The Whirlpool of the Eye of Sweet Water - A naturist lifestyle/travel feature.
The wild rugged lands of the Languedoc area
of Southern France stretch all the way from the Rhone Valley to the mountain
foothills of the Spanish Pyrenees. Its long
golden coastline is washed constantly by the warm waters of the Mediterranean
sea under an almost perfect sun, but until about 60 years ago this magnificent
landscape was virtually unknown . Over
the passing years the coastal regions have been developed and now boast some of
the most popular naturist sites in the whole of Europe , but as for the rest of
this area apart from not much more than a handful of major cities the remainder
of this vast wilderness remains a place of myth and mystery , much as it has
for thousands of years.
Regular visitors to Cap d’Agde will know
that Agde itself is the second oldest town in the whole of France and was
colonised by the Greeks in the 6th century. A couple of hundred years later the Romans
arrived and made Narbonne the capital of Roman Gaul. The emperor Hadrian took his army complete
with elephants on his march from Moorish Spain right through the Langudoc on
his way to lay siege to Rome and many relics of his historic journey remain en
route.
A bit later on the Cathars , a strange breakaway
religion were driven into the region from other parts of France where they
remained for many years, building the most incredible remote mountain strongholds
before eventually being wiped out by a bunch of equally religious fanatics.
We were fortunate to be able to spend most of our
summers in the early 1990’s in the Aude and were often around when some new
ancient site was discovered, frequently in the process of attaining national
protective status. Not only were these places of prime historic interest, but
because of their isolation made an
almost perfect backdrop for our naturist photography
Until it was developed, principally as a
small holiday resort for the French residents of Narbonne to escape the hot
summer months, St Pierre sur Mer was not much more than a tiny fishing port and
a few odd houses. We found it almost by accident by following a
signpost on the main road to ‘Naturist Beach’ and soon became regular visitors
. On the way home from the beach one day
we saw a new sign directing visitors to a place called le Goffre de la Oeil douce
and decided to take a look. About the
best translation I can make of this is ‘The whirlpool of the eye of sweet water’
– a spectacular geological
curiosity and probably something to do
with the quality of the water.
Just on the outskirts of the Massive de la
Clape, a small mountain range which separates the City of Narbonne from the
coast it is within a spectacular limestone chasm at the very heart of which is
an almost perfectly circular lake. We
arrived at about 3 pm one weekday to find a neat and tidy carpark, open gates and absolutely no one at all
around. The information boards told us
that myths and mystery –and even fear - surround this place , although we found
it gave off a feeling of absolute peace and tranquillity. It’s source is still unknown , it’s pure
clear waters never ever drop or rise and
no one knows how deep it is although it is said that some years ago Jaques Cousteau
took one of his submersibles there but failed to reach the bottom- and none has
tried since. Swimming is not recommended but neither it is banned.
After taking lots of pictures of the impressive
surroundings , as we were alone off came our clothes for a nice long session of naturist photography. It was an incredibly peaceful place with that
wonderful natural aroma of plant life where the fresh air from the sea and
mountain came together
Following the signs we eventually came to
another part of the site, a small farm which was now obviously too small to be profitable
and had now become a part of this
unusual protected site.
A number of pieces of old agricultural
implements stood around the beautifully restored 18th century
farmhouse – but still no sign of any other human life except our own. Wandering around we came upon a well
maintained paddock where a couple of fine looking horses came over to take a
look at us and where we also almost stumbled over a some wild looking black
pigs wandering around like a couple of pet dogs . We had got dressed by now but
as we still appeared to be alone, got
undressed for a few more pictures before leaving.
Over the years we discovered many more of
these interesting historical or geological wonders and recorded our visits for
posterity. There were so many that I
could write a book about them – and maybe one day I will.
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