Take me for a Ride in Your Car Car--Part 2

The valley behind Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, known as le Cirque de l'Infernet

This is the second part of our two-part series on our recent car trips. The first part (available here) covered our visits to the towns of Sauve, Saint-Jean-du-Gard, and Beaucaire, plus the amazing Roman aqueduct Pont du Gard, and our surprise discovery of Chapelle Saint Laurent. Here, we’ll start with our (latest) visit to Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert.

         Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert

We’ve been to this town several times before, but there is always more to see—either physical places we missed before, or, of course, the same physical place, but showing up differently.

 

Cascade du moulin, just before the turn-off to Saint-Guilhem; looking up the Gorge de l'Hérault from the Devil's Bridge

On our most recent visit, in March, we were also accompanied by Mark and Mary. Before that it was early winter, December of 2019. (we were all so blissfully unaware of the Corona virus then!). We went with Nicolas, the owner of the apartment where we were staying. On that December trip we didn't visit the village so much as the surrounding hills, and learned that Saint-Guilhem is a major trail head, with  trails of varying difficulty heading out, and up, from the town.

Saint-Guilhem town square in winter, with its noteworthy tree.

 

For some background info on Saint-Guilhem, and a lot more pictures, you can look here for our trip with Nicolas, and here for our trip in the spring.

 

The Cloisters of the Abbey at Saint-Guilhem, looking out and looking in (sort of!)

As we had expected, the village was quite dead. We visited the church and the cloisters again, and followed the ancient streets downhill to the very bottom of the village. Where we found, oh joy! Coffee! Cafés are just not open in France, but many places do offer take-out. And right at the very bottom, on the edge of the village, we were able to get coffee in paper cups, and drink it while standing around in the deserted yard. We could only imagine what this place might be like, surrounded by tables filled with animated customers talking and laughing.

 

Art installation? Actually, a motorcycle repair shop. Closed, like everything...

Definitely an art installation! Also closed...

Yeah, well, maybe not so full in January—it was cold and overcast. But still! Feeling warmed and a bit less desperate —and after thanking our hostess profusely—we wound our way back up the hill to the car and dug out our picnic lunch. The same spot where we’d had a picnic lunch 10 months earlier. Lunch was good, and we certainly had no problem finding a table, as we were the only people there.

At the bottom of the village the creek continues, perhaps to the Cascade du moulin.

Hiking time! Mark and Mary and I opted for the flat trail that wound through the valley floor, rather than the much steeper one that climbed to the overlooks above. Paula and Kate chose to explore closer to the village.

Easy walking...

...until we got to the end of the trail!

The valley is filled with brush, the well-defined trail flat and wet, thanks to the recent rains. Things got steeper and rocky as we approached the end of what seems to be a box canyon. The trail petered out; there may, or may not, have been a path out the end of the valley, but it sure didn’t look like it!

 

Kate and Paula, waving from the bottom of the wall.

The three of us returned, and climbed up to the large stone arch, gateway to the upper trail. It looks like it was an opening in a wall that ran down from the heights to the valley floor; high on a peak above the town are the remains of some lookout, the Château du Géant. In times past, as with most places, the village needed to defend itself from… bandits and foreign armies, I suppose. But, the chateau--which must offer fabulous views out over the valley--is now closed to visitors (probably because the locals got tired of rescuing inexperienced would-be mountaineers attempting to reach it!) 

The formidable ruins of the Château du Géant

On our way back to the car we passed the best find of the day: Saint-Guilhem's Brasserie artisanale Làsarde, serving artisanal homebrew! We quickly made our way inside, where the pleasant woman behind the bar asked us to wait a moment; she had an important task with the current batch. We were able to watch her stir the brew via a large-screen monitor mounted over the door. She was back in a moment to serve Paula her hot mulled wine, and paper cups of the excellent blonde to the rest of us.

The Brasserie Làsarde (Thanks to John Smith via Google Maps for the photo!)

 What a find! A real live person serving… well, anything! And the beer was excellent, as was the warm wine on a chilly January day. We all bought some bottles of brew to take with us, and made our way back to the car, and back home.

 

         Mouréze

The plan was to spread the adventures out, so we took the next day off. Two days later we were up bright and early (well, 9:30, which seems early enough) we were off for the village of Mouréze. There isn’t much to the town, population nearly 200. Mark and Mary had been there once before, but our goal this trip was to hike the surrounding area, known as the Cirque de Mourèze, and noted on Google Maps as an "Area of jagged limestone rock formations." Yeah, and DaVinci was a painter…

The village of Mouréze, from the road.

Seen in the street--I don't think anyone will be riding these bikes!

It seems like this was another artists’ village, judging from the decoration on the buildings, and the sculptures left lying around (still no people!). There really wasn’t much to the place—very cute and nicely done, but small!—so we were quickly done and ready for lunch (well, I was, anyway). Again, it was sandwiches in a deserted picnic area, and we were soon ready for the slopes.

Or the area jagged limestone rock formations. Whatever.

These rock formations turned out to be very popular! It was, after all, a Sunday, which explains the number of families out showing the kids how to scramble up and down the rocks. We didn’t actually get very far along the extensive loop trail, but there sure was a lot of up and down. And judging from the pain in my legs even three days later, we had quite a work out!

This little guy stopped by for a visit while we were resting. He's called a gorge rouge (red throat).

Mark making a call--or changing into Superman, we weren't sure which.
(And yes, phone booths are as rare in France as everywhere else!)

All in all it was a great outing: pine trees in the clean air, with those fabulous formations. And the views! 

Our legs gave out before the day did, and it was still a bit early to head home, so we meandered. We headed towards Lake Salagou, a man-made recreation area known for its red gravely soil. Paula and I had spent a full day exploring it a few months ago, and were happy to revisit it. But first, we had to explore Salasc, a village we passed en route.

Paula and Kate pass old, vine-covered stone walls.

What IS this place? Just someone's home...

Visitors have "decorated" the red hills of Lake Salagou with the abundant white stones found in the area.

For a different view on our travels, and some fabulous photos, check Mary’s blog here:

Hiking in the Hérault* – The Let's Get Lost Game

We’ve had a bit of cold weather here, in the South of France. The temps were below freezing on  few mornings! Not so bad according to some, but we’re from California. But signs of Spring are in the air, and buds are forming on the trees. Travel is still pretty much shut down