The Sarenne Ride

The old parish church of the village of Huez rises from the famous bend in the road n°7. Dedicated to Saint-Ferréol, built on a rocky spur far from the village, it is surrounded by today's communal cemetery.It enjoys a remarkable view of the surrounding countryside and the bell towers of neighboring parishes. A privileged location for these monuments, which also served as a means of communication between villages, with the sound of their bells echoing in the distance. It first appears in an 11th-century text, at the same time as the church of Saint-Pierre de la Garde. It retains its status as a parish church until the end of the 17th century, when it was replaced by the church of Sainte-Anne, built in the heart of the village. Saint-Ferréol's architecture is in the Romanesque style, with a stone spire and bell-towers at each corner, arched openings in the bell-tower and a Lombard frieze. The building contains a small Gothic chapel dedicated to Sainte-Catherine, founded in the 15th century. But the church was too far from the village and not easily accessible in winter. In 1606, a chapel dedicated to Saint Nicolas was built in the heart of the village, which later became the parish church of Sainte-Anne.

Huez is the original village of the Alpe d'Huez ski resort. In the past, villagers used to go up to the plateau to live with their herds in summer. Today, Huez is appreciated for its charm and traditional atmosphere.Take a stroll through the village of Huez and you'll see a number of renovated old mountain farms, as well as the Huez "Château". In the center of the village of Huez, on an eminence, a fortified house still stands today, with a quadrangular main building served on four levels by a spiral staircase in a square turret. This fortified house, also known as the château, is completely absent from the texts. We don't know when it was built, the name of the family who owned it, or what assets and revenues were attached to it. The we do know is that Huez was the seat of an important mistralie (mistral: tax collector in the Middle Ages). The village has preserved its old washhouses: 2 date from 1733 and one from 1806. Built out of necessity, they are above all functional, with very simple architecture. All covered, they were originally built using local materials such as stone and slate. Until the early 20th century, laundry was done twice a year, in May and early autumn: sheets, linen shirts, towels and handkerchiefs, accumulated over six or seven months, were soaped and scrubbed, then placed in a vat and covered with a sheet filled with wood ash. Boiling water is repeatedly poured over the ashes. The next day, the women go to the washhouse with wooden paddles, brushes and soap. They carry special buckets made on site by Elie Arnol. Meeting at the washhouse, if only to fetch water, is a privileged moment of exchange between villagers.