Our route took us up a slight incline (sorry Colin!) past troglodyte dwellings dating back to the time of Richard the Lionheart, when they gave shelter and refuge to those loyal to Richard. In the eighteenth century the caves provided the ideal climate for use by hemp weavers.
The shrine of Notre Dame de Lourdes looks out from the hillside over the double valley of the Creuse and Claise rivers. It was the idea of Abbot Leopold Bonnet, the last resident parish pastor.
On September 4th, 1910 the statue of Our Lady was blessed and taken from the town to be placed in the rock . It was feared by some of the villagers that a terrible accident would ensue but the statue's erection went without mishap.
The life-sized statue weighs 155kg and was the work of Giscard de Toulouse, Laureate of the School of Fine Arts.
On a more worldly note, today the cultural project 'Ethni Citi' is based within the troglodyte village.
The project aims to ensure the historical and architectural heritage of the area is not lost to future generations.
A Technology Centre provides an insight into the primitive technologies in use by the early inhabitants of the region.
The photo below shows an interesting mix of old and new technologies!
What goes up must come down, and so we began our descent past the lovely church of St-Remy-Sur-Creuse to the Tour de Gannes which, as you will see from the link, Jim blogged about last month.
This provided an amazing vantage point with views over the valley to Descartes
Before we rejoined the road back to the car one final sight of interest was a display of teepees built using different construction methods...
The walk was less than 3km but it was packed with interest and variety. It was the sort of walk you could repeat time and again and find something new on each visit...
Our thanks to Jim and Pauline for a lovely outing!
1 comment:
We did this walk last October in the rain. We must try it again - hopefully when the sun is shining!
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