Thursday, October 31, 2013

Gouffre de Padirac

Gouffre de Padirac by rajmarshall
Gouffre de Padirac, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Day 4 was (nominally) a rest day, so we did one of the recommended walks to the Gouffre de Padirac and a trip by boat through the cave - very worthwhile. The gouffre is very busy in high season, in October it was quiet though the cafes afterwards were mostly closed. On the way to the Gouffre you pass this memorial to Helène Bimberzy (Bomberzy?) martyred in 1844 - one wonders as to the circumstances (web searching hasn't, so far, helped - ah it is Bombezy - there's a mention here, but no help as to the background)! After the walk back to Loubressac, I enjoyed walking round the village and watching the sunset over the hiils.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello all.
first, sorry for my poor english langage.
I also asked the question.
I succed to find the answer about Hélèene Bombezy in a list of men sentenced to death.
Helen (22 years old) was a waitress in his father's inn.
October 30, 1844, she was assaulted, raped and killed with a stone on her head by François Clarety, 36, a weaver. He was tried in court at Cahors in 1845, sentenced to death and executed the same year at St Cere.
He told the court that he wanted revenge because she had accused him of swindling at the inn.

Cyrille from Autoire - France

rajm said...

Merci beaucoup pour votre response!

rajm said...

And the contemporary court report is here (page 2) her name is recorded there as Bombésy,

Unknown said...

Wow thanks for the story

Anonymous said...

Un grand merci, j'avais cherché partout sans rien trouver... mais une histoire bien sordide !