Monday's stage starts from
Moirans-en-Montagne whose arms are canting:
Blazon: English: Or a Moor's Head erased at the neck facing dexter in dexter chief a molet Sable. Francais: D'or à une tête de maure accompagnée en chef-dextre d'une étoile de sable
Further south in the Languedoc there is considerable evidence of the Moorish incursion into southern Europe. Here is a quote from
http://www.midi-france.info/1011_moors.htmIn the Languedoc you will find a few reminders of the presence of the Moors, for example names such as Castelmaur (Castle of the Moors) and Castelsarrasin (Castle of the Saracens), the medical school at Montpellier, and odd remnants like a doorway at Narbonne.
Whether the name of the Commune, and hence the canting arms, come from the presence historically of Moors in the Jura mountains, is a matter of conjecture. I have a sneaking feeling that a false connection was made at some point on the distant past and that "Moirans" may in fact stem from "moraine" (an accumulated mass of glacial debris).
Travelling north-east the Tour crosses into Switzerland at
Les Verrières, whose arms are:
But to get there they will have passed through the French commune of
Verrières-de-Joux, whose arms are:
Confusing?
The finishing line is at
Bern/Berne, whose well-known arms are:
The blazon in English is usually given as:
Gules on a bend Or a Bear passant Sable armed langued and pizzled of the field. One may cavil as to whether as illustrated the bend can properly be described as a bend, or should perhaps be called a "Bernese bend" in the same way as the broad pale in the Canadian flag has been designated a "Canadian pale". But given that the Bernese have used their arms since 1289 I think we might allow them their use of the bend without any special description.