Original subtitles

Join us on an epic 200-mile train journey

through the mysterious region of southern France.

A breathtaking, sparsely populated land, it is a stunning hidden gem

of almost untouched wilderness and beauty.

We'll soar high above the tree tops...

Wow! That is phenomenal.

It just strides across the valley.

..and travel deep underground...

This is a man-made cave to extract silver and coal.

..before arriving in the volcanic heart of France,

and to claim the astonishing peak of the dormant Puy-de-Dome.

I don't think of another place in the world

where you can find such a richness.

HE WHISTLES We'll meet the people who live

and work along this very special train line.

It's wonderful to be here. You smell this atmosphere.

This is no ordinary railway journey.

This is one of the most scenic railway journeys in the world.

Ligne Des Cevennes, France.

The Occitanie region of southern France.

To travel through these mountains is to breathe in

the atmosphere of history.

Brimming with mystery and antiquity,

this region is the perfect destination for nature lovers,

history buffs, and most of all, those who adore trains.

Our five-and-a-half-hour rail journey begins here in Nimes,

an ancient city in the southern part of the region.

With a rich history dating back to the Roman Empire, Nimes is

sometimes called the Rome of France.

Coincidentally, it is here that denim was invented.

Hence "de Nimes".

At Nimes station in the centre of the city

is where our French railway adventure begins,

aboard La Ligne des Cevennes.

In southern France, our train travels alongside the river Gard,

to the old coal mining towns of Ales

and La Grand Combe...

..then it winds its way to Chamborigaud

and its historic horseshoe viaduct.

It then enters the Cevennes National Park,

stopping at Genolhac before we fly over

Ville Fort's drowned viaduct.

Heading northwards, our train reaches its highest point at Luc,

before dropping down to our third huge viaduct at Chapeauroux.

Continuing northwards along the river Alliers to Chanteuges,

we then head on to our destination at Clermont-Ferrand,

the capital of the Auvergne,

and finally to the majestic Puy-de-Dome,

the jewel in the crown of the Chaine des Puys.

For now, though, it's time to find our seat, settle down,

and take in the beauty of the countryside as we travel

through the Languedoc-Roussillon region

up into the heart of the Auvergne.

It is a land of fertile plains and vineyards

that give way to mountainous peaks and steep-sided valleys.

Travelling on a track gauge of 1,435 mm,

our train is a Class X 73500 diesel engine

made by the French company Alsthom DDF,

for the national French rail company SNCF.

La Ligne des Cevennes is a small, rural railway line that carries

mostly day-trippers, tourists, and, of course, locals.

Also on the train today is Marie,

heading home to the village of Chamborigaud.

I take the train because I prefer to travel by train than by car,

because in a car, I have to drive.

I cannot see the mountains, the view, nothing.

The train is more quiet. It's not tiring.

It's my favourite train.

Created during the prosperity of the so-called Second French Empire

and built in stages between 1840 and 1870 at a staggering cost

of 520 million francs, the Ligne des Cevennes railway

is almost 200 miles in length,

and is one of the oldest lines in France.

Travelling through the Cevennes mountains

and crossing the volcanic centre of France, this amazing line

has 50 bridges and more than 100 tunnels along its route.

In France, we call this line "the line of the hundred tunnels".

This one is the longest.

1km and 700m.

It's a long way.

Stunning though these views are,

passenger traffic on this line was not its first priority.

The Cevennes railway was originally created as an economical way

of bringing wine and coal to Paris in the north

and Nimes in the south, where it connected to the Mediterranean.

25 miles after we left Nimes station,

it is time for our arrival at our first stop - Ales.

Known by the Romans as Alestium, this industrial city was once

home to blast furnaces, foundries and engineering works.

So industrial was this place

that even the spoil heaps are now part of its landscape.

100 years ago, this now genteel town on the river Gardon

was the beating heart of France's coal and steel industry.

From producing 20,000 tonnes of coal in 1815

to 3.3 million tonnes in 1890,

and with an overall workforce of 20,000,

iron and coal turned Ales into

one of the country's first steel-producing centres.

So important was it that this area became known as the Black Country.

And one of the largest and most important mines here,

just 8.5 miles north along our train track from Ales,

was La Grande-Combe.

Marcel and Marcel both worked here as coalminers during its heyday.

Once below ground, it was backbreaking work.

In 1978, the years of hard labour for Marcel and Marcel

came to an abrupt end.

Not only was it a blow to the local economy,

but also to the heart of this thriving region.

Marie remembers this very difficult time well.

When the mine closed, the Cevennes lost people,

because all the young people, they go to find a job in Paris.

It was my father.

My father was a miner on... 13 years old till 25 years old.

He has to go to Paris for work because the mine closed.

He was working for the train.

He grew up in the company, and after, he was a driver of the train.

The train and the line, it's my story also.

It's not only the Cevennes story.

I am from Cevennes, but it's also a family story.

As our train weaves its way through the Cevennes countryside,

our journey is about to enter a new landscape -

the Cevennes National Park,

and the astonishing Chamborigaud Viaduct.

We are travelling on one of the world's most scenic railways,

through the stunning landscape of southern France.

We have been journeying for an hour and 40 minutes,

and are 45 miles along the Ligne des Cevennes.

After Ales and La Grand-Combe,

we head deeper into the Cevennes mountains.

We're heading for the Chamborigaud village, where we'll encounter

one of the railway's most beautiful constructions.

We arrive in Chamborigaud.

Nestled in the Languedoc-Rousillon region of the river Luech,

the charming and beautiful ancient village of Chamborigaud

is the end of Marie's journey, as this is her home.

This station is also a stop-off for train enthusiasts the world over,

like railway historian Tim Dunn.

Nearby, there is one of the most extraordinary engineering feats

built along our line.

The Chamborigaud Viaduct.

Wow! That is phenomenal. It just strides across the valley.

What a piece of engineering.

This incredible viaduct is 150 feet high and 1,758 feet long.

Designed by Nimes-born railway engineer Charles Dombre,

who devoted much of his career to this railway line.

Built in a horseshoe shape to allow the train to cross

the wide Luech valley,

it's made from 18,000 cubic metres of granite.

It is the longest viaduct on the Ligne des Cevennes.

So important is Dombre's structure that it has been classified as

a national historic monument.

Dombre is something of an enigma.

He's responsible for driving this railway through,

all the way through this line,

what's become now the Cevennes route.

What an incredible piece of work

this must have been to try and create.

With 41 arches and built at a cost of 570,000 Francs,

it is estimated that 12,000 men worked

to create this thing of beauty.

What really grabs me about this lofty construction

is just how it grabs you! You know,

it fills your view as you walk up the valley,

far more than you understand from being on the train,

because you don't really experience it from being on the train.

You see the views, but not it.

Although imposing and arresting as it is now,

it is only when we look at the original survey drawings

that we get an idea of Dombre's original plan.

You can quite clearly see the final route that was chosen.

This big horseshoe route.

So Dombre had originally wanted to go straight across the valley,

which is up behind us there.

That would have entailed a really, really massive viaduct

that was just too expensive,

so you've ended up with this really quite elongated route,

but one that was actually much cheaper to build

and slightly more simple to build,

rather than build this massive viaduct across a wide space.

What you've ended up with is this incredible horseshoe.

Started in 1865 and only taking 19 months to construct,

the Chamborigaud Viaduct was built by a whole village

of craftsmen and labourers.

We mustn't forget the human cost of this project,

which must have been phenomenal, because the working conditions

for this would have been absolutely atrocious.

This was a line not built by power tools. It was built by hand.

All of the stuff to build this railway had to be

brought in by the very train tracks they were laying down themselves.

This is an absolutely fabulous piece of engineering. It is so graceful.

It is so... Little known outside France as well.

Yet it's such an incredible structure.

Here, deep in the Cevennes mountains,

is an outstanding area of spectacular natural beauty,

and a very rural and remote area of France.

Villagers around here are getting smaller

and smaller each year as people move away to the bigger cities.

And nowhere is this more apparent than in Marie's home,

Chamborigaud village.

