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Véroncle Gorge
watercolor
6" x 9", matted 12" x 16"
Contact the artist for price.
| For me, the highlight of the trip was a solo hike through the Véroncle Gorge. Starting from the village of Joucas, I got off on the wrong trail despite the directions, climbing up a hill called the Bois d'Aubert, where I ate my lunch surrounded by wild herbs among the pines. Realizing my mistake, I walked in the direction of the gorge, hoping to find a place to descend to the correct trail. The high walls were so sheer a drop, it would have been madness, so I retraced my steps to find the hamlet of Les Grailles. A short ways up a dry stream bed were the remains of a 16th-century Waldensian mill, known as Jean de Mare's mill (The Waldensians were a local Christian sect who were persecuted as heretics during the time of the Inquisition). The millstone, adorned with wild yellow snapdragons, and its shaft, were still visible inside the roofless stone structure. Underneath and around the mill, one could see how the stone from the natural watercourse had been worked to create series of reservoirs and sluices to power the mill. Climbing up a steel ladder bolted into a steep wall, I continued up the trail through a canyon carved by the water—bird song reverberated from the steep walls, delicate blue bells found purchase among the rocks, and a bit of recent rainwater filled the pools. After negotiating a few more places where metal chains had been bolted to the rock to help the hiker ascend, I could see half-domes and natural shelters carved high into the rock walls by the force of ancient whirlpools and wondered if prehistoric humans might have inhabited them. Gradually the gorge opened up to a wide amphitheater-like space where I stopped do to this sketch. As I was finishing the sun was already low, so rather than continuing up to the village of Murs, I retraced my steps back to the mill and on to Les Gardiols. |
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All images copyright Elena Maza. Use without permission from the artist is prohibited.