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Tuesday, 16 September 2008

An Ancient Monument

La Gargantua is a pleasant place for a picnic, sheltered all around by trees. Like many of this type of prehistoric monuments it sits on the promontory of a ridge. Probably it once overlooked the river valley, but now the trees block the view.



If you visit in the early summer, the skylarks in the fields either side of the track in to the site are performing relentlessly over the pasture, flying up and up and up, all the while sending out their (to my ears) rather raspy song, so beloved of English poets, then plummeting to earth with arched wings pulled back, tail erect, only to be replaced in the sky by their neighbour and rival.

If the weather is poor and picnicking out of the question, then you can do no better than to eat at La Gargantua, the little restaurant in nearby Charnizay. See my recent post about dining out with my coeliac brother-in-law for our own very positive experience (it's the little restaurant that was new to us).

Susan

3 comments:

Susan in Lille said...

I love the rock figure, like a small henge...a bit romantic!

wcs said...

I think we've been there! I'll have to ask Ken if that's the one...

Susan said...

Susan - you are right - the circle of trees give it a henge feeling. The rocks, which are probably an unfinished tomb, sit in the middle, and there is only one way in, through a gap in the trees.

Walt - this is marked on the map, but it's fairly out of the way - you would have had to have been just pootling along Indre et Loire D or unclassified roads to come across it. Isn't the wilds of IetL a bit scary for you softies from LetC? :-)

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