Ardèche River

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Ardèche
Pont d'Arc over the Ardèche River.
Origin	Massif Central
Mouth	Rhône River
Basin countries	France
Length	120 km
Avg. discharge	65 m³/s
Basin area	2,430 km²

The Ardèche (Occitan: Ardecha) is a 120 km long river in south-central France, right tributary of the Rhône River. Its source is in the Massif Central, near the village of Astet. It flows into the Rhône near Pont-Saint-Esprit, north-west of Orange. The river gives its name to the Ardèche département of France.

The valley of the Ardèche is very scenic, in particular a 30km section known as the Ardèche Gorges. The walls of the river here are limestone cliffs up to 300m high. A kayak and camping trip down the gorge is not technically difficult and hugely popular in the summer, so much so that control of numbers is becoming a headache for park authorities. ^{[citation needed]} The most famous feature is a natural 60m stone arch spanning the river simply known as Pont d'Arc (arch bridge).

Contents 1 Towns along the river 2 Tributaries 3 See also 4 External link

[edit] Towns along the river

The Ardèche flows through the following départements and towns:

• Ardèche (named after the river): Astet, Vals-les-Bains, Aubenas, Ruoms, Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, Saint-Martin-d'Ardèche
• Lozère
• Gard: Pont-Saint-Esprit.

[edit] Tributaries

Tributaries include:

• Auzon
• Ligne
• Lignon
• Beaume
• Chassezac
• Ibie

[edit] See also

• Chauvet Cave

[edit] External link

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ardèche River

• Trek Earth Photo