In the campsite reception I had noticed a poster showing a town surrounded by a river running in a deep gorge. The town was Bozouls and I really wanted to see it. The receptionist saw that I was looking at it and explained that it was only a short distance away and we realised that it was on our route.
Fifteen minutes after setting off from Espalion we were turning off the main road into the town of Bozouls. I had identified a point on the edge of the gorge and we soon found a car park. This also had motorhome services and could have been used for an overnight stay. A couple of minutes walk brought us to the promenade with its wonderful view. The gorge, 4km long and 100m deep snakes its way through the limestone leaving a promontory on which the 12th century church of St. Fauste sits. It is a fantastic and dramatic sight, especially with the Autumn colours in the gorge. We walked along the promenade in both directions until we came across the tourist information office and the 'Terra Memoria' museum. We decided to visit the museum that is dedicated to geology. It started with the creation of the Earth and went on to explain the formation of the volcanic landscape and the Gorge of Dourdou at Bozouls. It was very well presented and the English audio guide was very good. We even got to experiment with trays of water and sand, trying to create a meandering river – we failed miserably!
Onwards then and soon we were descending on a series of long gradual slopes, leaving the volcanic area and the Massif Central behind us. We arrived in Toulouse and heading for the northern outskirts of the city, we found the Le Rupe campsite. Following the signs to the site, we past a very scruffy gypsy site but the campsite itself was very pleasant and we settled in to one of the large pitches. The temperature was about 22°C, the sun was strong and we chose to sit in the shade – the first time we have done that for a long time.
Photos: Two views of Bozouls and its deep gorge.
No comments:
Post a Comment