We got a miraculous day off on our last trip to Languedoc and immediately decided to take off for a trip to St Guilhem.
This was not our first attempt to get there, on two previous occasions we had driven up through the Gorges to the village only to find the car park full and the only possibility of getting near the place was to park several miles away and trudge for miles under the scorching sun to visit, not an option for us.

The origin of the village was that Guilhem, who was a first cousin and great friend of Charlrmange’s, and one of his great Generals, was struck by religion and decided to retire to an isolated mountain retreat to live a life of prayer and contemplation.
Charlemange had then stymied the isolation bit by insisting on giving his favourite a relic of the True Cross, the very one pinched by St Helena fron the tomb in Jerusalem (as pictured by Peiro Della Francesca)
This had of course made his hermitage a favourite stopping point on the pilgram trail to Santiago de Compostela, which in its turn had built up a beautiful medieval village cramped like a rats tail along the Gorge de Verdus down to the river Herault.

This of course is what now made parking so difficult.
This time we were cute and set off early and arrived in the village in time to park.
It was well worth it.

This is an aerial picture of the village I pinched from Geoportal.

From the cloisters of the church you can see the ruins of the ,almost inaccessible, castle.

The Chevette (the back of the apse for you and me) is very beautiful and a symbol of the village.

Stepping stones over the Verdus

On the doorway at the end of this lane was nailed the local thistle the Cardabelle.
This acts a barometer to help predict rain.

The French know well that the red Geraniums
(which they plant extensively in these villages)
go beautifully with the old stone.

La Place

The young Herault running through its Gorge.