Explore The Massif Central
The Cévennes mountains and River Ardèche form the southeastern defences of the Massif Central, overlooking the Rhône valley to the east and the Mediterranean littoral to the south. The bare upland landscapes of the inner or western edges are those of the central Massif. The outer edges, Mont Aigoual and its radiating valleys and the tributary valleys of the Ardèche, are distinctly Mediterranean: deep, dry, and clothed in forests of sweet chestnut, oak and pine.
Remote and inaccessible country until well into the twentieth century, the region has bred rugged and independent inhabitants. For centuries it was the most resolute stronghold of Protestantism in France, and it was in these valleys that the persecuted Protestants put up their fiercest resistance to the tyranny of Louis XIV and Louis XV. In World War II, it was heavily committed to the Resistance, while after 1968, it became the domain of hippies – some of whom remain.
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The Gorges de l’Ardèche
The Gorges de l’Ardèche
The Gorges de l’Ardèche begins at the Pont d’Arc, a very beautiful 54m-high arch that the river has cut for itself through the limestone, just downstream from Vallon, itself 39km south of Aubenas. The gorge continues for about 35km to St-Martin-d’Ardèche in the valley of the Rhône.
The gorge winds back and forth, much of the time dropping 300m straight down to the almost dead-flat scrubby Plateau des Gras. It’s beautiful, but a tourist trap; the road following the rim, with spectacular viewpoints at regular intervals, is jammed with traffic in summer, when you should book accommodation well in advance. The river, down at the bottom, which is where you really want to be to appreciate the grandeur of the canyon, is likewise packed with canoes in high season.
