The lost world of the Ardèche

 

Most travellers from Britain pass this corner of the south of France by – that’s a mistake.

Ask any pub-quiz champion which is the longest river in France and they will tell you it is the mighty Loire. But they may be stumped if asked to tell you where it starts. The answer is deep down in the Ardèche. The département in the south of France is off the radar for most Brits, who mostly fly over on their way to the Med or hang a left to go up into the Alps.

It is even off the radar for most pilots as the nearest big airport is in Lyon, about an hour away up the motorway (ironic, given that the era of manned flight took off with the Montgolfier brothers’ hot-air balloon at Annonay, right up in the north of the département, in 1783). Even France’s renowned TGV trains don’t stop in the Ardèche; high-speed rail passengers must disembark across the River Rhône in the neighbouring Drôme département. But for all that, the Ardèche wants to be discovered. 

From its volcanic cradle at Mont Gerbier de Jonc, the Loire reaches out northwards into the French countryside, before heading west for the ocean. A little further south, in southern Ardèche, explorers find a primeval land of fossils, caves and steep-cut gorges dug out by the River Ardèche over aeons. The river, popular with bathers and kayakers, even burrowed out the magnificent Pont d’Arc natural land bridge in the course of its meanderings. Last month my partner, Aline, a native Ardéchoise, and I scrambled along the craggy trails around the gorges, set against the breathtaking scenery of the cliffs, and through the many rustic villages, such as Balazuc, where time seemingly stands still.

By Chris Carter.

Full story at The Week.