Italy Road Trip: The Cirque d'Archiane.

Another excellent day. Although overcast for most of the day it hasn't actually rained - well not quite!! After breakfasted set off for the short drive up into the hills behind Chatillon to the small village of Archiane. For an area that I had always thought of as dry, there was the sound of water everywhere. In the main valley the Drome river and it's main tributaries are roaring in spate, full of angry, dirty, sludgy green water. Up in the side valleys, however, springs are bursting forth everywhere, in some cases, boiling out of the rock. As this water is filtered through hundreds of feet of limestone, it is crystal clear and is a beautiful jade green colour. I just love it.
Archiane is a quiet picturesque mountain village built of warm local limestone and encircled by towering limestone cliffs, the domain of vultures, ibex and wolf. From the village we took a circular path that climbed up towards the cliffs though scrub and then eventually contoured round to a belvedere under the cliffs of the Rocher d'Archiane which towered above us. At this eyrie, perched high above the village we had our lunch. Here we found trumpet gentians, early purple orchids, lady orchids and a bee/spider orchid I have yet to identify. Common everywhere is pink common centaury and delicate blue grey globularias. From this elevated spot we descended through beautifully delicate and springlike beech woods to the village. I had expected more open mountainside, so somewhat of a surprise. Once back at the village we were soon heading back down to Chatillon for a quick shop and then the site for welcome beer, wine and meal; a mix of fresh asparagus with mayonnaise and tinned saussicon with lentils and baguette, followed by coffee and dark noisette chocolate, and maybe another glass of Cotes de Rhone.