24th July to 31st July 2024, Ceyrat hosted 30 visitors from Great Waltham.
On 24th July, 30 excited local residents set off by coach for our Twinned town of Ceyrat, France, to spend a week staying with French families and enjoying organised outings.
On our first day, members braved a walk up into the surrounding volcanoes along an ancient geological fault, La Faille de Limagne, where we enjoyed the views over Ceyrat and Clermont. This was followed by a refreshing visit to newly opened local brewery, “Iska,” where we learned about the brewing process and sampled the beer. In the evening, we were welcomed to Ceyrat by the mayor, Anne-Marie Picard. A photo made it into the local La Montagne newspaper the next day.
One of our most popular visits was to La Forge de Luguet where skilled blacksmith, Emmanuel, explained all about his forge and gave us a demonstration of the art of forging. Using a furnace heated to 1,000 deg C, he made two huge iron nails in front of our eyes. After that we had a cooler, refreshing stroll to La Cascade, a wonderful waterfall in the mountains.
Perhaps the most typically French visit was to a tiny mountain village to a Fete du Pain (bread festival), where the main attraction was freshly made bread from ovens in the woods. There was also a French bric-a-brac sale and a folklorique troupe of dancers.
Whilst up in the mountains, we visited the abbey of Megemont, built of volcanic rock from 1199, closed during the French Revolution, but bought by locals and restored from 1992. Inside, the choir, “Archipel,” treated us to a concert of popular music.
On our last day we visited 12th century “Dauphin” (dolphin) castle at Pontgibaud, still a family home. And we saw the adjacent silver/lead mine museum and heard all about the mining and processing of the metals.
On our final evening, we had a grand farewell meal and dancing to a local band. We thanked Ceyrat Twinning for their warm welcome and presented them with a hamper of local produce and crafts of all sorts made by our members. We set off back home at the crack of a golden dawn the next day. A memorable and enjoyable visit.
Here is a selection of photos from the visit - but see more on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/1578755705757949