La Roque Sur Cèze and Montclus two beautiful villages

We had a little bit of cloud cover this morning but the weather forecast was for sun and light cloud for the rest of the day.

I knew it was going to be an uphill walk to the village of La Roque Sur Cèze but thankfully it was not very far away.

La Roque Sur Cèze is listed in the book of Beautiful Villages of France (BVoF) and it's obvious why.

It's very pretty, from the church that greets you as you enter, all the way up to the private Chateaux at the summit where there are panoramic view points.

There are lots of interesting alleyways and cobbled lanes some of which rise quite steeply, stone cottages with pretty courtyards, welcome seating areas with scenic views and water fountains, lots of stone planters with flowers even in October.

The only thing is, it seems a little devoid of any proper life, at least in October it does. I suspect the village is almost entirely second homes and holiday lets.

That's not to say it isn't a worthwhile place to visit, it certainly is, it just seems a shame that nobody appears to live there to give it a community feeling.

After exploring the village, we walked down to the Cascades on the other bank of the Cèze that I visited yesterday evening.

It's clear from this side that the river is held back by a manmade weir at the top. This wasn't evident from the other bank.

I guess this holds back the flow and improves the spectacle when the water levels are low, such as they are now.

After returning to Ed for a welcome coffee, there was nowhere open to buy one in La Roque Sur Cèze, we drove a short distance to our next stop, another BVoF village by the name of Montclus also on the river Cèze.

By the time we set off for the village, it was quite a warm day, but thankfully this was a mostly level walk through grapevines on one side and lavender fields on the other side.

Montclus is also extremely pretty and in many ways I preferred it to La Roque Sur Cèze, as it appears to be a village lived in. There's a primary school in the village and we could hear the children in class.

It also has many pretty alleyways, arches and seating areas together with a lovely square at the top containing the church and WWl memorial.

So we've had a great day exploring these villages and the weather continues to make us feel blessed to be in the south of France just now.

Some views of Montclus

Lots of door of the day contenders !