Aubrac The Dômerie of Aubrac

Around 1120 Adalard, a Flemish viscount attacked by bandits and caught in the snow on the plateau of the Aubrac on his way back from Compostela, according to the traditions told of him, vowed to found a refuge there. The hospital he built, the Dômerie, was run by a community of monks, knights and lay brothers who sheltered and guarded pilgrims on the high plateau, at about 4,300 feet.

Its bell, the bell of the lost, rang in fog and snow to guide travelers. What remains of the Dômerie is a church finished around 1220, a tower and a few buildings, in open country of pasture and granite that the walkers of the Le Puy route still cross.

Further reading: Le Puy-en-Velay: A Pilgrim’s Guide to Our Lady of Le Puy; Conques: A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Abbey of Saint Faith; The Way of Saint James from Le Puy: A Pilgrim’s Guide.

• The church of Notre-Dame-des-PauvresThe pilgrims’ church, finished around 1220.
• The English TowerBuilt in the fourteenth century to defend the hospital.

• Via ConchaeThe Way of the Shell, eight daysDay IV, The Aubrac

About an hour and a quarter by road from Conques.

• ConquesThe Abbey Church of Sainte-Foy, about 29 miles as the crow flies
• FigeacThe Abbey Church of Saint-Sauveur, about 47 miles as the crow flies
• Le Puy-en-VelayThe Cathedral of Notre-Dame du Puy, about 53 miles as the crow flies
• AlbiThe Cathedral of Sainte-Cécile, about 63 miles as the crow flies