Our last stop today is the impressive Chateau des Cornes d’Urfe ruins which is up a hill on a one lane road, quite impressive. We are surprised that we do not meet any other cars on the way and even more surprised when we get to the parking lot which is quite full, how did the cars get here without following our road? We find a parking spot and then we start on the trail to the castle, wonder how far it is?
It is a very short walk actually, we just round the corner and there it sits, the impressive ruin of the XIIth century castle. It protected the area till the French Revolution when it was dismantled, receiving the current look of ruin.
It is also surprisingly a free of charge tourist attraction, you can enter into the keep for free even though there are volunteers at the entrance selling soft drinks and talking loudly. We then pass near the foundations of a gate tower and then are inside.
And it really is quite a special and scenic inside. The ruins seem like perfectly preserved to impress the most and the evening sun really helps in making them even more special. And then there is one restored tower, it seems you can climb it so why not we think.
The climb is not that bad but the stairwell is relatively narrow so we are happy that there aren’t any other people inside the keep. So we are not in a hurry and arrive up top without being too much out of breath.
The views of the castle and surrounding area from up top are impressive, we really enjoy the views and the fact that we have the tower to ourselves.
That is until we look back towards the entrance and see a large group, minimum 10 people, making a beeline towards the entrance and the tower. So we descend quickly just in time to avoid the first of them arriving at the entrance.
Before leaving we also want to explore the arboretum and there is a small botanical trail leading towards it. It also allows us some different views of the keep from a less popular area.
Here we pass seemingly abandoned farm houses and bunkers while enjoying the greenery all around us and even finding a geocache, cool!
We then return to the car passing another farmhouse and now it is time to drive to Vichy where we will spend two nights, tomorrow we will visit Vichy and even spend half day at the spa.
