Ardeche and Beaume Rivers

Having learned about discovering the cavern near Pont d'Arc, crevices became fascinating.

After seeing Caverne Pont d’Arc we had stayed at a nice hotel. They provided a hearty breakfast with ham, Swiss cheese, bread, homemade jam, croissants, yogurt, juices, tea and coffee…eat as much or little as you choose. Then we were off to visit a few small villages before driving north again.

Our first stop was by the Ardeche River in Vogue.

Elisabeth called me over to see this mass of fish. They were only on the one side of the bridge. 

Ducks had settled by a rock on the other side of the bridge and seemed to be avoiding the area claimed by the fish. 

Upstream ducks were swooshed downstream, proving that the current was strong, yet the convention of fish didn’t budge.

We did all of our exploring from the bridge and, being nosey, I liked looking down into people’s gardens.

I also thought it was cool to have your own stone bridge at street level while your house also opened onto a lane below.

Traveling on we continued to pass rock cliffs and even homes with real rock gardens or gardens of rock…

…and my favorite bush. 

Marcienne was driving and had said she would stop anytime I wanted to take a picture, but she was chattering away with Matilde. Suddenly they realized I’d said arret at least 4 times. After that it became a running joke that 3 French people hadn’t noticed when the English speaker used French. They see “stop” as being a French word and were even quite surprised when I said the stop signs in Canada say “arret.” 

Our next stop along the Ardeche River was at Balazuc, self-proclaimed to be a village of character. Certainly the river had character.

I couldn't resist a close-up of the sand because so much of it is under the clear water, but looks like it is dry.

The opposite side of the river was rock, a whole section of which looked like pieces of pie.

What's under that slice?

To live in this village one would need to be a mountain climber. Nothing was on one level. As we sat in the car a man suddenly appeared in front of us. That open space is actually steps to one section of garden below.

There were steps leading down the hill, steps going up the hill, pathways without steps, and bridges between buildings.

I wondered if someone kept this critter in their yard as a pet who could also carry them or the groceries up and down the hill.

From Balazuc we headed for Labeaume...  

Labeaume...another village proclaiming character... and there was plenty of character down by the La Beaume River....

I didn't believe it when Marcienne headed the car down this lane to the beach. At the end she made a sharp left, rumbled over some beach stones, jumped a low wall and landed in a parking lot!

 This bridge is actually a road. It's barely wide enough, but I watched one car zip across and disappear up the dirt lane beyond.

A giant rock cliff was across from the pebble beach. Nature's holes were fascinating.

Skipping stones was the first order of business! Marcienne
and Matilde were showing off their skill.

Then we opened up all the food we had not finished at our picnic by the Ardeche River the day before. Marcienne even had a small bottle of wine to add to the festivity.

Elisabeth found a monster leaf that I tried to take home with us, but there was no way to press it flat. It dried out and curled. In a suitcase it would have crumbled. Somewhere along the way I let it go.

Before reversing our direction back over the low wall, beach stones, and up that narrow lane, Marcienne pointed out that two of the parking lot trees were really just standing shells.

Then it was time to leave cavern country.

It looked like a tunnel up ahead and this was a long red light.

How cool. It's an open tunnel...just a bit over one car width.

Can't see the end, but this is definitely only one car wide.

And there sits another car at its red light!

Once past the open-air tunnel we were back on a two lane road. 

Some of the curves were pretty tight, but the scenery was super.