Tour du Pays de Saint Félicien - Stage 1 : Col du Marchand - Corsas

1 step

1. Bozas

   Flora

   • Hard
   • 3j
   • 51,5km
   • +1727m

3 points of interest

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  The Afars

  The Afars (kind of goblin) are shady, countryside characters. They live together as a family in natural hollows such as la grotte de la chèvre at la Roche Berne in Vaudevant. How do we recognize them ? The Afars are men and women smaller than humans, rather more the size of a child. They have pointed ears and their one eye in the middle of the forehead makes them look similar to a cyclops ! Most of the time they are without clothes but occasionally may wear leaves as covering. However, you will never see them during the day as they are nocturnal creatures. As soon as it’s dark, they come out to go scrumping. They pilfer vegetables in gardens along with linen and other objects. They milk the farmers’ cows to feed their children. On odd occasions one or two might get caught due to clumsiness caused by stolen boots and clogs much too big for them. They speak the Occitan dialect so convincingly that they never stay captured for very long as their captors always finish by feeling sorry for them and letting them go free ! Information source : Revue Lo Grinhon N°6 - 1990.

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  Small patrimony

  The cross of Montplot

  Joannès Dufaud (parlarem en Vivarés edition 2004) describes it as a mountain of timber and wood stumps or quite simply a mountain where trees are logged and cut into ¾-metre lengths as in a wood yard. We can in fact observe here, that the way of working hasn’t changed much over the years. Information source : Ardèche Sports Nature.

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  Small patrimony

  The terraces

  In this area "Chalets" is the word used to describe terraces on slopes making them useable for various cultures. Most of the terraces were built in XVlllth and XlXth centuries. At that time, the population, 90% of which were farmers, was on an increase. Always looking for land to cultivate, quite simply to survive, the latter were forced to use the steep slopes. Vine growing was also on an increase during that same period and necessitated arable land. Building terraces was the answer; increasing surfaces for growing and at the same time making the slopes easier to use, enabling water retention and controlling it, keeping the soil from erosion and restoring the heat absorbed by the rock-stone during the day. Little by little the use of these "chalets" was abandoned due to various plant diseases at the end of the XlXth century, particularly Mildew and Phylloxera that destroyed whole vineyards and crippled farming. However, rural depopulation, the number of lives lost during the first World War and the mechanization of farming down in the lower plains were the main reasons for terraces being abandoned. As you stroll along you will discover a landscape shaped by these « farmer builders”. Here, amongst this stone architecture, traces are particularly visible, making it easy to imagine the magnitude of the task.

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