The Gorges of the Tarn, France, Introduction

A Short Trip with Multiple Destinations:

Destination 4: The Gorges of the Tarn (Introduction to the 10 Sub-Destinations)

The first night was spent at Saint Chely du Tarn (on the river, not to be confused with Mas Saint Chely on the plateau). (Sub-destination A). On the map, come straight down to the river from the tip of the arrow pointing to the right at the top.

From Saint Chely du Tarn, I decided, strangely, to go see what was on top of the plateau called the Causse Mejean, south of the river (Sub-destination B).

From above, and to the east, I got on a very narrow road and saw Castelbouc (Sub-destination C). I crossed the river and stopped for a moment at the Chateau by Prades (Sub-destination D), then high-tailed it back up the plateau and found a wider road to take me right back to Sainte-Enimie, not far from where I started (Sub-destination E). Sainte-Enimie is the larger of the cities in the center of the gorge area.

From Sainte Enimie I went east along the river to see the Chateau near La Caze (Sub-destination F). There I found a delightful woodsy trail and walked it for a while in a very light rain. (Sub-destination G).

Next I ran across Hauterives-du-Tarn (not on this map, but west of La Caze which is on the map: Sub-destination H).

Then it was time to head out, so did not stop long to admire La Malene (Sub-destination I), and made it on top of the Causse de Sauveterre plateau (north of the river) to take in the view from Point Sublime (Sub-destination J).

I arrived at Montpellier just after dark, just a little bit later than I had expected but I hardly ever really expect to arrive when I hope to expect to arrive. Has something to do with adventure, not passing anything interesting up along the way for the sake of schedule. Or maybe it is just those wrong turns indicating a lack of map-competence?

Both, no doubt. I did make some unintended but rewarding stops. But I also made some very time-consuming and -consulting the map afterward- stupid wrong turns.

All's well that ends. Stayed at the airport hotel and would have slept quite long and soundly had it not been for that pesky wake-up call. Had an early flight home.

SUB- and OTHER DESTINATIONS FOR THIS MARCH 2009 TRIP

Destination 4 Sub-destinations --Find the NEXT icon ( ) to go to the next destination: