A rich heritage
All along its course, the Loire has won over builders. Numerous mansions and châteaux have been built along its banks. But long before the gentle beauty of Anjou or the magnificence of Touraine, the river's first meanders were marked by a defensive heritage.
Let's take the Loire a little further downstream. How beautiful it is in its first category course! It cascades, it swirls, it meanders between the rocks on which a few stunted pines cling! It's young and a little crazy. Its first castles are born. Arlempdes is one of the most imposing. When you arrive at the site, you're irresistibly drawn to these majestic ruins.
A derelict site
I remember it was in the 70s. At the time, I was a supervisor at the Notre Dame de France boarding school in Le Puy-en-Velay, a handful of kilometers away. I had a lot of free time between studies, and when the weather was fine, I took advantage of these long idle moments to lose myself in these ruins. The place was more or less abandoned. All we had to do was go to the little village inn and ask the landlady for the big iron key, and for an afternoon we'd forget we were in the twentieth century. Quite often, when the purpose of my visit was to indulge in a spot of fishing, I'd forget what time it was. I'd stay until evening, dreaming alone in the company of Messire le Chevalier d'Arlempdes near the chapel. Never mind, the fishing was for another time!
Always a good time fishing
Not long ago, I returned to this magical place. It was a little less magical, as I was asked to pay fifteen euros for the right to go through the barrier. So I went back down to the banks of the Loire and fished.
That day, the river gave me a beautiful gift. The sun was fading behind the old keep and I was already getting ready to hit the road again. But a beautiful encounter awaited me in the form of a magnificent 40 cm trout caught on a drowned fly. It seemed to be saying to me: "Have no regrets, even if the days of the knights are over, the river still flows through these gorges".
Since the dawn of time, trout, grayling and all the aquatic fauna have always been here. No matter what the naysayers think, we'll still have a great time here.
