Château de Pirou

Today we went on a visit to Regneville sur Mer, a small town with a ruined fortress I visited with my family 10 years ago (more or less in the same week as well).

The fortress has been the subject of restoration and the buildings inside the wall are open for exposition. unfortunately the gates were still closed when we arrived so we just walked around it.

Then we visited the lime kilns that were located close by. Four massive chimneys locate the place where they used to produce quicklime by the calcination of limestone.

After that we visited the château de Pirou, which was constructed near the shore of the English Channel, and used to watch upon the West coast of the Cotentin, to protect the town of Coutances.

A famous legend of Normandy originates in the castle of Pirou. Besieged by the Normans, the lord of Pirou and his family transformed themselves into geese, using an old wizard's book, in order to escape during the assault. But a few days later, when they tried to read the reverse spell to recover their human shapes, they realized that the wizard's book had burnt with the castle, set on fire by the Normans. This is why wild geese stop in the Cotentin each year in March, during their annual migration.


Regneville sur mer + Château de Pirou