LE ROC DU BOUGRE

Description

Natural Historical Cultural

At Miraval-Cabardès, it’s like being at the bottom of an eye, the eye of a cyclone, perhaps? It’s enough for the sea wind to blow and whistle against the steep walls of the Orbiel for you to feel as if you’re there. Then the surrounding countryside seems wilder… But it’s also the eye of the Cyclops, the guardian. To do this, you have to climb the Roc du Bougre to ‘look down into the valley’, as the castle’s men-at-arms no doubt did, so that their lord, the troubadour Raimon de Miraval, could enjoy the peace of his hideaway and write down the torments of his loves. What remains of this little artist lord is a section of wall, a few poems and a small secret village. The hamlets of Campmas and Lacoste face each other, each overlooking the upper Orbiel valley and its winding river.