Cascade de la Lance

The intensive grazing by flocks erodes the ground, removing plant cover and in addition to excessive deforestation for construction purposes, the ground is left bare and vulnerable to the torrential rain which falls in the valley.In 1787, half of all the cultivated land was swept away. The swollen Verdon and Lance swept away their dykes to the point where the outskirts of the town were exposed to flooding from the Lance whenever it was even slightly swollen.There was only one solution: reforestation which the state successfully undertook at the end of the 19th century.

At the end of the 19th century, forestry policy was beginning to bear fruit: the district of Colmars was able to supply this hydraulic sawmill. It was bought in 1920 by La Compagnie d'Exploitation des Bois de la Haute Vallée du Verdon, directed by two men from Nice, Lempereur and Carré. From 1922, the business went into decline “Active resources have been absorbed by passive ones”; Carré pulled out of the company. Lempereur maintained hope, but five years, bankruptcy occurred and the sawmill was abandoned.

Covered with lichen, the Annot sandstone boulders have quite large grains; their rounded shape tells a story, that of a journey within a glacier 10000 years ago, from the mountain far upstream, which ended with the slow process of erosion by the waters of the mountain stream.Bare and with sharp edges, there are blocks of limestone that the freezing weather, increasing the size of the cracks, separated from the nearby cliff.

When it falls, the water goes deep below the smooth surface of the plunge pool. At the bottom, the river bed takes the impact of the falling water’s constant force. A kind of giant cauldron is created, with is base becoming smoother and smoother, deeper and deeper with the water swirling around more and more. It is where the huge boulders carried along by the mountain stream fall, and their abrasive qualities also play a role before they continue towards the mouth of the river.

Like a mouse-bird when, grey and black, it scampers along the oozing rock, clinging on with its long claws. Like a butterfly bird when it unfolds its carmine red wings which are speckled with white. This inhabitant of Europe and Asia’s large rockfaces stays close to its nest, although winter pushes it to seek refuge in the bell towers of the valley. How delightful it is to watch it going back and forth, genuine “flashes of fire which shine out in the greyness of the abyss”.