village of the same name, about 1h30 north of Estaing, is really stunning and I think you should try to go this far. To the east of that village, driving up to the Pas de Peyrol and down towards Murat, is one of the most scenic drives I've been on in Europe. The landscape is otherworldly. From Pas de Peyrol, you can take a steep but short hike to Puy Mary. I did not do it due to injury, but the view is apparently incredible.

Closer to Estaing, Entraigues sur Truyère looked cute (though not quite as cute as Estaing itself) and you'll most definitely pass through. It's a beautiful drive through the Lot gorge.
You should definitely visit Conques as well, hillside village with an abbey linked to the Compostela pilgrimage.
And I missed it, but Bozouls is apparently a very impressive village perched right above a steep canyon. Saint-Côme d'Olt also appeared adorable (if very tiny) in my research, and Espalion might have one or two things of interest.

Last but not least, to the NE of Estaing you have the wild and almost-empty Aubrac range, which I haven't explored, but it looks worthwhile.

Posted by
70 posts

Balso,
Thanks so much for your Averyron report! Have been to some of the areas you went to but have not for instance been to Aurillac and Salers and I'm intrigued. I've been to the Aubrac twice and will be going back, in part to see the Phot' Aubrac photo festival which will be going on in Nasbinals. It's quite a cool exhibit. I've always considered the terrain of the Aubrac kind of other worldly.....Mars like landscape and the cows are beautiful.

https://www.photaubrac.com

When you say the drive from Pas de Peyrol to Murat is one of the most scenic drives you've been on in Europe does that suggest white kuckle style driving? I enjoy viewing and photographing gorgeous landscapes but don't enjoy really long stretches (hours) of effectively single lane roads, constant switch backs/blind corners with no guard rails. Any comment you could make on this would be greatly appreciated.

Fun esoteric fact if you're American. The actor (Richard Belzer) who played detective John Munch on Law and Order for decades owns a house in Bozouls.

I read an article two days ago about the stop in production of Salers and I think Cantal cheeses due to the drought. I feel sorry for the cows,farmers and of course, me.

wvdthree

Posted by
7301 posts

Actually, the drive was not particularly scary in my opinion (but I'm not easily scared). I was driving a fairly large vehicle by French standards (SUV), without issues. The road is two (narrow) lanes throughout, with a handful of single-lane stretches that have plenty of passing places, so 2 cars / vans pass each other with ease, and you won't encounter tractors up there. There are guardrails - not the newest model, but still - and few switchbacks: the road makes no attempt at softening the gradient. Sightlines were good.

For comparison, most roads around the Luberon are narrower, and the Verdon south rim road is scarier.

And thank you, in return, for the Aubrac info!

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