The Log Floaters of Clamecy

When we were away last month we visited Clamecy, a small town at the junction of the Yonne and Beuvron rivers, and at the head of the Canal du Nivernais. It is also in the middle of the Morvan national park, which was once the source of the firewood burnt in the fireplaces of Paris from the middle of the 16th century.

The problem of how to get the wood to Paris was solved by Jean Rouvet, a Parisian trader, who realised that the wood could be floated along the Yonne to the Seine, and then on to Paris. The logs were built into rafts 75 meters long and 4.5 meters wide and containing about 200 cubic meters of wood. The rafts were crewed by "flotteurs" who built their temporary homes on the rafts. A statue to commemorate the flotteurs is on the bridge over the canal and river.

Up to 3,500 rafts were built on the banks of the Yonne every year, and the Canal du Nivernais was built to encourage trade in 1843. The decline of the firewood trade was brought about by the increased use of coal in Paris and the last raft was in 1923.

Fungi Foray in the Forest of Preuilly, 16 October 2021

Here are some photos from the fungi outing organised by the Association de botanique et de mycologie de Sainte Maure de Touraine [link] and led by expert pharmacist Didier Raas.

Didier talking about how to distinguish the edible species of Parasol mushroom Macrolepiota procera (Fr. Coulemelle). His advice is to only eat Lepiotes if they are greater than 10cm in diameter and have ‘zebra’ stripes on the stem. All small Lepiotes are toxic, as are some of the big ones.

This kid was vastly amused to get to puff stinky brown spores out of a Common Earthball Scleroderma citrinum (Fr. Scléroderme commun).

Didier talking about the veil still attached under the cap of this Scaly Wood Mushroom Agaricus sylvaticus (Fr. Agaric des bois). It has no volva (sack) at the base of the stem, the gills are not white (and will turn from pink to brown) so you know it is not an Amanita spp, several of which are deadly.

Didier identifying a mushroom, watched closely by people keen to learn how to safely forage for mushrooms.

Yellowdrop Milkcap Lactarius chrysorrheus (Fr. Lactaire à lait jaunissant), identifiable because scraping the gills produces yellow 'milk'.

Amethyst Deceiver Laccaria amethystina (Fr. Laccaire améthyste). Not all mushrooms with violet coloured caps are the same species, as some learners on the outing appeared to believe. If they are small they are L. amethystina, an edible species. It has been dry, so these ones are particularly small.

Looking at the scales on the cap of Earthy Powdercap Cystoderma amianthinum (Fr. Cystoderme furfuracé).

A selection of Amanita spp. From left to right, Blusher A. rubescens (Fr. Amanite rougissante), False Deathcap A. citrina (Fr. Amanite citrine), Death Cap A. phalloides (Fr. Amanite phalloïdes). Didier reminded everyone to dig up whole mushroom, especially those with white gills, in order to have all the features necessary for an accurate identification. Two of these mushrooms could be eaten, but have toxic lookalikes, one is deadly.

Sulphur Knight Tricholoma sulphureum (Fr. Tricholome soufré). Toxic. Smells of coal gas (Fr. gaz d'éclairage).

Common Earthballs Scleroderma citrinum (Fr. Scléroderme commun).

An array of Amanita and Tricholoma spp. From left to right, Death Cap, False Death Cap x 4, Blusher, White Knight T. album (Fr. Tricholome blanc), Sulphur Knight. Toxic, non-toxic, edible, toxic, toxic.

Where Your Roof Comes From

 

The other day when I was in the Forest of Loches I came across this parcel where the oak trees were clearly being managed for big building beams and roof trusses, and maybe big wooden boats. These mature trees are being managed to grow tall and straight. On the ground is one which has been felled although I don't know where it is off too. These are the types of trees that were supplied by the Forest earlier in the year for the repairs to Notre-Dame de Paris.

Fungi Foray in the Forest of Loches 5 October 2021

On Tuesday 5 October Loches pharmacist Didier Raas led a fungi foray around the Etang du Pas aux anes, a manmade lake in the Forest of Loches. The purpose was to educate beginners, both those interested in the science of conducting biodiversity surveys and those interested in gathering wild mushrooms for the table. Unfortunately it poured with rain so we got soaked, and once in the forest under the trees it was so dark I wished I'd brought a torch. The rain was so noisy we couldn't hear each other speak. 

Impressively every single one of the 15 people who had signed up for the outing turned up. I think it says a lot about how much the French value traditional country pursuits such as mushroom foraging.

Walking into the forest.

Didier explaining the parts of a mushroom and the terminology.

False Deathcap Amanita citrina (Fr. Amanite citrine).

The underside of an Oak Mazegill Daedalea quercina (Fr. Lenzite du chêne).

Bitter Oyster Panellus stipticus (Fr. Panelle astringente).

Two small Hedgehog Mushroom Hydnam repandum (Fr. Pied de mouton), a prized edible species.

Grey-spotted Amanita Amanita spissa.

Livid Entoloma Entoloma sinuatum (Fr. Entolome livide). Syn E. lividum. The yellow gills are an important feature to identify this species, and the way it smells of flour. This is quite a toxic mushroom, responsible for lots of poisonings every year.

Whitelaced Shank Mushroom Megacollybia platyphylla (Fr. Collybie à lames larges), easy to identify if you carefully extract all the mushroom (as is best pratice) because it has white 'roots' (mycelial fibres).

The charming and tiny Pinwheel Mushroom Marasmius rotula (Fr. Marasme petite roue).

Didier talking about the difference between parasol (Lepiotes) and Amanita spp mushrooms. Both have white gills and stem rings, but only Amanita spp have volvic sacks at the base of the stem.

Didier's top tips for the day:

• the position of truffles in the forest can be discreetly marked by sowing the seeds of a particular plant.
• even wild boar won't eat Deathcap Amanita phalloides, but slugs can.
• 'cèpe' means 'onion head'.
• you can tell a polypore from a cep because you can’t pull the pores off a polypore.
• 4 species of cep – Edible, Dark, Summer, Pine.
• Russula spp and Lactarius spp stems click when snapped. Only Lactarius has milk.
• About 10 species found on the outing edible.
• Didier doesn't recommend eating any mushroom raw, even cultivated button mushrooms.
• Morels love wallpaper paste (cellulose) so check under the display panels that election posters are stuck to.

Molluscs I Have Met

It's been quite wet and autumnal throughout late September and early October, so the mollusc population of the Loire Valley has been out and about. We get some gigantic specimens of slugs and snails here so I've been photographing them as I come across them and will now present them to you. 

The slugs are all from the Forest of Loches, the snail lives with his mates in a woodland clearing on a Buddhist retreat. All of the adults were at least 10 cm long.

Red Slug Arion rufus (Fr. Grande loche).

Confusingly, Red Slugs aren't always red. They can be brown or black. Because I found it in the Forest of Loches I can be reasonably confident that it is A. rufus and not one of the other species that look identical, but it is quite a complicated species complex that includes several species and subspecies, some of which can hybridise. A. rufus is the species that is native to here, but one of the southern species has invaded and is taking its place in some parts of France. They eat decaying matter of all sorts, as well as living plants, fungi and faeces.

Juvenile Red Slug.

Ash-black Slug Limax cinereoniger (Fr. Grande limace).

Ash-black Slugs are one of the keeled slugs (that's the grey line down the middle of the back) and the largest slug in the world. It is native to woodland habitats in northern and central Europe but doesn't occur in the south. It can be black like this one or grey with black stripes. It eats algae and mushrooms, and is seen here enjoying a bracket fungi feast.

Roman Snail Helix pomatia (Fr. Escargot de Bourgogne).

Roman snails are known as Burgundian snails in France (Escargot de Bourgogne), and are the famous edible snail you see on menus. This one perfectly illustrates why one of their nicknames is the gros blanc ('large white'). They aren't all as pale as this, but population at La Gendronnière, where this one was photographed do all seem to be. They are perfectly safe at La Gendronnière, as it is a Buddhist retreat. 

The species is rare and protected in France, and not commercially viable to farm, so the ones you get in French restaurants have been gathered in the wild in Eastern Europe. The reason they are known in France as Burgundian snails is because they are traditionally prepared in the Burgundian style of cuisine, as well as Burgundy being part of their natural distribution area. They never range further than 6 metres from where they were hatched, and are normally found in grassy locations on calcareous soil.

Girolles at the Market

Some of the most sought after mushrooms in French cuisine cannot be cultivated. Ceps (Fr. cèpes, It. porcini), morels, chanterelles and girolles amongst others must be wild harvested. Only licenced foragers are allowed to sell them. Everyone else is only allowed to forage for personal consumption.

Wild girolle mushrooms from the Sologne for sale at Loches market the other day.

 

You can see it's not an especially good year for wild mushrooms this year in the Loire Valley. The quantity and variety in the market is minimal. A small quanity of girolles gathered in the Sologne and that's it. They are retailing for around €30 kilo, which is not out of the ordinary for wild mushrooms. Cultivated button mushrooms retail for about €4 a kilo.

Confusingly, girolles are called chanterelles in English, and chanterelles, which are a different species, are called chanterelles as well. Girolles are Cantharellus cibaria and one of the most truly prized mushrooms in the forest. They don't have gills, but rather 'pleats' or raised veins.

Bouziès Bas

When we were in Cahors we went to the Pech Merle painted caves. On our way there we took a scenic diversion because we were going to be too early for our 11:15 tour. We stopped along the route to take photos, one of which was this. The photo was taken from here.
 

Don't Eat This Mushroom

There are 39 species of toxic mushrooms in France. Not many of them are lethal, but a few of them will leave you with sub-lethal effects that might make you wish you had died. The Brown Rollrim Paxillus involutus (Fr. Paxille enroulé) is one of these. What's scary is that they are abundant in the Loire Valley, in the autumn, under birch trees especially, and the species was not widely acknowledged as toxic until the 1980s, so there are still old field guides knocking about which list it as edible. Indeed, in rural areas of Eastern Europe it is still eaten by some people.

The problem is that it is not strictly toxic, but rather can produce an allergic reaction that only manifests itself some time after ingestion, or suddenly, immediately after ingestion despite having eaten the species without ill effect before, so the association is not always made. It can kill, but mostly leads to kidney damage. It seems that many people can eat them without ill effect once or twice, and the reaction occurs after the third or fourth time they are eaten. An as yet unidentified substance in the mushrooms causes your immune system to attack and destroy red blood cells, causing a lack of oxygen and glucose in the brain, acute renal failure and respiratory failure. It is not necessarily fatal and can be treated if you act quickly enough, but the condition is painful and will require dialysis.

It is a gilled mushroom, but is related to Boletes, which have pores and tubes not gills. I have heard of even experienced mushroom foragers not being careful enough and including Brown Rollrims in their basket of Boletes. 

In France what alerted people to its toxicity was an incident where a group of soldiers on survival training died because they picked and ate mushrooms they had been told by instructors were safe. 

The caps range from about 4 cm to 20 cm in diameter, convex when young but rapidly developing a central 'belly button'. Their principal and most unmistakable feature is a strongly rolled edge on the cap, especially when young. Once old they can develop a wavy edge. The cinnamon coloured cap feels similar to the nubuck or kid leather feel that Boletes have, and it goes slightly slimy or sticky when wet. The gills are decurrent ie they extend down the stem a bit. They are a pale ochre colour and the spores red ochre. They smell faintly pleasantly mushroomy.

They can be confused with certain Milkcaps such as the Ugly Milkcap Lactarius necator, but a quick check to see if they will exude 'milk' when their gills are scraped will sort that out. It could also be mistaken for a Funnel Clitocybe spp, but they have pale gills and spores. Some species of milkcaps and funnels are considered edible, but most are not.

They grow in the forest, along ditches and in lawns. These photos were taken in the front garden of some friends, where they have a colony of hundreds which come up every year.

Although it is a European species it has been accidentally introduced to Australia and other places, probably in the soil attached to imported trees.

A Bill For Haute Couture

The Domaine de Candé, one of my favourite chateaux, has recently acquired some photos and other ephemera connected to Wallis Simpson and Fern Lombard Bedaux. I particularly liked the bill now on display on Fern's desk. It comes from the fashion house Jean Patou, and she was buying dresses, scarves, belts, buckles, bracelets, pyjamas, perfume and suntan oil, for a total of what I think works out at about the equivalent today of €40 000.

Bill for fashion items from Jean Patou to Fern Lombard Bedaux, dated March 1932.

Fern was regularly listed in fashion magazines of the time as one of the most glamorous women in the world. She was the American wife of French businessman Charles Bedaux, living a life of elegance and sophistication at their home near Tours, the Chateau of Candé.

The brand Jean Patou is now owned by LVHM, and effectively defunct. Joy, the perfume Fern was buying, had been released by Jean Patou only a couple of years earlier, and despite the Depression, was marketed as 'the most expensive perfume in the world'. It was a tremendous success right from the start, being a heady blend of rose and jasmine that appealed to many people, and the allure of wearing such an expensive product was apparently irresistible amongst those still wealthy enough to afford it. The perfume was expensive because it was genuinely expensive to make, with a dozen roses and three thousand jasmine flowers needed for each millilitre of perfume.

Fern was also very much a part of the new trend setting sporty type of women, who liked to be tanned and wore the new knitted sportswear for comfort and freedom. Jean Patou had made his name as the designer of fast living French superstar tennis player Suzanne Lenglen's wardrobe, and Fern no doubt appreciated his remarkable ability to combine elegance with comfort. He was the first to create a scented suntanning oil, and this is undoubtedly what the '2 huiles @ 90FF' item is on her invoice.

Chubby Cherubs and Demonic Dogs

The Chateau of Azay le Rideau has some nice 16th century carvings at the ends of the rib vaulting in the kitchens. Because the floor level was raised significantly in the 19th century these cherubs and other creatures are more or less at eye level rather than above head height.

In Clover

 

The public toilets in Azay le Rideau have had a somewhat overdue facelift. Most surprisingly the 'weeds' which have been growing on the roof have been allowed to stay and flourish, and now there is a very nice little pollinator patch full of clover and other wild flowers.

The 2021 Annual Cyclamen Photo

 

This year, once again, the cyclamen photo comes from the lovely Chateau-Hotel de la Tortiniere, at Veigné near Tours. The whole of their woodland is carpeted with pink and white autumn flowering cyclamens. And that's not a bad looking oak tree.

I thought I'd go for something a bit more subtle this year and try to show the extent of the cyclamen carpet. They really are the most obliging and maintenance free plant, flowering from late August to late October.

Fortress Australia may be re-opening

Then again, it may not. It appears that the re-opening of Australia is likely to be messed around by spats between Federal and State governments. However, when it does, we will expect to have visitors bringing many wonderous things. Not purely restricted to lollies, but probably mainly lollies and the occasional jar of vegemite.

It's the foodstuff of childhood we (OK - I) miss most.

Abbaye Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Vézelay

When we were away last month we visited Vézelay. Our main reason for going there was Susan's half memory from a TV documentary of a place that sounded like Vézelay that has a very important late medieval sculpture. Spoiler alert... it's not Vézelay.

The Abbaye Sainte-Marie-Madeleine de Vézelay was originally built between 1120 and 1150. It was sacked by the Hugenots in 1569, and suffered further indignities throughout the 17th and 18th century, and later during the Revolution.

The man who rebuilt Carcassonne, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, supervised a massive restoration undertaken in several stages between 1840 and 1861, during which time a great deal of weathered and vandalized sculpture was replaced. He also built the flying buttresses that support the nave.

Looking at the newly christened "basilica" it's hard to believe that anything of the original remains. It's bloody big, but we found it underwhelming, in the same way that we find La Basilique du Sacré Cœur de Montmartre in Paris underwhelming.

And you have to pay to park.