The Beaume is a small Cévennes tributary of the Ardèche — it joins the parent river at Ruoms, a few kilometres upstream of the famous gorge — and for the first two-thirds of its length it is honest trout water. Schist bedrock, dark pools, tight casting under the chestnut oaks that cover the Cévennes valleys, the kind of place where you can fish all morning and see three sheep and a buzzard and not much else. The best beats are above Joyeuse, where the river still has its own character and hasn't yet had its water sucked off for irrigation. Wild trout in the five to nine inch range, with the occasional better fish in the deeper holding pools. Fish it early in the season — March, April, May — because by July the middle Beaume is often a string of warm pools and the fish have retreated into the headwaters. Standard Cévennes kit: a small rod, a handful of Baetis dries and CDC emergers, and the willingness to walk.

• Schist