The Ardeche Gorges, Canoeing under the Pont d’Arc – Road Trip in France #12

I am very excited to discover for the first time the Gorges de l’Ardèche. I’ve heard so many good things about them that I wanted to see them with my own eyes.

Note: this blog article is part of the “Road Trip in France” made in August 2020. To read the previous parts, click here : #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10 and #11

Part 1: Travel Diary
Part 2: Practical Tips

Part 1: Travel Diary

Route Clermont-Ferrand – Gorges de l’Ardeche

We make a stop at Le Puy-en-Velay (see the travel diary), then a stop for lunch at Pradelles, a “most beautiful village in France”, which has nothing exceptional except an excellent view of the mountains. From the Col de la Chavade (1266m), we go down the winding roads, the landscapes are breathtaking. It is one of the most beautiful roads of our road trip!

The road is wide enough to even overtake in some places, but several signs remind us touse the engine brake.

The engine brake is triggered when you stop pressing the gas pedal, you will have a more efficient “brake” when you reach a certain speed (1,2,3…). The general rule is: if you go up (in the opposite direction) with the second gear for example, you have to go down at the same speed. So by evaluating the slope of the road, we estimate how fast we would have gone up the hill, and we have to go down with the same speed.

Driving in 1st or 2nd gear naturally brakes the car, without having to use the brake all the time. If you brake all the time, there is a risk of damaging the brakes, the plates, and to go down all this hill with a defective brake -> adios . Of course, even in 1st or 2nd gear, at some point, the car will continue to drive fast, in this case, you still have to brake, but less than if you continued to drive in 4th or 5th gear.

Gorges of the Ardèche

A few weeks before our road trip, the TV show Capital made a special Covid report, a large part of which took place in the Ardèche gorges. They will then do a rerun on the Dordogne river, which we will also visit. Seeing so many people crammed into the most awaited sites of our road trip, it scared us a bit.

Fortunately, even though all of France was concentrated in the Ardèche gorges, JB found us a guesthouse with an extraordinary view, very far from the crowded campsites, only 20 minutes from Vallon Pont-d’Arc. This guest house (link Booking) brought us a certain serenity. Unfortunately this will not be the case with the Dordogne.

Vogüé

We decide to stop first in Vogüé, which is dominated by a huge viaduct. The viaducts in the area are very numerous but they are only open to bikes and pedestrians. It isn’t easy to access these viaducts, there are no shortcuts, you have to walk a long way, almost in the forest, to reach them and then cross them. As a result, we didn’t cross any of them :'( We arrive at Vögué at the end of the day. In spite of the late arrival, it seems that all France is there. All the places of the huge parking lot are taken. Cars are parked along the road, 500 meters on both sides of the village.

It must be said that the place is very very nice. Between the viaduct, the village leaning against the mountains, another bridge that you can cross on foot, and many places for swimming, creating natural pools, rocks quite high from where you can jump into the water … Enough to spend a dream vacation!

There are many canoe routes, count 15 euros for 4.2km (1h) up to 25 euros for 17km (5h) per person. On site, they also rent paddles if you are interested. Namely: the paddle is very suitable for the little ones (like me), but not for the big ones whose center of gravity is higher -> more unstable.

De Sampzon Rock

Our guesthouse (link Booking) is located at the top of a mountain with a breathtaking view of the Ardèche gorges. I think this is the best viewpoint in the area. It’s so high that even the firemen spend all day there to watch the fire starting. We have the right to a private room, without any particular view, but the owner lets us access her private terrace, in the shade as well. We spent a lot, a lot of time there. The breakfast, delicious and very generous, is also served there.

We spotted a canoe club not too far from our home and a little hidden in the forest. They also have a shady private parking lot and a landing stage right next to it for the 8km course, passing in front of the Pont d’Arc. It’s perfect! The weather is on our side: the sky is cloudy (we aren’t going to fry!) but it is hot enough to be able to swim. The canoe is more comfortable than the kayak, and that’s what we choose.

For 19 euros per person, the trip is only 8km (about 1h30). The club does not press us and we agree on a “pick up” 2h later (but we could have asked for it later). The instructor is really very good because he explained us the techniques of paddle. There is a rather difficult rapid and he even told us where to pass, this information is important because it allowed us not to fall into the water.

We pass the first 2 very small rapids without any difficulty. On the other hand, the 3rd and last one seems to be more difficult. We see 3 canoes in front of us running aground. A tourist runs behind his waterproof canister containing all his stuff. The two others are either overturned or in difficulty. We try to slow down but the current is too strong. Finally, thanks to the advice of the monitor, we could pass without sinking. It is indeed necessary to take the rapids in the middle then to go immediately to the right.

From the canoe, you can see the Ruoms tunnel. Can you see the bridge? Going straight on (to the right), there is a hole. The road has been dug under this massive rock, twice. Cars drive super fast, some of them carry dozens of canoes. It always makes me tremble to see the mass above this tunnel. We were able to cross it twice, it’s more impressive seen from afar than when we are inside.

