Civaux

I realised this morning that I had not yet left the house since we arrived back from the Italy trip last Saturday. I hadn't even been out on the daily dog walk but simply stayed at home each day, coughing and aching. It was not helping my mood at all and so I asked my DH if we might "do something today".

He came up with a suggestion of going to Civaux and found a nice little Boucle (circular walk) of a supposed 6.5 kilometres - just enough to get me mobile again without overtaxing my struggling lungs.

Terrific. I have long wanted to visit Civaux.

The walk turned out to be almost exactly 8 kilometres by the time that we had set off in the wrong direction (ambiguous signposting) and returned and then chose to explore the village and the Plan d'Eau instead of going directly back to the car.

I was delighted to find that our route took us straight past the Merovingian  necropolis, though we couldn't go in because of Nell. I did take time to marvel at and photograph) the astounding wall that encloses the burial space. I had known that the site was both interesting and old but I had no idea just how old or interesting it really is. The Necropolis is though to date back to 507 AD and includes more 1,500 burials (not all of the burials are ancient, which surprised me). The sarcophagi have a... something, an aura? about them. They radiate a sense of age and of mystery. Quite uncanny. But that wall? How like the stone slabs of Caithness, in some ways, but on a massive and solid scale. To think that they still stand after 1,500 years... So impressive. They must have been reset at some point? If not... WOW

I wish to return, without the dog and with the camera and lots of time in hand. The stone markings are very faint now but I should like time to examine them.

The church in the centre of town dates back to the 5th century. I almost cannot get my head around that!

There is a nuclear power facility in Civaux and it is obvious that it has brought with it a degree of affluence: Civaux sports a swimming pool complex, 10 pin bowling and ... Planete Crocodile! There is also the most beautiful Plan d'Eau area, quite the best kept that I have seen to date.

What Civaux does lack is a Motorhome Aire, though it does have a Municipal Campsite (with some odd constraints - it isn't possible to book in at a weekend!)

It has long been my plan to go to Civaux in our van for a few nights and to chuck a few bowls, have a good swim, photograph the Necropolis and the crocodiles, other fauna and flora. I think we shall pass on the power station tour though.

I was musing about how clever it is to site the tropical house by the power stations and that it must make use of the cooling water used there. This turns out to be the case (we looked it up) and I imagine this same is true of what must be quite a comfortably warm aqua centre.

Today's extra is a section of the Necropolis wall

I will do some more Italian trip backblipping soon, now that I am feeling a little perkier. 

https://travelguide.michelin.com/europe/france/poitou-charentes/vienne/civaux/civaux-merovingian-necropolis

https://www.tourisme-vienne.com/en/activite/715/planete-crocodiles

https://www.vert-marine.info/abyssea/