Bonheur river - Cevennes National Park

Another view of the Bonheur valley done in march during my too short visit to the Cévennes National Park.

The underground river

Les Pertes du Bonheur - Cévennes National Park

Another one from our very short trip in the Cévennes National Park about 3 weeks ago.

The caption is Les Pertes du Bonheur. If you ask for a translation, the result should look something like Loss of Happyness.
It's not a sad place but Bonheur is the name of the river and is the french word for happyness. Pertes means loss.

If France, we say we loose a river when it disapears under the ground.

Here, the Bonheur river first crosses a large, dark and wet cave where i could follow it. That's the cave you can devine in the upper right corner of the image.

Then it jumps into a huge and darker one you can't devine here because i was just on the edge and it was in my back when i took the photo. I had no time to explore this second cave but i would really like too ...

Vallée du Bonheur - a more colorful view

Vallée du Bonheur - Cévennes National Park

Another view of this valley, more colorful than the previous one.

Weekly commented photo #14 - Welcome to the Happiness Valley

Vallée du Bonheur - Cévennes National Park

A few words about the title :
Bonheur is the french word for Happiness and it's also the name of this river running through the Cévennes National Park in south of France.

I was there for some family reasons at the end of march and i spent one day in the Vallée du Bonheur.
It was the first time i went there and i've to say that it's surely a wonderful place for landscape photography. The river runs through some wet (at least at spring) fields surrounded by some beautiful forests of beeches and various coniferous trees.

This day we had bad, windy and rainy weather emphasizing the wild aspect of the landscapes all around.

With my wife, daughter and friends we hiked along the valley during one afternoon.
This image was done at the beginning of our walk and is one of the very few usable photo i took this day. Most of the others were "damaged" by rain drops splashed on my lens.
In such conditions, one have to operate quickly : compose the image without the camera, evaluate the light, setup the tripod, unpack the camera, set exposure, focus and pack all in a dry place.

Waterfall in a spring stream - Cévennes National Park

Spring waterfall in the Cévennes National Park

A wider view of the waterfall posted yesterday.
It was just near the house where we spent three days during our recent trip in the Cévennes National Park. I'm not sure this stream runs all over the year.

Back from the Cévennes National Park

Waterfall closeup in the Cévennes National Park

I'm just back from a one week trip in the Cévennes National Park.
Although it was more a familly trip than a photography one i had the opportunity to make a few images. They will be posted here in the next weeks.