Le Sentier des Ocres
It was like being on another planet that Le Sentier des Ocres in southern France. I highly recommend the visit.
(Yes, I'm finally starting to gather/post alllll the photos taken while in my France journey opportunity. And what an opportunity it was!)
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Here's how their web site defines this environment:
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This stunning landscape is born of natural erosion by wind and rain but it was exacerbated by the intervention of the man who has dug deep tunnels to extract the ocher. The ocher deposits are rare in France: they are in the Cher, but also in the Gard in the Yonne and especially in the Vaucluse where industrial logging continues.
In the Vaucluse, the deposit exposed between the massif of the Luberon and the Vaucluse plateau north of the town of Apt. It is particularly remarkable for its scope and the variety of colors. Outcrops are most remarkable in Roussillon in the south but also Rustrel in Colorado and Gargas. It was in 1780 that the coloring power of ocher is found in the town of Roussillon by Jean Etienne Astier. He became the first manufacturer of ocher five years later by finding a treatment to extract the pigment from the sand.
With the arrival of the railway trade from tan develops towards the world. The production rose to 20,000 tons in 1890, factories careers appear everywhere. The production will amount to 36,000 ocher tons in 1914 to reach 49,000 tons in 1929. With the advent of artificial colors on the market? Ocher collapsed and fell to 2000 tonnes in 1980. Today, there is only one factory still in operation, it removes the tan to deposit Gargas.
Ochre creates renewed interest thanks to its qualities:
- The colors are bright and shimmering.
- The colors are very resistant to UV.
- Ochre is easy to use.
The areas of use are varied:
- The ochres are used primarily in masonry.
- 80% of production for colorants for coatings and facade paints.
- 9% are for coloring in the mass of concrete, slabs, ...
- 8% color packaging rubber, textiles, ...
Trés bon oui? Oui.