Berrucomons, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Combe Laval
The Combe Laval forms one of the most impressive reculées of the Vercors massif, a gigantic rocky amphitheatre carved by erosion over nearly two kilometres of steep limestone cliffs. The road that crosses it, cut in the nineteenth century into the wall to open up the forests worked by the Carthusian monks, alternates tunnels and corniches suspended more than 700 metres above the bottom of the combe, offering vertiginous viewpoints over the Vernaison gorges and the surrounding ridges. This engineering feat, built for forestry before becoming a prized tourist route, crosses a landscape of beech and fir forests clinging to the rock, where chamois and birds of prey still roam. The site, reached from Saint-Jean-en-Royans, is one of the most spectacular passages for discovering the Vercors limestone landscapes, between vertical cliffs and breathtaking panoramas.
