Non mais "A l'eau" ! Quoi ?
But living in a water mill also comes with its share of surprises. Water is all-powerful, and in winter it becomes unpredictable and the queen of the place. Sometimes after heavy rain, combined with melting snow from the not-so-distant Massif Central, the water level rises drastically and sometimes even more phenomenally when combined with the release of a dam.
We keep a close eye on the water level of the Dordogne, measured several times a day at Carennac, a village listed as one of the "Most Beautiful Villages of France". This is a good indicator for us, because when the Dordogne is high, the river La Tourmente, a tributary of the Dordogne, also becomes high. It is this very river that feeds the Moulin. Above 5.25 m, we're worried that the ground floor of the mill, which houses the laundry room and one of our daughters' bedrooms, could be flooded. It's at this point that we get out the breeze blocks, plastic sheeting and planks of wood to caulk the openings and protect ourselves.
At the beginning of February this year, the rains were sustained for around ten days, which meant that the rivers, which are usually dry in summer, flowed in uninterrupted streams. The Autoire waterfall poured phenomenal quantities of water in a deafening roar. The ruins of the Moulin du Saut, one of our favourite places for hiking, had regained their splendour and a significant flow of water. Upstream, on the Dordogne, EDF released water from the Enchanet dam to relieve some of the load on its structure. The level of the Dordogne, already high, suddenly rose to 6.40 m. From then on, the Tourmente was largely out of its bed. At the foot of the mill, the millstream overflowed its banks and 25 cm of water threatened to flood the ground floor. Fortunately, the protective covers did their job and only 1 cm of water penetrated inside, without causing any damage, but it did cause us a long, anxious night... without sleep.
