Underground escapism, or a stairway to heaven?
After applying all our bushcraft to the urban jungle last week, I felt the need to go underground. Where life is damp, quiet, peaceful and untouched.
I got a tip that one of the bunkers of the Maginot line was accessible (when using climbing rope). Jumped in the car and left…
On our way to Verdun, passing by the famous paper factory
The Maginot Line (Ligne Maginot) was named after the French War minister André Maginot. It is a line of concrete forts, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defenses, which France constructed along its borders with Germany and Italy, in light of its experience in WW I, and in the run-up to WWII. With other words, they were fed up with the Germans.
Generally the term describes only the defenses facing Germany, while the term Alpine Line is used for the Franco-Italian defenses.
The most impressive part (at least for any bat enthusiast) are the endless underground tunnels, reaching all the way to Switzerland. It were these tunnels that we tried to reach…
80 year old concrete => Stairway to heaven?
The main tunnel connecting the forts
Cluster of greater horseshoes
Veines in the ear of a greater mouse-eared bat in hibernation
After several hours we were back in the humid woods surrounding the bunker
Amazing to spend time in this Maginot line, truly spectacular…