14th May Village in the Cliff - Roche St Christophe

Ann and Albert picked us up at the ancient church and we drove to Roche St Christophe, a cliff within which a village was created within 5 ledges. Steps were cut into cliff faces to caves and ledges under overhanging cliffs - people lived in houses and worked businesses in these open faced caves that they walled and worked in, fortified by a draw bridge at the only entrance on the cliff face. We saw blacksmiths' and butcher shops, a chapel and homes. The inhabitants guarded the village from lookouts to the Versere River immedicately below. This is an amazing place where, standing alone, I could imagine the sounds and smells of the people who lived there. A few areas have been recreated as they had been - food shop, smithy, armoury and there were winches and wheels to lift heavy weights from the river and the land below.

From the cliff faces we could see cyclists in yellow lycra riding in groups crossing the old bridge across the Verzere while we talked about the complexity of life within these cliffs; there were windows cut from caves we could not enter and dressed models were placed at work, on watch and even in a small prison cell.