The Hills are Alive with The Sound of ……….Music?
One of the nuggets of information found in MMM some years back was the dates on which sheep and goats are driven from the villages in France into their summer pastures high in the hills. I made a note of the one at Allanche, N.E of Aurillac on the N122, at the end of May. The other was at Die, not far from the A7 Autoroute.
As we had arranged to see friends in Brittany and Paris during June the most convenient date for us was the 20th – 22nd of that month.
We duly arrived at Die on the 19th not knowing anything about the town or the programme of the Transhumance. We approached on the D93 and saw signs to various campsites, but we decided to follow directions for the Tourist Information before we thought about where to go and what to do.
What a lucky decision, for in front of the T.I was a borne, a toilet and parking, where about a dozen French were already esconsed in the shade next to their camping cars.
At first glance it seemed that nothing much was to take place in Die itself on the following day, but our French neighbours told us that whilst a bus would take us to MARTOURET it was only about a twenty minutes walk away.
That first day was a sample of all that was to follow. Le troupeau, composed of over a thousand sheep and goats, were driven into the big field where sheep dogs demonstrated their work. Delicious mutton sandwiches and drinks were sold. All the school children in the district attended in very orderly groups.
As we didn`t understand French well-enough to listen to the talk about the best way to conserve the natural environment where proffessionals were on hand to answer questions, we went back to our camping car until ten o`clock for the grand firework display. It was a real advantage to be in the middle of Die. We wandered around the narrow streets and admired the Church and old buildings, cool in the shade, even though the temperature reached the upper twenties.
The following morning at just turned eight o`clock it was a totally different scene. The huge flock of sheep and goats were driven all through the narrow streets to their next stop at a farm at CHAMALOC. There were about twenty men and women on horseback accompanying them. What a sight! What would our health and safety officers make of that we wondered. To add to the mellee a big street market had been set up.
Saturday evening there was to be a music festival in the streets, but we decided to escape the heat and the crowds and drive up to the COL DE ROUSSET. Here we found a big parking area in a village given over to winter sports. From this place the animals would go up into the high pastures for the summer grazing, following the long held tradition. In times gone by the shepherds were cut off from their families for many months, but now, with mobile phones and four by fours communication is easy.
The sight, sound and smell of the flock coming over the coll on another beautiful day brought a smile to everyones face. Many people had walked with them for the three days, sleeping in tents en route. We would have enjoyed that – five or ten years since! But now we were content to enjoy le bon ambience in the village and ride the telesiege into the silence of the hills.
Pam Oxley