Gorges du Tarn and
the Causses
Millau, the Tarn and the Causses
When looking at the tablecloth-sized map of all the GRs in
France you see at once that some areas, more than others,
are criss-crossed by a complicated tangle of routes. One of
these lies just east of Millau where Les Grands Causses are
intersected by the deep gorges of the Tarn and the Jonte. You
know it has to be good walking country.
Here the GR6, its variantes and some of its offshoots,
co-incide with numerous local trails to provide day after day of
good walking. Either Millau or Florac make a good base.
Alternatively a gîte in one of the smaller towns would be a
good choice - Meyrueis on the Jonte, St Enimie on the Tarn or
Le Rozier at the confluence of the two.
Valley of the Muse
Roquetaillade and the Valley of the Muse
In 1991 we planned a two-week stay in the area and found a gîte in the tiny hamlet of
Roquetaillade, about 25 km from Millau, nestling into the hillside above a little stream
enticingly called the Muse. From here, as well as walking, we could explore a wider area
extending west to Albi with its great cathedral and museums commemorating the lives of
two celebrated local heroes, Toulouse Lautrec and La Perouse, and south to the old
templier town of la Couvertoirade and the cheese caverns of Roquefort.
M. Justin Lafon, the gîte's owner had
been born in the house but now lived
closer to Millau. His father and
grandfather had been born in an
adjacent house. Justin told of a
childhood when this was a lively rural
town with 20 children in the local
school and all the terraced hillsides in
the valley were actively worked. Now
there were no children and the
population had fallen to less than 20.
The external appearance of the village
and its houses was probably little
changed from its mediaeval
beginnings. Stone buildings straddled
the narrow streets with archways set
in the thick walls. Doorways opened
right onto the steep cobbled
roadways which operated more as
extensions to the living area of the
houses.
Church and bridge, Roquetaillade
Our Gîte, Roquetaillade
We would arrive home from some expedition to find the men's gossip
session blocking the street, all seated on chairs enjoying the late
afternoon sunshine. They would move their chairs to let us pass and
then be amused to watch us drive round the corner in less than a
five-point turn.
Many of the houses were empty shells with earth floors and now the
target of renovators who were revitalising and changing forever these
remnants of rural history. Every weekend when these townsfolk
arrived, the cement mixers started whirring, the saws screamed out
and there was the constant sound of hammering. Piles of sand,
stone, timber and slate sat in readiness for the weekend onslaught.
From our terrace we could look up the valley of the Muse to see four
other villages, Marzials, Castlemus, St Beauzely and Castlenau
Pegeyrols. They too were in the midst of furious renovation. A
pathway ran up the valley and we made several delightful excursions
to explore the valley and the other villages. The path ran through
shoulder high yellow broom alongside the ancient terraces. In the
fields we spotted one of the few signs of any current rural activity - an
old shepherd, one of the circle who assembled outside his house in
the afternoons, who each day sat and dreamily tended his flock of
long haired sheep.
Montjaux
Le Pont de Montvert
In the village life continued to fascinate. We were frequently
visited by an old grandmère, the wife of the shepherd, who one
day brought us six beautiful fresh brown eggs and on another day,
some radishes. She would then announce "j'ai soif" and was only
too happy to sit and drink a glass or two of wine with us, not that
the conversations produced much understanding as she spoke in
a heavy dialect. Our host called her la patronne des poules and
we got the impression that this was rather uncomplimentary. For
villagers like her, life in the valley of the Muse had changed very
little.
Some local history
The public library in Millau was a fruitful source of information
about the history of the area. We found that, in 1238 the villages
of Castlenau, St Beauzely, Castlemus, Roquetaillade, Marzials
and Comprénac had been in the control of a person with the
grand title of, Seigneur de Castlenau. In 1270 his son and heir
sold all the villages to his brother-in-law on a buy back
arrangement to raise money to go to the Crusades. This must
have been a successful venture as on his return he was able to
buy back all but Castlenau which remained in the brother-in-law's
family until the 18th century. It was clearly an uneasy business
relationship between the two as it is reported that, in 1289 they
fought a duel.
Castlenau itself was sold in the 18th century but the new owner
was said not to have got on with the villagers - a bad mistake as
he was subsequently decapitated (presumably guillotined) in Paris
in 1794. Castlenau has three churches built in the 11th, 12th and
15th centuries and the houses in the village date from the 14th,
15th and 16th century.
Roquetaillade's church has a plaque dated 1463, or perhaps 1464,
and the little stone bridge across the Muse was built in the 14th
century. There is a chateau with a solid square tower remaining as
the only relic of its original structure; the rest was destroyed during
the Wars of Religion at the end of the 16th century. It was
reconstructed and until recently was owned by a family bearing the
name of the village.
The Roquetaillade family finally sold this last remaining vestige of
the family's heritage to "a businessman in Marseilles" - the
ultimate indignity in historical succession. We were not able to
discover much information about the Roquetaillade family but
noted that the World War I memorial in Montjaux carried the
names of several family members who had fallen in the bloody
battlefields along with many members of a local regiment they led.
