Abîme de Bramabiau

Saint-Sauveur-Camprieu

On the north flank of the Aigoual, the Bonheur river disappears beneath the Camprieu plateau and re-emerges 700 m further on through a narrow fissure at the bottom of a rocky cirque. During floods, the 10 m waterfall that bursts from the cliff fills the whole valley with a dull roar: shepherds heard in it a bellowing ox, and called it in Occitan 'bramabuòu', the roaring ox — hence the name of the chasm. On 20 July 1888, Édouard-Alfred Martel made his way up 1,300 m of the underground river with eight companions; the feat seemed so implausible that the town council drew up an official record to certify it, and this traverse is held to be the founding act of modern speleology. Martel described the galleries as 'a freak of nature the like of which is unknown elsewhere'; the network now runs to 10,210 m. A second legend, more recent and with a romantic flavour, holds that an officer of Napoleon's, fleeing after the fall of the Empire, hid in the cave, where he fell in love with the local doctor's daughter. Pursued by royalists, the two lovers were led by the father into a secret cavern — but the doctor died before he could return for them, and the lovers of the abyss never found their own way back to daylight.

Les Gorges du Tarn — Le bœuf qui mugit ↗

Getting there : On the north side of Mont Aigoual, in the commune of Saint-Sauveur-Camprieu, between Meyrueis and Le Vigan (D986). Car park and ticket office by the road; guided tour of about 1 hour on a developed 1 km circuit, from April to the end of the autumn half-term holidays. Descent and ascent by stairs and walkways above the river: closed-toe shoes essential, 10°C year-round.

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound