P-O Life n°29 (11.8MB) - Anglophone-direct.com

separated by a layer of sand. In
winter, water collected in small
artificial lakes would be frozen,
then cut into pieces and carried
in heavy containers on porters’
backs to the wells. Straw was
used for extra insulation and so
thorough was the construction
that the ice could be kept and
used all summer. It was carried,
by night, to the village in
wooden panniers under layers
of straw, leaves or wool. Near the
well is a vestige of an old pottery
kiln where tiles for the chateau
were reputedly fire.
The walk continues along an
ancient irrigation canal. Moorish
engineers constructed the local
network of canals in the 6th to
8th centuries, some of which are
still used for irrigation to this day.
The canal, often dry and covered
in vegetation, ends at the mill
known as the “Moulin d’En
Gateu”. Until the terrible flood
of 1940, kitchen gardens ran its
length and wheat from which
the flour was ground was grown
on all the terraces. The medieval
mill itself is perfectly placed
where the river Crabayrisse runs
between great granite blocks
that form a natural barrage.
The canal supplied water that
collected in two basins before
falling onto the blades of a
vertical water wheel that drove
the grindstones. Then, in 1836,
the town council built a windmill,
to the north of Bélesta, and
the Moulin d’en Gateu slowly
crumbled into the dangerous
ruin we see today.
Returning to the piste and
crossing the Crabayrisse, it is a
brief walk to two of the frontier
stones marking the 1258
border between France and
Aragon, the frontier between
the Occitan Fenouillèdes and
Catalan Roussillon. Simple and
somewhat phallic, they stand,
thrusting out of the encroaching
garrigue as they have done for
the last seven hundred odd
years... Engraved on the southern
side of the nearest is the simple
cross of Aragon.
Returning to the present,
take the Caladroi road for the
view of the Riberach Hotel’s
windows repeating those of
the Chateau Museum above
it, proof that the architect’s art
has stood the test of time and
that we are fortunate indeed
to be able to appreciate the
skills of the men who live
and have lived and worked in
Bélesta for the last 6000 years.
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