We finally arrive at the Pont d’Arc and I understand why everyone says it’s the canoe highway. We left quite early in the morning, but this passage is already crowded. On both sides, there are rocks of about 3 meters, from where the young people jump the head first. The water is very deep, but it is enough to miscalculate to land on a rock, it is necessary to be very careful.

We continue for another 20 minutes and that’s the end of the journey. They come to pick us up by car to bring us back to the agency (in the forest). To see the bridge of Arc since the belvedere envisaged for that, it is necessary to park in the carpark to 200m of there (paying carpark, 3 or 4 euros the hour). But the view is clearly worth every penny.

If you wonder why there are so many people on the “beaches” next to the Pont d’Arc, it’s because there is a huge parking lot + more or less luxurious campsites right next to it.

I must also show you the slides. Our course does not have any, but the longer courses have up to 3 slides. In the picture below, it is just on the left. You have to calculate your stroke carefully. If instead of taking the slide, you pass by it, it is 2 meters of fall waiting for you. There is a sign explaining that they have set up a system to attract fish to a specific place, and avoid them a deadly fall.

As it is too hot, we return to the guesthouse to rest all afternoon. Due to a miscalculation of the itinerary, what was planned at the base as “a small trip at the end of the day” turned into a “fighter’s route”, on the narrow, winding roads, where we almost got into the cars coming from the opposite direction. The locals seem to know the roads by heart and no longer even honk their horns at the bends when there is no visibility. They drive very very fast.

I cannot say that this belvedere(Tétines de Vernon) is worth all these efforts, even if the landscapes are magnificent.

I insist that we make one last effort to get to Balazuc, a “most beautiful village in France”. But this time, we were less lucky: a scratch on the rim because of a passage stuck/tightened near the cliff. It’s super vexing, it’s a rental car in addition, but well we have an insurance next door, we’ll see if it will cover us. In spite of the beauty of the landscapes and the village, the tiredness and the scratch remove us any motivation. We don’t even have the courage to discover the streets of the village on foot, so we stay on the bridge 😀

Well, at night, we take advice and decide to slow down the pace. After a morning dedicated to the visit of the cave of Chauvet 2 (I will speak about it in a separate article), we take the road of the Gorges. It is past noon so there are no more tourists at all, they are all having lunch. The road is quite wide too, with breathtaking viewpoints every 5 minutes. We decide to stop at only 3 belvederes (not to be abused either). From the Pont d’Arc, the number of canoes decreases drastically, and those who make the 23km trip count on the fingers of one hand. It looks too quiet.

The initial plan was to visit the ancient theater of Orange, before going to Avignon. But given our state of fatigue and the number of ancient theaters already visited in Turkey and soon to be visited in Italy, we decided to remove it from the program.

In the area, there are still many other wonders to be discovered, namely :

• Aven d’Auvergne: recognized as a great site in France, a huge cave
• Chauvet Cave 2: replica of a very very old cave, not far from the Pont d’Arc (see our travel diary here)
• Visit of a snail farm
• Lavender Museum: interesting but less crowded than its equivalent in Provence
• and if you’re there at the right time : lavender and sunflower fields here and there

I would love to come back to it another time, when there will be fewer tourists. We may not be able to swim, but there will be less stress in relation to traffic, parking… because this region is full of wonders.

Our next article, it’s this way

Part 2: Practical Tips

Useful links

• 4 weeks Road Trip in France by car: program & detailed plans here
• These points of interest are part of the +800 tourist places in France that we recommend. To access free Google Maps of the 800 places in question, click here
• More info about our car rental at Leclerc here
• Our canoe club : aventure-canoes.fr that I highly recommend for their seriousness and their shady parking lot

Budget

• Guest room: 92 euros/night, breakfast included (link Booking). Be careful, the wifi is non-existent, we only receive the 4G
• Canoeing: 19 euros/person for the 8km course at “Aventures Canoes” in Salavas
• Food: we mostly bought food at Super U and had dinner/lunch on our private terrace. The restaurants are quickly taken over and the parking lots too.

Tips: How to choose your canoe rental company

There are a multitude of canoe and kayak rentals. The rates are more or less the same and they all have shuttles to take you back to where you parked your car, free of charge. I advise you to choose your rental company according to the following criteria:

• Is there a private parking lot? Is it shaded?
• Is it necessary to take a shuttle bus to get to the departure / arrival pier? Ideally, if only one shuttle (usually the arrival shuttle) is mandatory, it is ideal because you still have to wait for each other
• Does it let you enjoy as much time as you need? For example, if 8km is done in 1h30, do they want you to return the canoe after 2 hours or can you keep it for 5 hours and stop, picnic?
• Does the proposed route allow you to go under the Pont d’Arc bridge? (Which is still the highlight of the area)
• Always ask the instructors for advice on how to cross the rapids, each rapid has its specialities, if you don’t know them, you may end up in the water

The one we have chosen is Aventure Canoes in Salavas: aventure-canoes.fr The 8km course meets all the criteria listed below. Given the heat, this course suits us, but if you like slides, they have longer courses and there is only one departure in the morning around 8am (they drop you off a little higher and pick you up by shuttle too).