The watermill of La Salle
is one of the least well-known, yet most impressive, of the fortified mills in the Entre-Deux-Mers region. But as
spectacular as it is architecturally, La Salle holds a special place in my
heart because of what happened when Bruce and I stumbled on it last summer.
In early August we were
trying to track down some of the fortified mills that I had read about. Just
outside of Cleyrac, as Bruce turned off the road onto a small dirt path we
both saw the sign saying “Privé”. He,
being a law-abiding citizen and former policeman, was all for turning around,
but I nagged and hectored him into continuing “just a little bit further.” In this way we argued our way farther and
farther from the main road; once we passed through an enormous stone gate it was clear, even to me, that we were on private
property. As there was absolutely no place to turn around, we had no choice but to continue.