The Causses
The road into Millau ran alongside fields full of red poppies, coquelicots,
and clusters of purple flowers and more yellow broom. It was a narrow,
busy road, frequently blocked by farm carts which trundled along with
loads of newly cut hay. But it was to the other side of Millau that we
were drawn nearly every day to the causses and the fabulous gorges.
Les Grands Causses are so called to distinguish them from those of
Quercy. The higher altitude here has contributed to a vastly different
landscape. While still of a limestone base, there are residues of harder
rock on the Grands Causses that have been shaped into weird and
fascinating sculptural forms. The dry plateau areas are similar but here
the deep gorges of the Tarn and the Jonte have carved their way down to
separate the causses. So we have the Causse de Sauveterre, the
Causse Méjean and the Causse Noir intersected by the Tarn and the
Jonte to form three quite separate expanses of rocky terrain. In the
gorges, pillars of rocks cascade down precipitous cliffs to the rivers
which, in some places are 400 m below.
Walks can be tailored to any length. We started out on the Causse Noir
with a short walk, descending down metal ladders to reach a ruined
chapel called the Ermitage St-Michael, now almost lost amongst
invading vegetation. Stupendous views down to the Jonte help understand
how the geology works. On other days we drove out along the terrifying
road that hugs the cliffs above the Gorges du Tarn and did walks from Le
Rozier on the Causse Méjean and St Enimie on the Causse de
Sauveterre.
Ermitage St-Michael
Vase de Sevres
The Le Rozier walk had a variety of
scenery varying from the dry, shadeless
causse environment of the plateau to
exhilarating peeps down to the valleys
below through strange shaped rocky
formations with names like Vase de
Sèvres and Vase de Chine. These did in
fact look like vases that some giants from
prehistory might have used. The cliffs are
very popular with rock climbers and
abseilers and there would nearly always
be helmeted people dangling in space or
playing around with ropes in preparation
for their adventures in space. Vultures
have been reintroduced to the area and
they, too, love these rocky spaces with
updrafts of wind to help their flight.
Up on the Causse de Sauveterre from St
Enimie it was wild desolate country
where stony pathways traversed pine
forests, passed through abandoned
villages, and followed along a well used
draille where we encountered a large
flock of sheep with bells around their
necks. Occasionally the dryness was
interrupted by luscious green sinkholes,
locally known as sotches, the rare
patches of moisture being used to
cultivate crops.
Roquefort and cheese
A visit to Roquefort was an easy day trip. They say that this small town, located a little south
of Millau, was famous for its cheese in Roman times and that it even graced the table of
Charlemagne. Its status today is secure thanks to modern appellation rights, first granted in
1919.
There are twelve or so establishments in the village producing the celebrated cheese which is
made exclusively from the milk of ewes. The milk comes from a region which extends north
to the Lot, to the west as far as la Montagne Noire and in the south and south-east towards
the Grands Causses and the Cevennes. Probably without realising it you have been coming
under the influence of Roquefort long before you reach the village. On the roads throughout
the production region the trucks carrying the precious milk are going about their business,
none more so than those bearing the proud insignia of Société, one of the biggest
manufacturers, whose trucks seem to bear down upon you on even the tiniest roads.
The village is dominated by a high limestone plateau and deep underground is the network
of limestone caves where they store the celebrated blue cheese. The temperature and
humidity of the caves are apparently the secret to the unique properties of the cheese.
You can take a tour through the caves and see thousands of smelly cheeses sitting on
rack after rack slowly maturing until they are sold to the connoisseurs of the world. You will
probably buy a cheese too and spend many happy hours enjoying it, at first treasuring every
taste but eventually devising more and more mundane ways to use it up.
Gorge de la Jonte
Return to Rocquetaillade
In 2010, when staying in the Aveyron area,
we made a return visit to the valley of the
Muse. Approaching from the North we
arrived at Montjaux from where there was
a splendid view back up the valley, across
to Rocquetaillade and down to the Tarn
valley where the wonderful new Viaduc de
Millau dominates the landscape.
Opened in 2004, the cable-stayed bridge
spans the valley of the Tarn and is one of
the highest and tallest bridges in the world.
It is breathtaking. It overcomes the holiday
traffic jams that strangled the town of
Millau and has become a tourist
destination in its own right.
After enjoying le menu de jour in a local
hotel/restaurant, we took a winding road
down to Rocquetaillade where time had
stood still or perhaps gone backwards.
There was absolutely no sign of life. The old
timers who sat around their communal
doorways had long ago passed on, the
renovations seemed to have progressed
very little and our lovely gîte was shuttered
up and derelict with its garden overgrown.
Well, it was a wet Monday in May and,
while the mediaeval village had retained its
charm, it was eerie and rather sad.
Viaduc de Millau 1
Viaduc de Millau 2
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