Taradeau

nearby roundabout

Taradeau is a small village in a wine growing area down in the valley.  Most tourist websites only say how far it is from other towns!  It is in a pretty situation with beautiful plane trees lining the streets.  The fountain and laverie/wash tubs had no water.  

We had a coffee and drove up to the side of a small hill.  We saw soldiers on some sort of exercise, walked to see the view which was quite beautiful, then up a small hill to the 12^th C la Tour Taradel and St Martins church which was locked.  There was a small walled cemetery beside the church.  There had been a mediaeval village nearby.

Then we walked up another the hill to see 2^nd C celtic-ligurian oppidum du fort ruins.  The road [fire trail?] was very wide, steep, rocky and hot.  It then got steeper.  There were recognisable ruins at the top with low stone walls.  We saw no evidence of water in either spot.  The views were stunning.  Coming back down the road we could see that side of the hill was quite dry and the vegetation sparse, but as we rounded the corner to face Taradeau the vegetation was thicker and the trees taller.

 

back in town

Our afternoon check of the diggings overs the road saw fewer people working on the stones and no council workers.  There was a much younger lady manning the digger scaping away a little dirt, dumping rocks on a pile, gently putting a few rocks up on the bank.  We saw a small pool of water and wondered how much would seep through from the spring water which rushed in a drain beneath our feet.