Rocks, ice and buildings.

   One of the fascinations for me in visiting a new region is to see how the different conditions have formed the landscape and even influenced the buildings.The surrounding shape of the lie of the land in the region of Aucun  were created by glaciation and you can see how the eroding power of the huge ice-rivers have scoured out the sides of the valleys, leaving the typical U shape behind. In my picture you can see the road to Vers les Cimes, which runs along the top of a narrow rige, with flat floored valleys on either side. The ridge is about 100 feet above the plain and is made up of sandy soil filled with rounded granite rocks. Occasionally a much bigger rock is stranded on the hillside. We had a visiting expert give a talk and he told us that this ridge was in fact a moraine, a bank of debris left as the glacier retreated at the end of the last ice-age. This was caused by global warming, no doubt due to the dinosaurs and mammoths selfishly driving about in cars and burning fossil fuel to run their central heating. If only they had been able to build windmills all this catastrophic change to their living conditions could have been avoided!

  One effect of all this material lying about is its influence on local buildings. You can see in my Pic a typical local barn or house, with steep-sloped roof of slates and walls built of stones gathered locally. The building-stones are selected rounded granite rocks left by the glaciers. They are not easy to shape, so are left round, which produces a rough appearance, very different from the walls here in Poitou Charentes, where the local limestone can easily be shaped into squares and cubes.On the right is a pic of the interior of the restored barn at the Colonie, showing this effect. No doubt the wall will be pointed soon, which will make it a bit prettier. It`s strange, isn`t it to think that a glacier millions of years ago can influence the style of today`s buildings?

   Bye for now, going to get some breakfast!