river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
in southern
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, a tributary of the
Cèze
The Cèze (; ) is a karstic French river, a right tributary of the Rhône. It runs through the departments of Lozère and Gard in the Occitanie region. It is long, and its basin area is . Its source is in the Cévennes mountains, near Saint-A ...
. It is long. It is the
departments
Department may refer to:
* Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility
Government and military
* Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...
of
Gard
Gard () is a department in Southern France, located in the region of Occitanie. It had a population of 748,437 as of 2019;Occitanie
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
. The source of the Aiguillon is on Mont Bouquet, west of Lussan. It flows through Lussan, Les Concluses, Goussargues where it joined by the Merderis and it flows into the Cèze upstream of
La Roque-sur-Cèze
La Roque-sur-Cèze (; Occitan: ''La Ròca de Céser'') is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. It is a member of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The Most Beautiful Villages of France) Association.
Po ...
.
Les Concluses
The Aiguillon goes dry during the summer, but has carved out a rocky gorge called ''Les Concluses'' on the limestone plateau. From a viewpoint high above, the gorge is riddled with deep geological structures known as ''marmites des géants'' (
potholes
A pothole is a pot-shaped depression in a road surface, usually asphalt pavement, where traffic has removed broken pieces of the pavement. It is usually the result of water in the underlying soil structure and traffic passing over the affected ...
). In summer it is popular with walkers, who follow the water course under the steeply overhanging limestone valley sides. The walls of the gorge have many climbing routes of an average 8a difficulty. Similarly, the walls of the valley contain many caves and potholes. The largest one is the "Baume du Biou," or the Grotto of the Ox.