Born here, Marie runs a gift shop in the village.

A lot of people were working in the mine.

In the year '50, the mine started to close, and then the people

have to go to Paris or Marseille, or big city to find a job.

And then, all the family left, and now, it's...

Only 700 people.

With so few people living here, the railway line is under threat.

Slowly, slowly, we have less trains, and it's a pity,

because we would like to go everywhere with the train,

and it's very important for business,

for customers, for tourist people.

All is not quite lost.

With the rise of tourism,

things are looking up for Chamborigaud.

A lot of people now, since ten years or 20 years,

they come back to our village.

For example, Edward, my neighbour, is from England,

and he has a business here. Make beer!

It's actually nano-brewing.

That means it's smaller than micro-brewing.

I'm a farmer-cum-brewer,

so I use a lot of my own ingredients.

I grow hops, fruit, and heather and things like that,

that all go into the beer that I make.

Originally from Leicester, Edward fell in love,

and it wasn't just with the view.

My wife is French. She lived in England for about ten years.

We met, came on holiday to where our farm is now, in fact,

and I asked her to marry me out of the blue like that.

I've been here 11 years. It wasn't really planned to come here.

We just kind of packed up shop and came.

I've been brewing for five years in France,

so I kind of know how to place the beer,

and I have a few beers that are quite different to the normal.

There's a selection of six different beers today.

You've got a dark beer made with local grapes, a chestnut beer,

an IPA with a load of local fruits in it,

and then I've got a classic blond beer for the blond-likers.

As it is for most local businesses,

the train is incredibly important to Edward.

I've got two kids that were born here.

They love catching the train to go down to Ales or Nimes.

And then, for me as well, with having a business in the village,

it's quite important having the train. Kind of, it kind of...

I think that keeps it alive, keeps the whole village alive,

because people can just catch a train here,

and it's such a beautiful line, that a lot of tourists -

and the viaduct - kind of get brought because of that.

I always tell English people that this is like Wales,

but with sunshine.

It was a big change, but I wouldn't now go back to England.

I think I'm quite happy being Monsieur Orion.

It's time to climb back on board our train and leave Chamborigaud.

This means that we get a chance to travel over that wonderful viaduct

that we've seen from below.

Our rural train now travels through the little-known

Cevennes National Park, stopping at the small village of Genolhac.

We then push northwards to Ville Fort

and cross our second viaduct before reaching La Bastide-Puylaurent

and the tiny hamlet of Luc,

made famous by author Robert Louis Stevenson.

The National Park is one of France's hidden gems.

A large area covering 1,240 square miles,

it sits on the edge of the great Massif Central

and is full of rolling limestone mountains,

picturesque villages, and is home to several rivers,

such as the Loire, the Rhone, and the river Allier.

And it is in the shadow of our next stop, Genolhac,

a medieval hamlet and farming community, that we meet Benoit.

He leads a small team of park rangers

overseeing and protecting the park and the animals that live within it.

All a stone's throw from the railway line.

The Ligne des Cevennes

goes through to the eastern side of the national park,

and there is two railway stations, Genolhac and Chamborigaud.

And so, the visitors can stop at the station and then

they are inside the national park, and they can visit it.

Today, Benoit is travelling deep inside the park

in search of some small but perfectly formed inhabitants.

Right now, we are counting bats.

They came during the winter

to spend the warm winter in this place,

and so, each year, we count them,

and it's part of a national French programme of bat census.

Although the perfect habitat for the 20 different types that live here,

this particular bat cave is not exactly what it seems.

This cave is not natural. This is a man-made cave.

It was dug by humans maybe 100 years ago,

so, to extract silver and coal.

This material was transported by the railway, les trains de Cevennes.

It's quite easy to see the bats in this cave, but sometimes,

as they are black or grey, you know, you cannot see them,

but with experience, we can find it.

These bats, in English, this is... The big horseshoe bat. You know?

Because his nose, as you can see, is like a horseshoe.

So this is a lesser horseshoe bat.

The lesser has a nose in the same shape as a horseshoe,

so that's why it has its name.

