A Great Place for Boys - Pont d'Issensac

Summer is well and truly here. The temperature during the day hits 35°C and we're keeping the shutters 'entre ouverte' which describes how they are almost shut but not quite so letting in some all-important light - enough not to have to turn the lights on which would just add to the heat and be extremely depressing!

I went and sweated several litres at zumba on Saturday morning; it is really unpleasant exercising in such heat. In fact, I swear I'm less fit in the summer than at other times of the year because it's just too hot to move.

Of course, if I took advantage of swimming in the river when I take my youngest and his friends there, it might help... We went twice this weekend to the Pont St Etienne d'Issensac. The boys love this spot and they are not alone.

Pont St Etienne d'Issensac

None of the lads who were jumping off the river bank cliffs or indeed the bridge itself were much concerned by its fourteenth century history or by the fact that it enabled a link between the Cevennes at St-André-de-Buèges and the low country at Valflaunès. Nor that it has been much restored so there is little of the original medieval stone left, but it was always sympathetically done, to the point that it was declared a historic monument in 1948.

No, what interests them is the fact that they can jump into the water from cliffs of varying heights and be sure that the river Hérault is deep enough to break their fall rather than their neck.

On Saturday I took four boys aged 14/15. We arrived around 4pm, and found a shady spot for the car nearby. I had to cross the very narrow bridge (2m wide) in order to do this as there was no space on the Montpellier side, and saw signs to an 'obligatory' car park on the other side although I didn't park there in the end, but on a side road.

The boys went off to do their thing while I sat down to read my Kindle, dabble my feet in the cool river, and watch the entertainment. A 'mindful appreciation' of my surroundings had me listening to the buzz of happy conversation, the splashes from bodies landing in the river from the banks and the bridge (which is forbidden), and the realisation that young men made up 80% of the people there - students mostly. They were accompanied by a few lovely lasses in teeny bikinis and well-advanced tans who were there to cheer on their hero(s) and look suitably impressed. None of them were jumping into the river, maybe so as not to mess up their hair... There was a really good atmosphere too - what the French call 'bon enfant' or everyone having a nice time without being a nuisance.

Jumping off the bridge

On Sunday, I took my youngest back with two friends, and found that the demographic of the merrymakers was completely different. We arrived at roughly the same time, parked in the official car park which in is a huge, shady space on the river bank, and made our way back to the bridge. I found a space to sit near where I'd been the previous day with a good view of the goings-on. The students were absent, replaced by families, gypsies and young maghrebin men. They were all having a good time too, but someone had brought a ghetto-blaster which pumped out Arabic music, over which the lads had to yell to make themselves heard on the other side of the river and by their mates on the bridge... There was a much higher nuisance factor that day.

Lads on the highest point of the cliff

There were girls jumping in the river on Sunday too, including one with long hair that she swept from side to side as she tried to pluck up courage to jump from the highest cliff. She monopolised that spot for about twenty minutes as a crowd of lads built up behind her. My three ended up by jumping half a metre or so away from her and then from another spot until she finally made it in. I gave her a round of applause and noticed that she didn't try it again... to the relief of everyone else no doubt.

They're queuing up to jump

If you want to go there, I recommend going on a Saturday... park in the official car park (unless you have a camper van or caravan - there is a very tight u-bend) and take everything you need - there are no snack vans, toilets or other facilities.

Fair Bridges

Ten euros doesn't go very far at the fair today. Two rides, that's all it'll give you. I'm pretty shocked by that, but this is probably because I'm an old stick-in-the-mud bat who can remember when rides cost ten francs. Not just in my lifetime but in my lifetime in France, which is less.

Pont d'Issensac, nr Brissac, Hérault

My youngest nagged me into going to the fair at the village next door, after a day spent at the Pont d'Issensac, a place he'd been constantly telling me he wanted to go for a week. He'd been taken there the previous weekend by his friend's mum and had such a fantastic time he wanted to go again.

It's an impressive 12th century bridge, but it's not the history that so enthralled my youngest. Can you see the rock face on the other side? It's a favourite place for jumping into the river, and that was what my youngest wanted to do again. We had a picnic further down, where the river is shallower and there is a little barrage which concentrates the flow of the river into a narrow passage and some exciting current.

We then walked to the bridge and the rocks where a number of ado boys and younger boys were egging each other on to jump. They were showing a fine display of male courage and competition. My youngest was highly pleased with himself. My eldest had a great time too jumping off the highest bit of the rocks (about 5m). No one jumped off the bridge (which is forbidden) until a group of maghrebin lads appeared who immediately started doing just that. Luckily they did not add to the tally of 4 deaths and 6 serious injuries since 2004.

Back home, I agreed to take my youngest and his little friend to the fair. My eldest was going to meet up with his buddies but he needed money so I made him stay for supper and drive in with us so I could get some cash (hehe). I let them have ten euros each and realised pretty quickly that it would not last long!

Never mind, I insisted we walk up and down to see all the stands and rides before making a choice or they would have spent their money within five minutes. In the end they chose the trampoline with harness, and a shooting stand with crossbows (!).

What surprised me most was that despite living in that village for five years, I saw no one I knew. I used to recognise and talk to loads at the fair, but last night, I saw one person and he came from where I live now. It just shows how the village has grown in the last five years since I moved. New houses have sprung up on several estates, bringing in lots of new families whose kiddies were having fun at the fair last night.

Despite only having ten euros each, the boys were keen to stay and mooch about. We didn't see any of the bull runs, but the bull runners were very much in evidence in their team groups at the extended bar roistering, drinking, and looking modestly satisfied in their bull kit. They were probably partially deaf too, or going that way what with music blaring and people shouting to make themselves heard.

We left my eldest to come home with his friends, and headed off into the calm, my youngest delighted at his perfect day of sport, displays of courage, fun, and skill. And he even came home with a pistol after hitting all his targets.