For this year’s Summer vacation we spent two week in the southern part of the central massif doing some relaxed hiking, visiting picturesque old villages, and doing just a tiny bit of running. On our way there we spent one night in Orange (Vaucluse), and then two nights in Saint-Ambroix ( Gard), five nights in Aurillac (Cantal), where we had spent another vacation two years earlier, three nights in Mende (Lozère), and three nights in Aubenas (Ardèche).  Our main planned hiking destinations were Plateau of Aubrac (Parc naturel régional de l’Aubrac) and Cévennes (Parc national des Cévennes).

Let me start with the weather (again). We had outstanding luck with the weather: in the two weeks we had only one cloudy and cooler, and little drizzly day, otherwise it was all sunshine and warm — almost hot — daytime temperatures. Mornings were not that bad either.

Our trip started with a morning walk in the historical center of Orange before driving to Saint-Ambroix. The main attractions in Orange are the Roman Theater, constructed early in the first century, and the Triumphal Arch of Orange that contains an inscription dedicated to emperor Tiberius in AD 27, but there is also evidence that it may date back to the reign of emperor Augustus.

In Orange we stayed overnight in a residential area at an Airbnb apartment built in a garage (lovely place), and in Saint-Ambroix we stayed in a rural neighborhood at another Airbnb apartment built in a shipping container (lovely location) — both places were somewhat out of town. First thing in the morning we had a scenic hike among pine and olive trees to the village of Saint-Ambroix. The trail was lined with thyme — there was enough of it to last for the rest of our lives. In the village we visited  Tour Guisquet and the Dugas Rock with the Chapel Notre-Dame of Dugas. In 1850, after winning the land-ownership dispute, Mr. Guisquet honored his victory by erecting this tower on his new property.

Because our hike wasn’t long — just nine kilometers in three hours with 360 meters of ascent and descent — we had plenty of time in the afternoon to visit another attraction, the ruins of Château d’Allègre, constructed by the family with the same name.  The first mentions of the castle date back to the 11th century. The ruins covered a relatively wide area, and it took us some time to climb very rocky stairs there. We learned that originally the castle was inhabited by the nobility, but they found the location too inconvenient, so they moved down to the valley. Then peasants moved in and inhabited the castle until the early 20th century. I think that the same has happened to many rural French castles, including the one near where we live, Château de Montfort.

The following day we drove to Aurillac, visiting Cévennes’ Bamboo Garden on our way (La Bambouseraie en Cévennes). Part II of our vacation is dedicated to this magical place.