And so, this is the most abundant species that we have in this place.

You know, these bats are like almost all the other bats in Europe,

and so they cover their bodies with their wings in order to get warmer.

So today, I have just found two lesser and one greater

horseshoe bats, which is consistent with the census of precedent years.

At a time when around 0.1% of all the world's species

becomes extinct each year,

the work Benoit does here is incredibly important.

We also feel responsible to protect the species'

habitats and environment in general,

so that's why it's important to me to do this job.

No hanging around for our train.

As it weaves its way through the Cevennes National Park,

it is about to enter a unique part of the world,

a place much-loved by one of the UK's most famous writers,

Robert Louis Stevenson.

Our train left Nimes two hours and 20 minutes ago

on its journey to Clermont-Ferrand.

It's just over 150 years since the Ligne des Cevennes was built,

and it still is one of the most beautiful railways through France.

And our next stop is no exception -

Ville Fort.

TRAIN HORN BLOWS

A pretty medieval village with a tiny and very tidy station...

..run single-handedly by a very proud stationmaster.

My name is Michel Montanier.

I'm the stationmaster here at Ville Fort,

and my job is the security of trains and people,

to give information to the people and sell tickets.

And I have all the...

The things I have to do in the station, I am alone,

so I have to do all the things.

Michel has spent his entire working life on the Cevennes line,

first at Chamborigaud, and now, Ville Fort.

It's wonderful to be here.

I think you smell this atmosphere.

It's fantastic. I live in Ville Fort since 22 years now.

So I will finish my job, my career, in one year.

HE BLOWS WHISTLE

Back on the train, we pull out of Ville Fort

and say goodbye to station master Michelle.

It's only a couple of miles outside the village that we encounter

another masterpiece of railway construction -

The Viaduc de l'Altier, or the Ville Fort viaduct.

Once again, designed to cope with the hostile terrain

by engineer Charles Dombre.

Built in 1870, and at 843 feet in length,

it was constructed to cross the river Altier.

For almost 100 years, it stood 240 feet high above it.

Then, in 1965, the Ville Fort dam was built.

A modern hydroelectric barrage which blocked the river,

flooded the valley,

and caused part of the elegant Victorian viaduct to be submerged.

Now, when the reservoir is full,

the train track runs just 10 metres above the water,

giving splendid views across the lake.

So far, we have come 60 miles,

and are travelling through the Cevennes mountains

on the eastern flank of the Massif Central

to the village of Luc.

This is a railway line that is extremely important

to the people who travel and work on it.

La Ligne des Cevennes cuts through

one of the most beautiful regions in France. With views like this,

it's easy to forget that it's also

a commuter train for the people who live alongside the line.

This is a usual journey,

because every day, I take this train to go to my job.

Some of my colleagues make the same journey by car every day,

and for me, it's boring to be in the car.

I like to take the train, because I can dream.

For me, it's very good to start the day like that.

This amazing landscape

once inspired one of Britain's most famous writers.

Robert Louis Stevenson, long before the successes of Treasure Island

and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, came here to forget a love affair,

and ended up falling in love all over again,

this time with these mountains.

Helping us to walk in his footsteps

is local Stevenson enthusiast Roger, and Noushka.

When he came here, which was in 1878,

it's a little bit after the railway was first built.

He was a young, unknown writer,

and he had this crazy idea of

coming to this wild part of the world

and buying a donkey

and doing a 12-day walk from the north to the south

of the Cevennes and writing about it.

Starting in Le Puy-en-Velay,

Stevenson walked southwards 156 miles,

crossing the Ligne des Cevennes several times to reach Ales.

After spending several days and nights in these mountains

with no-one but his stubborn donkey Modestine for company,

Stevenson arrived in the village of Luc.

Robert Louis Stevenson would have come down here himself in 1878.

He'd have come across this bridge into the village of Luc,

having spent the previous night up there in the hills,

sleeping rough in his sleeping bag in the rain.

Perhaps a little downcast by the weather,

Stevenson was unimpressed by Luc.

