On Ike’s final day in Normandy with Cheryl and Roger he visited Fosse Arthour, on La Sonce River, close to the village of Ger, in the Rouellé woods of the Saint Georges de Rouelley valley, between Manche and Orne.
This area shares legends of King Arthur with the UK, and Ike learned that this was rumoured to be the spot where Arthur and Guinevere spent their last days. You can read more about the story here.
Legend has it that the plunge pool underneath the waterfall is bottomless, and there’s a local story that some farmers threw a silver coin into the plunge pool at nightfall. The following day two bulls emerged from the water to help them work the fields. Geography Cat doesn’t like to pour a waterfall of cold water on this idea, but he says it’s unlikely that any plunge pool is bottomless. Maybe it’s just very deep?!
La Fosse Arthour is formed from armorican sandstone and its presence here is as a result of ancient tectonic activity that up heaved areas of the rock. It is relatively harder and more resistant to erosion than the underlying and surrounding schists. The much flatter and gently rolling landscape of the Normandy and Brittany landscape is often referred to as “bocage” and it is associated with woodlands and pasture.
Continuing through the rocky outcrops Ike then arrived at a viewpoint below a large stone cross which is on the pilgrims’ route from Paris to Mont Saint Michel.
Ike then travelled to another viewpoint at Belvedere de Chaulieu, the highest point in the area, with a viewing platform giving a 360 degree panorama over the surrounding countryside.
Finally Ike went for a short walk from Romagny following another Route Vert where he found the converted railway station of Mortain – Bion:
This is Ike’s last report from his adventure in Normandy and Brittany with Cheryl and Roger. If you missed any of the previous ones you can see them here:
- Needle of Mortain
- Sourdeval & Brouains
- Château de Fougères
- Mont-St-Michel
- Saint Cyr-du-Bailleul et Château de Lassay
- Mortain
Or you can select a site from the map below which covers this whole trip: