Saturday 4th June Les Van to Vallon Pont d'Arc

What a dreadful day.

Two things went wrong, firstly it was mis-sold as a relatively short flat day and secondly the weather continues to be bad. Shame because it's Christine's last day and she was not happy as we struggled to find the hotel at 5.45 in the pouring rain.

For some reason my schedule was about 10 kilometres out, I thought this was a 20k rather than a 30k walk and although we are no longer in the Cevennes we still managed to find over 600 metres of climb.

Went into the town centre in Les Vans to get breakfast and food for the day. It was Saturday, market day and everything was there to buy. It was also dark and sombre and after ten minutes we got our first thunder storm which we were able to watch from the comfort of a cafe. We weren't going to get such comfort later.

Le Vans Market

Pressing on we were soon out of town and dashing into a farm building to escape storm number 2 and watch a dramatic lightening show.

Seriously wet

The rain then eased off and apart from the odd bit of drizzle it looked like we had had the worse. In fact it started to get hot and humid.

After walking across causse-like countryside and through a wood, and through growing numbers of French walkers, we got our first sight of the Gorge d'Ardeche, and walked along it's edge for about a kilometre. The view was great but the smooth wet limestone slabs we were walking along on the very edge of the cliff were treacherous.

Gorge d'Ardeche

Gorge D'Ardeche

Stopped for a coffee in the village of Berrias under the illusion that we were half way and then crossed a flat arable stretch of countryside, a sudden change in the landscape.

Flat country for the first time in a month

At about two we were climbing the hills on the other side and I was telling Christine we had about 7 kilometres to go. At 3pm the lightening started and the deluge began. Although we had a bit of a climb the trail was a good one and we were walking very fast and couldn't really understand why we weren't getting there. We seemed to be going round in circles along an endless high winding trail. It wasn't until nearly 5 that we saw a sign that gave us 4 kilometres to go.

Cliffs near Pont d'Ardeche

The views by the way on that last bit, despite the weather, were great with the River Ardeche winding away below us. Not in the mood to enjoy them and struggling to find the hotel amongst thousands of sodden campers was not exactly a pleasure.

The hotel was a nice one and we had a lovely dinner and Christine forgave me for my scheduling and all was soon right in the world

Friday 3rd of June Villefort to Le Vans

Thanks for the comment David and Carole but we have different views about the Hotel Balme. Christine agrees with you but I have my doubts.

Hotel Balme

Christine thought the Hotel Balme was wonderful. She liked the dodgy decor and thought the classic intermittent plumbing a price worth paying for the atmosphere and the food. I thought the food heavy and old fashioned.

The magazine article in the reception raved about the Calves Head Terrine and based on this eulogy I went for it as my starter. It was as bad as the moniker suggested and, avoiding detail, one word summed it up, grizzly. Christine raved about her food, ignoring the slowness of the service and the rudeness of waiters. To be honest I enjoyed it, it was great exercise for all my prejudices about France and I would happily go there again.

Anyway arguing about the hotel helped us on our walk. The weather still hasn't improved and went from steady rain in the morning to intense humidity in the afternoon. The morning walk was through trees and the weather not a great handicap but in the afternoon it spoiled what would otherwise have been a great day.

The walk was basically along a ridge heading east but it wasn't until the afternoon that the ridge really opened up. On a good day I suspect we could have seen the Alps but today we had to make do with what might have been fuzzy outlines of Mount Mezanc to the north and across the Rhone Valley Mount Ventoux. The walk itself was good fun though with some challenging scrambles across rocky outcrops.

Along the Serre de Barre

It was then a long walk down, dropping some 600 metres down feet numbing stoney paths. Really busy holiday weekend and after the quintessential Frenchness of Hotel Le Balme we are staying in what is basically a motel and managed to find a restaurant in the lovely Le Vans that served curry. After 28 kilometres and 800 metres of climb it was a good reward.