He wrote, "It had no beauty, nor was there any notable feature."

He didn't stay long.

Here we are at the station at Luc village on the Cevennes line,

heading south to La Bastide-Puylaurent,

and along this line itself, Stevenson would have walked in 1878,

right by the railway, leaving him to have some musings

about the impact of the railway on local life.

In fact, he was expressing possible concern that

the arrival of the railway would bring so many people

that this would no longer be the wild place that he loved.

If anything, it was Stevenson's journey himself

and the legacy that he left with his memoir that has brought

people here to follow in his footsteps.

"A railway ran beside the river, the only bit of railway in Gevaudan,

"although there are many proposals afoot and surveys being made,

"and even, as they tell me,

"a station standing ready built in Mende.

"A year or two hence, and this may be another world.

"The desert is beleaguered."

Eventually published by Stevenson as

Travels With A Donkey In The Cevennes in 1879,

this walk is still a hiking trail

that is followed by around 7,000 people per year.

Today, we may not be travelling by donkey power,

but it is the horsepower of our delightful diesel engine

that carries us onwards.

We've now come 96 miles from Nimes,

and our train is arriving at the picturesque village of Chapeauroux.

Our railway historian Tim Dunn again alights from our train

in search of another architectural treasure.

High above the town, the line has a third viaduct,

again built by - you guessed it - Charles Dombre,

who designed over 1,000km of railway in the area.

This is the Chapeauroux viaduct,

which is very much like the Chamborigaud viaduct.

It's almost the same length, and like that,

they both actually curve round in this really wide arc.

The best way to view this is actually from afar, up here,

because from here, you can see the sweep of the river valley,

and actually, the two little settlements that make up this area.

Joining them together is this massive, spectacular viaduct.

It's actually so long,

it joins together the two French departments Haute Loire and Lozere.

Now, you can see here, this is the old town,

and that was their way before the railway turned up, but building

this viaduct required large numbers of workers, and to be accommodated,

they established a little village down here, which became known

by locals, actually, as Nouveau Monde, the new world.

And at the time, they established as well a little police station

and a chapel too for the workers.

Many of them carried on living here afterwards,

and it's still a spectacular place to live.

Building work on the Chapeauroux viaduct began in 1869,

and incredibly, was completed the following year.

At 65 feet high, this amazing construction of 28 arches,

each one 40 feet wide, is 1,453 feet long.

This viaduct, compared to Chamborigaud,

is really quite different.

Although it is an arc as it goes round the corner of the valley

and over a river, this is made out of very different material.

Chamborigaud is made out of granite.

This is actually local rock that's been hewn into different shapes.

And you can see the way it's been made up,

by almost like this crazy paving from the outside.

What's lovely about this viaduct is you can see how Dombre was trying

to perfect his techniques down at the wonderful Chamborigaud viaduct,

and here, at Chapeauroux viaduct, he has perfected them.

He's brought everything to the table.

He's using local materials to keep the costs down.

He's kept it low-lying, so it sits in the valley.

It's fairly cheap to build.

This gradual gradient as well, as it goes up the hill.

It's a simpler construction, but still very elegant,

still very graceful, and still very beautiful.

These three beautiful and elegant viaducts

are a fitting memorial to the skill of the man who built them.

One of the things I love about this railway is it was engineered

by a local man, Dombre, and actually,

it was one of his great projects in life to connect his home city

of Nimes through the Massif Central to the rest of France,

and actually, it still stands today, and it's still doing that job today,

and I love that. You know, it really is a great testament to his work.

Back on the train, we are speeding towards

our destination of Clermont-Ferrand,

gateway to the volcanic centre of France,

the incredible Puy-de-Dome, and its very own extraordinary railway.

We are three quarters of the way through

our journey to Clermont-Ferrand,

and have been travelling for over three hours.

After leaving Chapeauroux,

we travelled 28 miles to the pretty village of Chanteuges

on the river Allier, an inspiration to artists.

We're then on the last leg of the journey.

After 65 miles, we arrive at the final station on this line,

Clermont-Ferrand,

where we'll transfer to the incredible Puy-de-Dome.

