Hell-Bourg

Hell-Bourg, one of the “Plus beau village de France”, in fact, the number 1 outside “Metropolitan” France, was established in 1830 and put itself on the map with the discovery of hot springs in the vicinity.  The town was named Hell-Bourg in honour of Governor de Hell, who promoted the hot springs (probably as a reaction to a difficult time at school with a name like Hell).  It is now famous as one of the Unesco classified Creole Villages which have distinctive architecture as illustrated in the photos below.

Apart from the buildings, Hell-Bourg is famous for being inside the cone of a (claimed) extinct volcano.  This has two effects.  Firstly, the road in clings to the side of a steep ridge high above a raging river, and secondly, the sport of choice is either drinking rum (the pressure of living on the edge) or running over mountain tracks.  Just once, somewhere in the world, I would like to labour over a difficult walk for a couple of hours and not have someone jog past me the other way after running all the way to the end and half way back.  It happened not once, but four times on the track to Belourve – a spot somewhere on the ridge above Hel-Bourg with an elevation of  1,507 m towering above the 900m high Hell-Bourg.  It seems that there is a race across the island which lasts 2 days, over the mountain tracks and the half of the population that does not drink rum is currently training for the race.  We heard this from a Swiss man, young and fit who walked the track that took us two hours in around half the time.  He had just finished the walk across Réunion in 10 days. So it must be some kind of a race.

However, it was not all confidence shattering for the intrepid walkers.  A least we did better than this guy.

The view from the walk was pretty impressive, and more so since the weather on the way up was fine and clear. We had the opportunity to look down on Piton d’Anchaing at a mere 1,352 m…..

……… and to be reminded of the only road out of town

and to remember how it looks when you come too near the edge!

We spent the afternoon at the herb garden of in the house of M. Folio and discovered that the camellias in our garden at home have a productive use.  If you rub the flower between your hands for a bit, it turns into a natural soap.  The town and surrounds are full of interesting plant life….

…. and some friendly locals.