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Well foolishly the Western Loire Tourist Board have let us back! This time we're looking a little further north to the Maine Region of the Loire Valley and around two of it's tributaries, the Mayenne and Sarthe. Because of it's importance in French history, particularly between the 15th and 18th centuries when the area was the playground of Kings, Princes, Dukes and Nobles, the valley became known as the Vallee des Rois or The Valley of the Kings. The people of the Loire region are famous for their gentle and refined spirit, and the whole area has a much slower pace of life than it's northern Parisian neighbours.
Our journey started at Chateau De Montmiral in the town of Montmiral not too far from Ferte Bernard. This whole area is heavily connected with the Plantagenets. William the Conqueror's Granddaughter Mathilde or Matilda (who by rights should have been crowned Queen of England after the death of her father Henry, but was prevented by Barons who did not want to be ruled by a woman) married Geoffrey Plantagenet of Anjou, one of the four provinces that met at the Loire. There then followed a short period of confusion with Mathilde's husband taking parts of Normandy belonging to the new King Stephen and Mathilde travelling to London to be crowned. However she was so unpopular that she wasn't, the people of London then turning on her and joining Stephen's forces.
The end result was that Stephen agreed that Mathilde's son Henry (II) would become heir to the throne thus starting a long line of Plantagenet Kings of England and France. All of that to tell you that this castle was important to the Plantagenets because of it's strategic position. It was in here that Henry II (Mathilde's son) tried to make friends with Thomas Becket the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had sided with the Church and not brought it under the King's control as he had wished. Later the King would say "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest" and some of his knights thought that he meant it! Whoops.
In Ferte Bernard itself there is a story that lying in the river that flows around many ancient buildings is a hairy monster that likes to eat pretty young virgins. Rather than say the obvious, it would have to be a small monster as the water is only a few inches deep!
The Grottes Prehistorique are or course prehistoric caves and they can be found in a popular little gorge just near the rather lovely little village of Saulges between Le Mans and Laval. Cave paintings on the walls of the caves, and bones of both animals and humans, date the existence of man in the valley to the prehistoric period. The village is worth a visit as well, especially the 7th century church.
Talking of tiny villages, near to Cosse-le-Vivien south of Laval, is the Musee De Robert Tatin. This place is barking mad, a 6th century cottage that the French artist Tatin bought after travelling the world. He then set about turning it's gardens into one huge work of modern art that showed all that he had learnt whilst travelling. It's a concrete construction that is beyond description. Refuge De L'Arche or the Ark Refuge in Gontier is sort of a zoo but not a zoo! It's owner found an injured bird when out with his kids one day, he helped it to recover and set it free. News spread and now he has over 300 rescued animals including 2 tigers, dozens of monkeys, and a few lions.
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