Pont d'Arc, l'arche du diable et du seigneur de Sampzon

Vallon-Pont-d'Arc

On the river Ardèche, a limestone arch about sixty metres wide spans the water. The Pont d'Arc is a natural gateway, carved about 124,000 years ago when the river pierced a narrow ridge between two meanders and abandoned its old bed, still visible in the Combe d'Arc. A local tale says something quite different. According to the legend, a lord of Sampzon married a woman of Vallon, courted by many. Jealous, he shut her in a tower on the plateau, before the river had dug the bridge. A disguised pilgrim asked for hospitality and freed the lady while the lord was showing him the view. The lord then prayed to the god of husbands: the mountain opened, the water passed through the rock and brought back the fugitives' boat. The pilgrim resumed his devil's form, hairy and horned, and vanished in a smell of sulphur. Another version says that God split the mountain to cut off the flight of the woman and the devil who accompanied her. The site is part of the nature reserve of the gorges de l'Ardèche and remains famous as the gateway to the gorges. The grotte Chauvet, with its paintings about 30,000 years old, lies very close.

Getting there: Free, route des Gorges, about 5 km from Vallon-Pont-d'Arc; car park on site, part of it paying. It can be seen from the road and reached on foot; it can also be reached by canoe. About 1.5 million visitors a year. Camping, caravanning and advertising are forbidden there. Coordinates from Wikipédia EN, which agree with a tourism page (to within 10 m).

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound