“It was no longer a
landscape of distant
horizons merging into a
boundless white sky, but a
patchwork of fields, still
green behind high enclosures.”
Alain-Fournier (1886-1914)
Landscapes and marvellous views give rise to man's erg to settle and construct.
I supposed centuries ago, stone masons with no union backing had no idea where the aristocracy would choose to put a castle, except it would surely an impossible, remote and dangerously steep site.
We were soon lost zigzagging across the rivers and kept seeing the same small beach area, with street signs I could pronounce and now spell.
I was enjoying the journey and Tom was under the impression we were actually getting somewhere; He was wrong, but who was I to ruin his day?
The pages of the map were already looking worn and torn with wear, and it began to dawn on me how much beauty we were missing. As fast as we went, we only seemed to cover a small portion of this wondrous valley.
Château after château built on both sides of the Cher and the Loire rivers winding snake like in the most exquisite locations imaginable. It must have been a building frenzy and each château was more breath taking than the next.
No individual today could lavish so much money on such splendid personal abodes that need a virtual army of poorly paid labours to construct them.
Its no surprise there was a revolution as a couple of hundred years later we still wander around in awe of the magnificence and that’s with our full, fattened and content stomachs.
The string of exquisite Chateaux along the Loire Valley represent a pinnacle, a bubble, a marvel, and I wondered how many people at that time in history knew that was so.
Do we now recognise in our own culture today the pinnacles we have reached today, or are we too busy enjoying them?