Monday walk…La Chapelle de Beauregard

Sometimes our drives in France begin with a destination in mind.  Others are voyages of discovery, as we load the dogs and head of in a general direction to see what we can find.  On this day, we headed for the hills.  Any time our drives include mountains/hills, my soul rejoices.  🙂

While the dogs ran around and had a drink, I drank in the view.

With everyone back inside, we were off, but not for long.  Shortly after, we spotted a discovery, a little chapel, and veered into the parking area for a look.  Dogs get to stay inside for this one.  Worshipers have to come from some distance, but what a view!

The interesting design on the outside is siding made to resist snow.  This is cross-country ski country in the winter, so you know there’s going to be plenty of snow.

Let’s peek inside.

Someone’s been taking good care of this chapel.

This chapel has been around for some time.

After a great deal of searching, I found a site talking about this chapel (and not just as a geocache location!)  Translated from the French courtesy of Google Translate, here’s the story:

The chapel Notre-Dame de Beauregard was built in 1884 by a farmer who had lost himself in the snows. It is said that the latter, after having addressed a prayer to the Blessed Virgin, miraculously found his way. A statuette of the Virgin would have appeared in front of him, in a small niche arranged in a wooden post.
The man had the chapel built at the very spot where he had lost himself. Both the miraculous statue and the wooden post are on display.

Another legend says that if a stone from the chapel moves under the feet of a girl, she will get married the following year.

The chapel of Beauregard is the subject of a pilgrimage every Monday of Pentecost.

Sorry, no treats in the area.  You’re welcome to one of the water bottles, though, and then just sit back, relax, and enjoy the scenery.