Le Château De Val

This impressive medieval (fifteenth century) construction once dominated a grand valley. Now the valley is a lake formed by a dam on the Dordogne River at a town called Bort-les-Orgues.

The castle and tour boat dock. The marina is out of the photo to the left.

We drove up to the château after a lunch of pizza and wine in Mauriac. Ken, Lewis, and I took Callie on a long walk around a little bay to get a view of the castle without the marina docks in front of it. It was a nice walk -- Callie loved it -- and we were rewarded with a great view.

Another angle. You can see two kids sitting on the rock at the bottom of the photo; they were swimming in the lake.

We didn't go inside nor did we take a boat ride on the lake. There were a few people around, including a busload of folks that boarded one of the tour boats for a cruise. We also spotted a couple of kids jumping off the rocks at the foot of the castle into the lake below. I'll bet that water was cold.

Another view with the lake. I removed the white satellite dish that you can still see in the middle photo.