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Tuesday 19 March 2024

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Lac des Gours

The calm of millennia-old dams

The Lac des Gours

The underground adventure often heralds new wonders.

The journey of discovery continues on foot, when the Lac des Gours appears before us. Calcite deposits rise from the riverbed. Those natural platforms are called "Gours" (Dam), and they appear in succession until a sort of peaceful pond is reached.

And yet, they were formidable obstacles to the expeditions carried out by Édouard-Alfred Martel almost 130 years ago. They forced him to carry his heavy boat to get across them and continue his way on water.

WATER AT 12°C ALL YEAR ROUND

“ Marvellous areas that can only be lived in by fairies. ”
Édouard-Alfred Martel, discoverer of the Gouffre de Padirac