It is at this point that we traverse the edge of the stunning

Gorges de l'Allier.

This railway line we see today is nowhere as busy as it was

in its heyday over 100 years ago.

As people have moved away, many of the stations have closed.

The village of Chanteuges has a population of around 400.

The station here closed many years ago...

..as local artist Veronique Bene explains.

So, we're just arriving in the Chanteuges station.

It's an old station. It's closed now.

Veronique has spent years exploring this region,

looking for forgotten corners to sketch.

The local scenery here inspires her art.

I like to draw panoramic drawings, you know?

Where you can see many things.

This is the south, so Nimes, and this is the north, Clermont-Ferrand.

Here.

Here.

Away from the village, the landscape becomes even more breathtaking,

and inspiring for Veronique.

Sometimes with the car or with the bike or walking, I see a place,

and I say, well, here I have to make something,

I have to draw something.

The gorge of the Allier is a beautiful part of the line.

This is why I live here.

It's not for the job or for the family.

It's for me one of the nicest places in the world.

I'm here for the beauty.

I want my drawing to show people how nice it is here.

As we leave the valleys and ravines of the Gorges de l'Allier,

we also leave behind the peace and quiet of the countryside.

Our 200-mile journey is nearing its end as we approach

our final stop, Clermont-Ferrand - the capital of the Auvergne.

An ancient cathedral city,

Clermont-Ferrand is also one of the oldest cities in France.

It's a centre for lovers of architecture,

and is the gateway to exploring central France.

Possibly the thing it's most famous for is

the fact that it is surrounded by this amazing natural phenomenon,

a 25-mile-long chain of 80 dormant volcanoes.

Known as the Chaine des Puys, literally "the chain of volcanoes",

this incredible range is actually very young in volcano years.

The first eruption here was a mere 95,000 years ago,

and the most recent just 8,600.

So if you want to check out that view, I think you'll be OK!

Granted UNESCO World Heritage Status in 2018,

the highest point, peaking at 4,806 feet, is the Puy-de-Dome,

and this wonderful view can be accessed by train.

It is a place steeped in ancient history,

where the weather can change minute-by-minute,

as local tour guide Anne explains.

In the time to take the train up,

the weather can be totally different,

so you can start thinking

it will be grey and you won't have any view from the top,

and by the time you are up,

it can become very clear and sunny and blue sky.

This line is very special.

It's a cog railway, which is used especially in mountain areas

like in Switzerland, and here, that was chosen

because of the incline of the line,

which can reach a maximum of 15.5%, which is really steep.

A toothed rack rail, usually set between the tracks,

connects with a cogwheel fitted beneath the train.

Once engaged with the teeth,

this wheel pulls the train up the steep gradient.

TRAIN WHISTLES

The train journey takes just 15 minutes,

but when you get to the top,

whatever the weather, the view is incredible.

Here is a really special place.

As you come here, perhaps you don't expect what you will find,

but you are astonished by the views and by the richness of this site.

Once an ocean, this area, the Massif Central,

was created over 100 million years ago

when two continents came together.

An unstable meeting, the 18 volcanoes we see today

are the result of a rift in the earth's crust here.

I am here a lot of time and it's always the same pleasure

to be here and to watch these landscapes.

You know, and it's like the breathing of Earth.

They are dormant now. They are from one single eruption, and that's it.

Although dormant now,

vulcanologists predict that there will be another eruption.

They just don't know when.

Until then, this is a place of outstanding natural beauty.

Take a ride up to the summit of Puy-de-Dome,

and then you will have lots of different experiences.

I really love this place.

Perhaps it's my favourite place in the world,

because of all the diversity it offers, you know?

And I don't think of another place in the world

where you can find such a richness at the same place.

Our train has travelled from the warmth of the south

into France's volcanic heart.

We have marvelled at the splendour of its man-made monuments...

..and gloried in the beauty and simplicity of those made by nature.

It is a line steeped in history that today still provides

an important link from village to city.

Long may that continue.

La Ligne des Cevennes is one of the great railway journeys of France

and of the world.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media