Ravine of the Arc

Loutre – Londres – Lamalou. You have to say this out loud: Loutre – Londres – Lamalou. It almost sounds like a counting rhyme. But it isn't; it's partly an explanation for the name Londres. No, not the metropolis on the Thames, which is called Londres in French. But the pretty little town of Saint-Martin-de-Londres, located in the Plaine de Londres, which is dominated by the Pic Saint-Loup. Etymology offers two explanations for "Londres." First, Londres derives from the Celtic word Loundra, meaning swamp, marsh, or reedbed. Or second, from Loutre, the French word for otter. Both explanations are understandable, because the Lamalou River meanders through the plain before plunging into a gorge that we intend to visit. The source of this river is hidden a kilometer east of the village of Notre-Dame-de-Londres. It's also a kind of sacred region. And anyone who picks up Émile Bougette's book "Histoire de Saint-Martin-de-Londres" will find out why – it has to do with the Benedictine monastery of St-Guilhem-le-Désert. You can read more about it on Wikipedia, in about 30 languages. Including Italian, where the otter is called Lontra.