Paleolithic Sex Symbols
And their Cribs
Located in a sleepy little Village and nestled in the trees and sat on a sheer cliff face. Is the Ruins of Le Château de Lespugue.
This small town gained notoriety when in the 1920s in one of the caves beneath the town they discovered the Venus de Lespugue. A roughly 15cm long statue of a woman carved in mammoth Ivory 25,000 years ago.
Because of this statue I refuse to pronounce the name of this place correctly. It is Le Spuge.
Seriously worth a look, This girls got it goin on, Tig 'ol bitties and an ass that just wont quit. (Go on, Play Sir Mixalot, you know you want to)
However ooglin this fine ass lady is not the purpose of our trip today.
Upon your arrival, with a handy parking spot outside, You are greeted buy these enormous and impressive 400 year old oak trees. There's very little to suggest this is the right spot aside from the sign on the road.
I'm actually taking that photo on the way into the woods looking back, because I preferred the shot.
Once you walk into the wooded area in the distance you get your first signs that you are in the right place.
Lo and behold intrepid wanderers, that there be a wall! Well what's left of one.
While its a mighty fine wall we were somehow expecting more for our day out. Lets hope this isn't all there is here...
So we continued onwards.
Five minutes along the path you get your first glimpses of an actual building.
This is more like it. Smack dab in front of us after we got through the scrub was this nice tumbledown wall. With remnants of a door and a window, well at least now its a window.
Behind you and further up is...
A very nice rocky path. Leading you further along the cliffs, Seriously the other side of that half assed fence is a 25 meter drop, with only a few trees to slow your plummet into to the great beyond.
While I laugh in the face of danger at this stage I decided the little man had some hand holding to do, as we followed the path up at least.
Once you get to the to top of the path you're greeted by more remnants, and some seriously impressive walls. Not to mention the lads much happier without having a Hand holder.
It apparently cramps his style.
I can only imagine the original height of this bad boy. The walls have definitely eroded away over the years.
Many of the doorways we navigated through are just holes, where the walls have collapsed and left openings. It gives the whole place a maze like feeling.
The trees have gradually taken over up here, growing in, on, and out of the walls. Just about anywhere plants can get a surface they're growing.
As we have recently learned in our adventures there is very little tourism to this area, due to the risks involved and apparently we aren't allowed to go there due to the risk of falling walls.
According to some busybody when I was trying to get some local history...
I really dont know why they worry so much...
Just look the place is solid as a rock. A lick of paint and you could move right in.
The doorways have such a natural shape, and only the occasional falling stone makes you jump.
And just look at the size of the roof windows!
Sure some of the regular windows are a bit narrow, but I'm sure its just part of the whole eco build scene. Small windows let in some natural light and keep the insolation value up.
As I'm sure you may have noticed we love some good ruins in this family. Especially ones off the beaten track where no ones gonna bother you while you have your picnic.
Looks like that walls been undermined a bit tho... Someone should really fill that gap in.
But as tumbledown as most of the place is, It has a unique sense of magic and an air of mystery to it.
The ramshackle remains of the walls cut from the same limestone as the cliffs around it make it feel somehow otherworldly. Almost as if you wait until night time there will be fairy circles and portals to another world through each doorway.
In the few narrow towers that remain, looking straight up offers an amazing view.
And everywhere you look are parts of the same stone walls, Most of their mortar long washed away.
With jagged ends, and strange protrusions, like half finished Lego houses.
To My expert eye here it looks like they built an extension here. I wonder if they needed planning permission?
All in all it was a fantastic explore that everyone enjoyed. The boy made up stories of knights, Aliens, and Cavemen. All living in the castle at the same time.
Bet you didn't know that The knights of the round table had Martians and a Caveman wielding a Light Sabre.
He also continuously tried to climb the walls... thankfully neither he or the ruins suffered any serious damage. A scraped elbow seemed to calm him down a bit.
But I can definitely say while it isn't the most impressive castle ruin we have been to, It has a Feeling of AGE, I have no other way to describe it.
Many of the local Ruins here are 11th century onwards, This area has been inhabited for nearly 300,000 years, continuously. or so the records would suggest.
And this place... Well it was built in the 8th or 9th Century. On top of an older fortified structure. Which had a predecessor in the form of a settlement, so on, and so on...
Like I said before. It feels different, It just feels old.
Like the Castle walls are somehow alive.
As if time stopped here when the last man left and the walls are just waiting for them to come home.
At the end of the castle walls you are greeted by an animal path that I did have a little explore on my own. The other side of those trees without any kind of barrier, is the sheer cliff face.
But once you manage to get to the edge, The view is worth it.
Now Welcome to Rubidos:
FUN Facts and HISTORY!
This Castle sat above the Gorges de la Save is believed to have been built in the 8th or 9th century according to local sources and consists of A large number of ruins. Oddly enough there have been a number of clandestine excavations here without government permission, but very few attempts to actually do serious archaeology.
It is believed that it was taken over as a stronghold by Gaston Fébus the count of Foix, to serve as a communication point between the Castles at Montmaurin and Mondilhan. Neither of which is still standing. Consolidating his power over the area.
So depending on where you get your info, as usual it was built sometime in the past regardless.
As it stands the truth is a mystery, There are a few historical mentions which amount to very little information and a number of local legends. None of which are supported by much other than speculation.
So todays History lesson is sadly a bit bland. No one seems to actually know much and With what I managed to dig up I don't know much more.
Thanks for joining me anyway!
All Photos taken by me on My Chinesium Phone A Xiamoi Mi 11 lite - except the first one I borrowed it from Wikipedia
29 down I'm almost there...Somehow.
I decided I'm going to have a bit of fun on this 30 posts in 30 days. I'm going to do a post 31, and a giveaway on the 31st post, cause some months have 31 days or so I've been told.
In spite of my rough and ready appearance I'm an Antique dealer I know I already said it so many times now ive lost track.
So it'll probably be old shit in your mailbox.
Stay tuned and engage down below . For every post from day 1 if you comment on it you will get one entry and a chance to win.
Then at the end of the 30 posts, on day 31 There will be a random raffle you will get a chance to win....
Really cool old shit.