Hiking reports: April 12 Le Bouchet to Pradelles (20.2 km, 285 m)

Underway between Le Bouchet and Landos

The weather was v windy, cold but clear. We had the odd spot of rain. We had to take our photograph by the statue of RLS and Modestine, his donkey on the way out of the village. The route was flat across fields on a series of field tracks to the village of Landos where we visited a 8 bis huit supermarket for victuals. We met our first fellow walker who was French. The route stayed flat to Jagonas and onto Arquerjols, where we dropped steeply to cross the valley crossed more elegantly by the railway viaduct. We ate lunch sitting on the bridge walls. There don't appear to be many places for a picnic. We climbed from 950 to 1150m with good views to south of Mont Lozère which we will be clombing shortly. The maps of the area are out of date: The forest shown on map has been clear cut. We descended to Pradelles and then climbed to reach the village and found the Hotel d'Arche easily. It is on the main road through the village. Shortly after we arrived the weather turned nasty and we had a fantastic view of the approaching fronts from our hotel room overlooking the valley. We dozed. By the time we'd woken up and had a shower the weather was cold but dry. We were directed to a local bar for goat's cheese salad, duck with Dauphin potatoes, fromage and creme brulée. The bar looked slightly disreputable, but the food was excellent. It was cold as we left and we went back to the billet.The village is historic and atmospheric, but a warm room is comfortable on a cold night.