Thank you all for your kind comments on yesterday's post of this 13C castle. A number of you asked to see more, so here is another view of the castle courtyard taken from the same place as yesterday's photograph - on top of La Tour Militaire (the Military Tower) which overlooks the drawbridge entry to the castle and provided protection against possible invasion using archers and small cannon.
The tower on the left is La Tour de la Glacière (the Ice House Tower) seen in yesterday's photograph and the one to the right is La Tour Seigneuriale (the Seigneurs' Tower) which housed the Lord's apartments on the second and third floors. You can get some idea of scale from the people standing on a staircase about two-thirds of the way up La Tour de la Glacière.
You can also just see the river in the centre of the image - this and the dug-out moat surround the castle and made it virtually impregnable in the middle ages. It was only ransacked when left empty and abandoned and for most of the 19C it was used as a 'quarry' by local people. The building now belongs to the local authorities who together with help from the Hunaudaye Association maintain and renovate the structure.
@graemestevens ?You preferred it in B&W? Yesterday's shot was also in colour with the same processing as this one! As the French say, "Have you been smoking the carpet again?"
@vignouse No, but i was on a different computer and a darkened room...shoddy hotel lighting. My sincere apologies. Actually, shoddy hotel in general. I still prefer yesterdays regardless of what I may or may not have been smoking.
For some reason I missed yesterdays photo and just now read your narrative for yesterday and today. How fortunate that this much remains and it is being preserved as much as possibly can be accomplished. fav
@francoise I hadn't realised that I was typecasting myself Françoise! You didn't (deliberately perhaps) mention whether you find 'extra-textured stonework' pleasing or displeasing?
