Siauve Beach - Val Castle

The parking area is located at the Siauve beach car park, at the bottom of Route de Canteleu. To get there, turn left onto Rue des Mortiers on Route de Clermont coming from Bort-les-Orgues, then immediately turn left onto Rue de la Plage and, at the next crossroads, turn right onto Rue de la Siauve Basse. As you approach Canteleu, take the hairpin bend and continue downhill with caution (the road is quite narrow).

(S) Leave the car park by taking the path that heads north and runs alongside the lake above Siauve beach.

The path winds along the edge of the woods overlooking the lake. The level of the overhang depends on the water level of this dam lake. The path then passes under the Lac de la Siauve campsite and goes around a small valley where the lake water enters. Cross a small wooden bridge.

(1) Leave a path on your right that climbs the slope to the Veillac plateau and the hamlet of Monteil overlooking the lake.
Continue straight ahead on the path at the edge of the woods that follows the contours of the lake. Further on, the path offers beautiful views of the Château de Val standing on its peninsula. It makes a sharp right turn and goes up a small arm of the lake.

(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 arm of the lake ends, thanks to cut tree trunks planted in the ground and a section in the form of a wooden footbridge.
The path is now steeper and climbs towards a road that leads to the car park opposite the Château du Val. To reach the château, turn left.

You can continue to the entrance of the château (which is open to visitors). This point marks the end of the hike (E).

This short route can be done as a round trip, in which case you can also park at the Château du Val car park (which is much busier).

This hike through the woods on varied terrain, including sandy areas, requires suitable footwear.

This route, which is not particularly difficult, should be followed using the directions in the description and on the map, while taking in the scenery. This hike is not recommended for very young children due to the fairly steep slopes in places on sandy terrain with large tree roots.

Hike completed by the author on 26 August 2016.

Château de Val

Feet in the water

Château de Val is one of the best-preserved and most remarkable historical monuments in Haute-Auvergne. A Limousin outpost in Auvergne, it belongs to the town of Bort, although it is located in Cantal, in the commune of Lanobre. It enjoys an ideal setting, combining tranquillity and dynamism thanks to the reservoir that surrounds it.
Built on a rock over 30 metres high, its environment was altered when the valley below was flooded.
Narrowly saved from being submerged, its silhouette is now reflected in the waters of the Bort dam, giving it an exceptional setting. It is now nestled on a small peninsula on the edge of the lake.

History

The fiefdom of Enval, which became 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, then bailiff of Nîmes. He bought Val and had the current castle built. The d'Estaing family owned and lived in the château until Guillaume V d'Estaing, known as Guillot, Lord of Val, Cheylade and Landorre, born in 1529. A number of families then lived in the château in succession, until the d'Arcy family.

In 1946, the d'Arcy family was expropriated in view of the flooding of the valley for the Bort-les-Orgues dam. They took the castle's furniture with them. In the end, the height of the flood was revised downwards and the castle was not submerged. However, left unattended, it was looted by burglars in 1949, before the Bort-les-Orgues tourist office installed a caretaker in 1951. At the insistence of the tourist office president, Maurice Georges, EDF sold the château in 1953 for a symbolic franc to the town of Bort-les-Orgues, even though it was located on the Auvergne side of the lake. The tourist office was subsequently responsible for renovating and managing the site. EDF agreed to finance the construction of a jetty to provide access to the château at high water levels. Today, the château is a tourist attraction and can be visited.
Every summer, a contemporary art exhibition is held 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 and early 15th centuries. The Saint-Blaise Chapel, the outbuildings and the fountain date from the late 15th century.
The castle takes the form of a tall main building flanked by four corner turrets.

Siauve Beach

Beach on the shores of the Bort-les-Orgues dam lake. Lifeguards on duty in summer. Playground, picnic tables.