On Fageas ridge (day 2)

3 points of interest

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  History

  Aire de Côte

  Aire-de-Côte farm was purchased by the French State in 1862, during the period of reforestation. Before the farm became a stopover gîte, it was for a long time the residence of the local forester and his family. In the first half of the 20th century, Aire-de-Côte was very different. To the north, behind the house, was the draille (drovers’ road), lined by upright stones and 40 to 50 metres wide. Thousands of transhumant animals passed every year on their way to or from summer pastures. The transhumant animals stopped there at lunchtime, then continued on towards Mont Aigoual.

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  Agriculture

  Bonperier

  The etymology of this name is believed to be “good fields”. Indeed, there are fields surrounding the hamlet that are still maintained today. It is said that the hamlet’s inhabitants grew cereals. After harvest, they would take the wheat and rye down to the mill in the village. The oats, however, stayed in the hamlet as livestock fodder.

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  Agriculture

  The draille (drovers’ road) and the sheep bridge

  The draille (drovers’ road) and the sheep bridge  architecture    The sheep bridge at the Col de l’Asclier is on an important draille (a traditional path for livestock migrating to the upland summer pastures of Mont Aigoual and Mont Lozère), which was also a King’s road during the Camisard revolt in the 18th century, a peddlers’ road and is now a long-distance hiking path. The Col de l’Asclier pass (from Occitan asclar, to split), where the road seems to go through a gap, is well-named: it lies on a fault line in the rock. But the most astonishing is the bridge, a bridge without road. It was built to help sheep flocks negotiate this difficult spot!