Mont Gargan

As we come closer to Gargantua's lair the lane becomes yet steeper and narrower, eventually emerging from the wooded slopes to become an earth track. From this lesser hilltop we survey the surrounding landscape over the tops of the trees below us.

From here the Way climbes, wide and serpentine, beneath the shade of an avenue of ancient beech trees. The bedrock beneath our feet shimmers and glistens with crystaline sparkles where the sun breaks through the vast canopy of dark leaves above. The very leaves seem to support the sky itself. Where the rock is covered by the fallen beech mast of countless years the way underfoot is soft and comforting.

Reaching the summit we find that the Way opens onto a wide dome where Gargantua's Dragon coils on the short-cropped lush grass amidst the wonderful purple of wild mountain heather, and the scattered silver birch which bedeck Mont Gargan.

Here stand the ruins of the church of Notre Dame de Bon Secours, the stark walls open to the sky above, left to crumble at the hands of time and weather.

All is calm, giving the pilgrim far reaching views all around.

People come, people go - but the lizards, grasshoppers and birds are constant guardians of this lofty place of primal power.

Here Gargantua is strong - a silent and uplifting presence.