Siauve Beach - Val Castle

The car park is situated at La Siauve beach, at the lower end of Route de Canteleu. To get there, turn left onto Rue des Mortiers from Route de Clermont when coming from Bort-les-Orgues, then immediately turn left into Rue de la Plage and, at the next junction, turn right into Rue de la Siauve Basse. As you approach the hamlet of Canteleu, take the hairpin bend and continue down the hill with care (the road is quite narrow).

(S) Leave the car park by taking the path heading north which runs alongside the lake above Siauve Beach.

The path winds along the edge of the woods overlooking the lake. The height of the overlook depends on the water level of this reservoir. The path then passes beneath the Lac de la Siauve campsite and winds round a small valley into which the lake’s water flows. Cross a small wooden bridge.

(1) Pass a path on your right which climbs the slope up to the Veillac plateau and the hamlet of Le Monteil, which overlooks the lake.
Continue straight on along the path at the edge of the woods, which follows the contours of the lake. Further on, the path offers fine views of Val Castle, standing on its peninsula. It takes a sharp bend to the right and follows a small arm of the lake upstream.

(2) Pass a path on your right that leads to the plateau at Le Monteil. Shortly afterwards, the path crosses the bottom of the valley where the inlet ends, via cut tree trunks planted in the ground and a section forming a wooden footbridge.
The path is now steeper and climbs towards a road that ends opposite the Château du Val car park. To reach the château, turn left.

You can continue as far as the castle entrance (which is open to visitors). This point marks the end of this walk (E).

This short route can be done as a round trip: consequently, you could also consider parking at the Château du Val car park (which is much busier).

This walk through the woodland over varied terrain, including sandy areas, requires suitable footwear.

This route, which presents no real difficulties, should be followed by referring to the route description and map, whilst taking in the scenery. This walk is not recommended for very young children due to the fairly steep gradients in places on sandy terrain with large tree roots.

Walk undertaken by the author on 26 August 2016

Val Castle

With your feet in the water

Val Castle is one of the best-preserved and most remarkable historic monuments in Haute-Auvergne. A Limousin outcrop in Auvergne territory, it belongs to the town of Bort, whilst being situated in the Cantal department, in the commune of Lanobre. It enjoys an ideal setting, combining tranquillity with vitality thanks to the reservoir that surrounds it.
Built on a rock over 30 metres high, its surroundings were transformed following the flooding of the valley it overlooked.
Narrowly saved from being submerged, its silhouette is now reflected in the waters of the Bort reservoir, providing it with an exceptional setting. It now stands nestled on a small peninsula on the lakeshore.

History

The fief of Enval, later known as Val, first belonged to the Tinières family, then to Pierre de Pierrefort.
Guillaume IV d’Estaing, born in 1397 to Jean, Lord of Cheylade, and Elise de Pierrefort, was chamberlain to King Charles VII, governor and seneschal of Rouergue, and later bailiff of Nîmes. He purchased Val and had the present castle built. The d’Estaing family owned and lived in the castle until the time of Guillaume V d’Estaing, known as Guillot, Lord of Val, Cheylade and Landorre, born in 1529. A number of families subsequently lived in the castle in turn, until the d’Arcy family took over.

In 1946, the d’Arcy family were expropriated to make way for the flooding of the valley for the Bort-les-Orgues dam. They took the château’s furnishings with them. Ultimately, the planned flood level was revised downwards and the castle was not submerged. However, left unattended, it was ransacked by burglars in 1949, before the Bort-les-Orgues tourist office appointed a caretaker there in 1951. At the insistence of the chairman of the tourist office, Maurice Georges, EDF sold the château in 1953 for a symbolic one franc to the town of Bort-les-Orgues, even though it was situated on the Auvergne side of the lake. The tourist office subsequently took responsibility for the renovation and management of the site. EDF, for its part, agreed to fund the construction of a jetty to allow access to the château at high water. Today, the château is a tourist attraction and is open to visitors.
Every summer, an exhibition of contemporary painting is organised there. It is customary for the artist to sketch the castle grounds. A vast collection has thus been built up (see, for example, the works of Bernard Buffet, Franz Priking, Jean Commère, Eugène Baboulène, Frédéric Menguy and Gabriel Dauchot).

Description

The Château de Val was built in the 14th century and in the early 15th century. The Chapel of Saint-Blaise, the outbuildings and the fountain date from the late 15th century.
The château consists of a tall main building flanked closely by four corner turrets.

Siauve Beach

A developed beach on the shores of the Bort-les-Orgues reservoir. Supervised swimming in summer. Play area, picnic tables.