Les Mées, Ganagobie and Lurs: The Penitents, the Monks' Mosaic and the Bishops' Walk

Required Activities

• Walk the foot of the Penitents and get close enough to see what they are made of: rounded river pebbles cemented into conglomerate, eroded into the cones that gave the place its name because they look like a line of figures in monks' habits

• On the mosaic floor at Ganagobie, made from only three stones, red sandstone, white marble and black limestone, find the Saint George killing the dragon in the south arm, the bull with a human head, the harpy and the stag in their medallions, and the creature that is half ox and half elephant, then look at where the missing centre used to be

• Walk the Promenade des Eveques up the village hill past all fifteen oratories to the chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Vie at the top, then back down to the clock tower of 1499, which holds the oldest bell in the region, and the ruins of the bishops' palace

• Get the whole story straight before you look: the tale is that Count Raimbaud brought seven Saracen women back from crusade, monks from the Montagne de Lure were made to escort them to the Durance with their hoods pulled down, the devil raised a wind, the hoods blew back and thunder turned the line of monks to stone. The story says one wooden cross round a monk's neck survived and is still up there, so see whether you can find what people point to

• From the edge of the Ganagobie plateau, 350 m above the bed of the Durance, pick out the line of the Roman via Domitia that runs along it, and at dusk back at Les Mees listen for the eagle owls that nest in the conglomerate cliffs