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Fontaine de Fontestorbes
Photo: Audouy (fr.wikipedia) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Nature & viewsWaterfalls & gorgesFrance

Fontaine de Fontestorbes

The breathing spring – near Bélesta

One of the world's rarest springs: fewer than 30 intermittent springs are known. The water gushes out of a cave in the limestone a little over a kilometre south of Bélesta, where we stayed from 18 to 28 July 2014. For most of the year it flows steadily, but at low water – usually July to October – it starts to breathe: over roughly an hour the water drops to a babbling brook and then rises to a roaring torrent again. The site has been protected since 1921 and is free to visit all year round.

TipsHow it works: inside the mountain there is an underground lake that drains through a low channel and acts as a siphon. When the inflow in summer becomes less than the channel can carry away, the water level falls until a higher channel draws in air – the siphon breaks and the flow almost stops. The lake fills up again, the siphon restarts and pours out up to 1,800 litres a second. One cycle takes about 40 minutes of falling and 20 minutes of rising water, longer towards the end of the season. Stay at least an hour – and have a coffee at the bar opposite.
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42.8932° N, 1.9269° E

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