 |
|
|
UER Store
|
|
order your copy of Access All Areas today!
|
|
|
|
Activity
|
|
648 online
Server Time:
2024-05-13 17:44:45
|
|
|
 silver halide
 
Gender: Male
 |  | Viticalcite Factory, France
< on 9/7/2009 1:52 AM >
|  | | | I had forgotten about these pictures for a long time, and I just came across them again. Forgive the poor quality of most of them - I had just got my camera at this time.
In May of '08, I visited France for the second time. Previously, I had been there staying with a very straight-laced family, and wasn't able to get out on my own much. This time, however, I was there with my mom as a university graduation present. My mom is a good traveling companion, which for me means leaving me on my own most of the time.
On this occasion, though, we were driving together through the Black Mountains in a car we'd borrowed from our friends. I have to say, French mountain roads often seem incredibly dangerous to a Canadian used to our broad roads and sturdy guard-rails. But I digress.
After wending our way through the mountain for some time, trending downwards, we came across this decrepit old factory, and I just had to stop (even though we were already pushing it time-wise if we wanted to get lunch at a restaurant before they closed for the afternoon). Apparently, they made Cammazite, Cupricalcite, Nuagite, and Viticalcite, although I haven't the foggiest idea what any of these things might be.
Parking in a small lot on the right of the photo, I began poking around while my mom waited in the car and quickly found my way in to the area behind the building.
Here there was a lot of some kind of white dust (in fact, this stuff was everywhere - I can only hope it wasn't too toxic). The verdigris had crept right up to the edge of the site, but for the time being hadn't started growing on the main structure.
A tantalizing view of the interior through a strange little brick porthole.
A large silo and scaffold stood behind the main building, absolutely decrepit. The roof had collapsed around it.
Facing back from the silo towards the main building, we can see an elevator that I hadn't noticed when I walked under it.
A large shed stood at the far end of the main structure, in which someone was keeping a large supply of empty orange crates. They're not in the picture, though, and I'm kicking myself for not grabbing a shot of them. It was a little strange to see one or two hundred new orange crates in this dusty old place.
An industrial thing-a-ma-jig. You can see the drive chain in the middle, it was connected to a belt wheel.
This is the floor to the left of that machine.
The way up. You can just see a belt disappearing into the second floor room up above, presumably containing the main motive engine for the place. Unfortunately, the floor had collapsed, as you can see in a later pic.
Another view of the ladder and the machinery next to it.
Completely failed to capture the magic of the light here. Sigh. Take my word for it, the sun streaming across the verdant field and forest was stunning - all the more so when seen from dark and dusty second floor of the Viticalcite factory.
You can clearly see the belt into the machine room here, as well as that drum thing from before, and the remnants of a wooden hopper of some sort. Also, you can see the ruined floor into the machine room on the left. If I had been in here with someone else (and in Canada, where I have health insurance) I would have taken a stab at it, but as it was, I judged it unwise.
Some more views of the second floor. You can see the big, rough-hewn wooden beams that made up most of the skeleton of the structure in the second one.
I had worked my way around in a U, and this last bit is the part that was closest in the first photo. There was something very tranquil in the light streaming in, the cracked plaster, the delicacy of the steel roof supports. And in one corner:
A classic old French truck, looks like a Citroen to me, but I could be wrong. The hood ornament is gone.
With that, I left the site through an easier way I had found (that required no fence hopping), and went on to a delicious lunch.
So, there you are! A hidden gem in the Black Mountains. Access was facile, but finding this place would be nearly impossible. I regret to say that as we were driving more or less at random, I only have a vague idea where this is.
I'll be putting up a few more things from this trip, but this was the brass ring. I'd say I only saw about 2/3rds of the place - there is still the machine room, the third floor, and the silo to explore. I would love to see any other pics of this place, if any one has any - especially the bits I didn't get to see on my whirlwind tour!
Also, if there are any bilingual French folk on here, it would be cool to know what Viticalcite is...
|
|
G.U.
  
Location: Sudbury/Meaford, ON Canada QC
Gender: Male
Get your F****** towel ready.
| | Re: Viticalcite Factory, France
<Reply # 1 on 9/14/2009 3:12 AM >
| | | | Great pics m8 really like the old truck, never seen one of those.
~"Why did the geologist take his girlfriend to the quarry? She wanted to get a little boulder, and He wanted to get his rocks off."~ ~When your hands are tied, Kick...Ass ~ My Flickr! |
|
kosmonaut
Location: Norway
Gender: Male
| |  | Re: Viticalcite Factory, France
<Reply # 2 on 9/15/2009 5:20 PM >
| | | | Great pics. The truck is a Citroen 2cv by the way.
|
|
TurboZutek
   
King Dick
Location: Scotland
Gender: Male
Giant octo-penised rapephant
| |  | | Re: Viticalcite Factory, France
<Reply # 3 on 9/15/2009 5:31 PM >
| | | | The full name for the van is the Citroen Camionette, which was based on the 2CV. It was the first van ever to just take a regular passenger car front end and whack it onto a box for the back, which you will see pretty much every major car manufacturer copy right up-to today!
Here's one with Ferrari engine and running gear: http://xo.typepad....troen-2cv-van.html
Chris...
We all had ostriches. My dad had an ostrich farm! I remember one day someone came in and said the high altitude bombing of Kosovo had been a limited success, so we all went out and celebrated… by killing an ostrich and boiling it in kiwi fruit. |
|
silver halide
Gender: Male
| | Re: Viticalcite Factory, France
<Reply # 4 on 9/16/2009 3:23 AM >
| | | | Thanks for the info on the truck, it's cool to know.
Et encore, il'y'a personne ici qui sais qu'est ce que le "Viticalcite"?
|
|
IIVQ
  
Location: La Sud-Est du cité majeur du North-Holland (Bijlmer), .NL
Gender: Male
Back in Urbex!
| |  |  | | Re: Viticalcite Factory, France
<Reply # 5 on 9/16/2009 3:03 PM >
| | | | Posted by silver halide
Thanks for the info on the truck, it's cool to know.
Et encore, il'y'a personne ici qui sais qu'est ce que le "Viticalcite"?
|
http://www.flickr....cazasco/248023784/
VITICALCITE by CAZASCO.
Viticalcite was, I guess, a fertilizer used in vineyards. There are a lot of vines around this abandoned plant, in the south of France. I cannot find this name in dictionnaries or even Google. But I guess it was very toxic!
Posted by MapMan | 18/9/2005 19:25 | Hedy Lamarr made porn?
Posted by turbozutek | 20/9/2005 2:29 | Dude, educate us! |
|
silver halide
Gender: Male
| | Re: Viticalcite Factory, France
<Reply # 6 on 9/23/2009 5:20 AM >
| | | | Cool, thanks for the tip.
|
|
|
|
All content and images copyright © 2002-2024 UER.CA and respective creators. Graphical Design by Crossfire.
To contact webmaster, or click to email with problems or other questions about this site:
UER CONTACT
View Terms of Service |
View Privacy Policy |
Server colocation provided by Beanfield
This page was generated for you in 109 milliseconds. Since June 23, 2002, a total of 741583876 pages have been generated.
|
|
