The Morvan

Jake walking along boxwood lined hedges on the gorge trail

river through the gorge

Jonah being swallowed by the whale, church in Lorme

Heather and broom on a ledge in the Morvan

On Tuesday we headed east to Corbigny thinking that it had a Tuesday market that might involve cattle and a guidebook-recommended snail selling stall.  Corbigny is a narrow town running along a small river at the edge of the Morvan Natural Area.  The Morvan is a section of granite in the middle of the country famous for timber, mining, and as a hideout for the Resistance.  Some time in the 1970s the government declared it a natural area making tourism a major part of the economy.

We found Cobigny's tourism office in an old abbey.  The abbey had the usual history of buildings we've visited in the area - originally built 13^th c., plague, 100 year war, siege, state seizes church assets, more war, fire, most of abbey rebuilt some time in the late 1800s.  This one seems to have escaped the WWII bombings.  No market day though, market is on Friday.  So we wandered back through town stopping at one of pastry shops so Jake could get a cherry tart, and later at another so I could get an apple tart.  The pastry/chocolatier shops have the most enticing displays in the windows!  We also picked up a small baguette au lardon (bacon) for lunch.  There was a high end kitchen shop in town too with a great window display of wood stoves, appliances, dutch ovens, and other useful things like a champagne saber.

From Corbigny we took a small, winding road into the mountains to the Navrau gorge.  There is a nice, maybe 1 ½ mile hike around the gorge from the parking area.  The trail goes over some cascades, through oak forest on the far side of the gorge, then down into the less steep section at the bottom, across the stream and back up to the parking area. The woods were wet and misty and moss-covered.  Huge boxwoods with hanging curtains of limbs lined some parts of the trail. The ground was covered in ivy, blackberry, and other little plants (including garlic mustard!).  Most of the larger trees looked like beech trees and higher on the hills were gnarled oaks with grass and moth underneath.  One spur trail led to the Grotto of the Fairies and the area really did look like it could be an ancient fairy land.   Morvan is apparently a Celtic word for black rock, giving it a more sinister cast.

After our little hike we continued on to the hill town of Lorme.  At the top of the hill is a church and cemetery (great view for the dead!).  The church had interesting carvings at the top and middle of its pillars depicting scenes from the old and new testaments (see photos).  A cup of expresso at a bar in town and we set off back home.

Since it was cold and rainy most of the day, we decided to have dinner in town at another restaurant recommended by our host, Auberge du Seyr.  Another great choice!  It is a small place, maybe 6 tables.  The interior is very light and simply decorated.  You can choose a la carte or from one of several fixed menus.  We got a half bottle of Burgundy wine and the soup of the day, a pureed vegetable soup served with cream, grated cheese and croutouns.  Then beef burgouneon, in this case thick slices of slow cooked beef covered in a very rich red wine sauce served with some potato, diced turnip and sautéed wild mushrooms.  We also could not resist the display of about 6 different fruit tarts.  Jake had cherry and I had a slice of tarte tartin, both excellent.