Sculptures in the volcanoes

Thierry Courtadon, a sculptor from the town of Volvic, created an installation series in and around his home town, using Volvic lava stone as a medium. Seven works, in seven different towns, make up this permanent land art exhibition entitled "Conjuger la nature" (Unite with Nature). It was a great adventure. Just like geocaching, we had coordinates and we drove around the countryside looking for the sculptures. We found all 7 (not in the correct order) plus a couple of interesting places we would never have known about if we didn't take the challenge. The search took us to small villages, we stumbled upon an old Renaissance ruined castle and the most fascinating find was the memorial at the site of the French Resistance.
7. "Ondoyer" was in the village of Sayat.
2. "Rassembler" in Villiard, we almost missed this one thanks to Navgirl.
5. "Suspendre" at Carbonnieres-les-Varennes.
4. "Compresser" in Pulvieres.
6. "Chuchoter" We walked 10 minutes in the rain in Beauregard to find this one
3. " Ressufgir" Chatel - Guyon in the Thermal Park where we had lunch. (At 3pm of course)
1. "Contempler" Chanat-la-Mouteyre. high on a hill overlooking the region. It was very cold and windy.

Between Pulvieres and Beauregard we passed a sign telling us of a monument to the French Resistance. There we found the site of the the first secret base of the French Resistance of Lespinasse. On March 1, 1944 Nazi soldiers and French gendarmes invaded the forest house and the inhabitants of the village were either killed or arrested and the buildings destroyed. We were amazed that we even found this site. There was even the remains of an underground tunnel.

The other great find of the day was the Château de Tournoël a ruined medieval fortified castle near Riom, which has an unknown history before 1090 when the first documented ownership took place. However it was a possession of King Louis viii in the 1200's. So awesome.

The day was just one huge adventure and we saw so much more of the region than my research would have taken us. We both agree that the highlight of the day was learning about the French Resistance.