down by the tunnel

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.