South of France : Florac and the Causse Mejean : To Whet the Appetite

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We planned our little getaway to the south of France fairly late in the Spring, as vacation possibilities were a bit uncertain until then... but we finally decided to just go for it. For many people "the south of France" means the Cote d'Azur or other areas along the Mediterranean coast. For our purposes here, "the south of France" can be stretched to include the Cévennes National Park and the region known as the Causses, and the gorges of the Tarn River, near the town of Florac. In my humble opinion, Florac and the surrounding area should be much better known than it is, even here in France I had to explain to a number of people where we were going, just saying Florac was not enough. It seems that the UNESCO folks feel the same way, because at the end of June they named the Cévennes and the Causses a World Heritage Site. A well deserved denomination (again IMHO), as the region is simply out of this world. Robert Louis Stevenson came through Florac on his trip in 1878 with a donkey which gave rise to an early travel book. I came here for the first time in 1989, and then again in 1996 with la Grenouille, so this is my third, and longest stay in Florac to date. It is a place that grows on one, but perhaps which needs to be visited in person to be fully appreciated, photos hardly do it justice. But I tried nevertheless. These first two photos give a rough idea of the high desert (and deserted) plains of the Causse Mejean, which seems to go on forever.
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In a tiny hamlet we stopped in the welcoming committee came out to serenade us with a considerable amount of barking... we were definitely trespassing.
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As the post's title says, this first glimpse is simply presented to whet your appetite for more to come soon. The Causse Mejean is dotted with ruins of old farms long since abandoned, if one can find them. This aging window frame is from one such example. As you can imagine, I was like a kid in a candy shop, overwhelmed with the beauty in disintegration, materials returning to the earth, slowly but surely. More to follow, but for now, I have to get my beauty sleep, as tomorrow morning bright and early we will drive back up the steep road from Florac which climbs roughly 1500 feet vertically in less than two kilometers horizontally to reach the edge of the Causse Mejean. Some stretches have no guardrails, and it is a long way down; one needs to be wide awake. Will be dreaming of ancient stone ruins up there waiting for us.
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