by the stream

 

tunnel vision

This tunnel provides an overflow relief valve from the small river the Amasse to go directly to the much larger Loire river.  This has prevented for over a hundred years the flooding of Amboise by the Amasse.  I would say these wild flowers appropriately celebrate that.

the aliens

These aliens (aka the floodgates of the river Amasse) were as cold as us locals last week when the temperatures were hovering around freezing.

another view of the tunnel

I first posted a photo of this tunnel looking in the other direction, out towards the Loire (see it here).  The light at the end of the tunnel in this photo is where there is a spillway from the Amasse river.  When heavy rains arrive, the excess water spills over and takes a shortcut to the Loire and thus avoids flooding downtown Amboise.  The tunnel is 700 meters in length (almost half a mile)!

the tunnel

I found this tunnel on the banks of the Loire which clearly allows water to flow into the river... but from where?  I started to walk to the other end to find out but it was so long that I got spooked and turned around.  Almost a year later, I found out from one of the long-time residents of Amboise that this is a "relief valve" for the Amasse river which often flooded the town before the tunnel was built.  The tunnel bypasses the town mostly underground. The Amasse itself empties into the Loire about a kilometer downstream from the tunnel.