Driving the Gorges d’Ardeche

We woke this morning to the seven rings of the church bell. Emma pressed the snooze button and it rang again a few minutes later! After breakfast we emptied and filled before hitting the road.

First stop today was Taulignan, a small walled town. We parked Kiki and wandered into the town. There was a strong northerly wind blowing which, despite the clear blue sky and sunshine, made it quite chilly. We walked around the outside of the town wall and took some photos of the impressive gatehouse which has a large tower on each side. Entering the walled town was a bit warmer as the wind was reduced. We made our way back to Kiki and warmed up with coffee and chocolate.

We drove on to Grignan which is famous for its impressive Renaissance chateau perched above the town. It is closed at the moment but Emma wanted to take some photos. As we approached the car park there was a great view of the chateau so we pulled over and Emma went to get out. The wind was so strong that she had a real fight to open the door! Eventually - she did have porridge for breakfast - Emma prevailed and the photos were captured. After another struggle to open the door to get back inside we were on our way.

Our main plan for today is to drive along the Gorges d’Ardeche - this 30km scenic road winds its way alongside the gorge of the Ardeche river. We entered the road a Saint Just and were relieved to find that it was a good two lane road. To be honest we needn’t have worried as we only saw a handful of cars all day! 

We soon came to the first belvedere where we stopped in the small parking area - it’s a good job we’re out of season as finding room for Kiki would be a nightmare! The view from the purpose built viewpoint was fabulous - our guide book likened this area to SW America and we could see what they mean - a deep gorge surrounded by mountains.

We continued onwards stopping at each viewpoint to look at the gorge and take photos. It was great for me as the driver to be able to stop and look, as it’s difficult to see much whilst concentrating on driving Kiki.

A lunchtime we stopped with a great view across the gorge and of the river winding its way along the bottom.

There were a couple of points where the river has cut horseshoe bends into the rocks. The viewpoints continued to provide fabulous vistas as we continued our way northwards.

As we approached the end of the drive, we dropped down to river level and came to the Pont d’Arc - and amazing natural arch that the river cut as a shortcut in a horseshoe bend. We stopped here and took a few photos including the obligatory Facebook selfie.

We drove on to our stopping place for the night which is the Aire de Camping Car at Vallon Pont d’Arc. We parked up and Emma cooked up a fabulous sweet & sour chicken to round off a great day. After supper we settled down for the night.