From Velay to Cévennes - Variations on Stevenson's Trail and Régordane Way

The Régordane Way

INTRO

I am just back from a six days southbound hike over the Eastern side of French Massif Central, from Haute Loire to Gard, through Lozère.
Since I started long distance walking in September 2007, this is the first time I have hiked outside Great Britain. One might wonder why.
Well, among the rational motives, I would only mention that, from abroad, is pretty much easier to plan a long distance walk in Britain than in France; in particular, because there are more and better on line resources (I have already explained why I don't hike in Italy).

The special feeling I have with Old England and the unique and unforgettable experience of my first long hike (Norfolk) can definitely be reckoned among the most relevant inspirations.
It might seem incredible but the only European country which I find quite outlandish is the selfsame England!
Apart from the difference of language, I feel quite familiar in France, Belgium, Germany, etc while, in England, it is almost as I lived in a romance or a novel of old. Probably, there are also other inexplicable reasons.
But, I am going astray, back to the matter!


A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE HIKE

I would have liked to walk the whole Stevenson's Trail (252 km.) or the Régordane Way (240 km.) but I had only one week of vacation available so I made a kind of short melange: some stretches of the above ways mixed with other trails or country lanes or even roads.

The Cathedral of Le Puy

I set out from Le-Puy-en-Velay on Monday, 12 September and walked 19 km. of the GR 430 (GR: grande randonnée i.e. long distance trail) up to Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille in Haute Loire (where I spent the night at the Auberge des Acacias, a small neat and lovely hotel. € 45 en suite b.i.).
In the train from St. Etienne to Le Puy there where a lot of walkers but, probably, most of them were bound to San Iacopo de Compostela: I met very few hikers along my route.
An over-sixty lady takes place in front of me and, as we both carry rucksacks we soon start chatting. She is just retired and she is going to Compostela (1,500 Km.). I feel a tender compassion glancing at her huge and heavy rucksack. She is even wearing sandals, carrying a pair of boots in the rucksack which I reckon to be weighing over 15 Kg.! It is her first long distance walking; I try to give her some advice on the importance to be as light as possible and she says that she will probably ship back home some gear if she realizes to be unessential. I wouldn't seem an ultra-light-backpacking evangelist but, as I read on a French web-site on the topic: "A heavy rucksack is a rucksack crammed with anguish - Freud"

The Loire at Goudet

On Monday, 13 September I walked from Le Monastier-sur-Gazeille to Landos (less than 25 Km.), crossing the Loire at Goudet. I followed the GR 70 (Stevenson's Trail) up to Ussel. Then I got to Landos shortcutting by country roads. Mind you: from Stevenson's booklet A Travel with a Donkey in the Cévennes, we know the places where he went but not the ways he took.
Therefore the official route is a sort of hypothetical reconstruction to which one shouldn't feel obliged to stick too strictly.
So from Ussel I followed the D 491 (D stands for Départementale: numbered local road) where cars passed each quarter of an hour. Eventually, through the D 88 I got to Landos where I stayed at the Gîtes d'étape communal (a sort of youth hostel managed by the town council). For € 12 I had the luxury of a four beds en suite room (with kitchenette) only for me (few people walking in the area in September).
Landos is a small village but there is a nice romanesque church with "comb belfry" (clocher à peigne) typical of the area.

Régordane Gate at Pradelles

On Tuesday, 14 September I set out from Landos and again I took a non canonical route shorter than the Régordane Way. I reached the latter at Les Uffernets and then I sticked to it as far as Langogne (19 Km.). I stopped for a meal at a rather shabby restaurant in Pradelles, a nice though austere mountain stone village. In Langogne I stayed at the "Modest Inn" (the pun should sound familiar to the reader of the mentioned Stevenson's booklet: Modestine being the she donkey who carried the writer's pack). It is a full of books chambre d’hôte (i.e. B&B) run by Philippe, a nice southern Frenchman. I had my breakfast with a couple of French walkers I met again along the route.

Langogne Grain Hall

In Langogne, at last, I could buy a pair of insoles: I had forgotten to insert the original ones in my shoes before leaving home and in the long run it hurt! Actually it went even worse because the insoles I found didn't breathe and I soon got blisters!

Wednesday, 15 September. Cold (8° C.) but beautiful crispy blue sky. Perfect for walking. I climb from Langogne through pastures, then, I walk mainly through forests on the uplands (over 1,000 m.). Soon I leave the Stevenson's Trail and follow the Régordane Way. A short rest, the time to eat some plums and cheese. Suddenly the air and the flora change; I am now on the Mediterranean side; the ground is dry, more similar to Italy.
At Luc castle I met the couple of this morning breakfast. We take photos and we stop for a coffee at the local café. They move on before me: they want to stay at Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, like Stevenson. I walk leisurely directly to La Bastide where, for € 44,00, I take demi-pension (half-board) at Les Genêts, a basic, neat and functional hotel. The today leg has been of about 23 Km.
The hotel is full of middle-aged walkers, probably doing circular hikes in the area. I chat with a Frenchman from Strasbourg who is walking the whole Stevenson's Trail. He carries a rucksack weighing more than 12 Kg.! He seems a bit puzzled when I tell him that mine is no more than 5,5 Kg. water, food and camping gear included.

La Garde-Guérin

Posing with Savoyard Hikers

Thursday, 16 September. After La Bastide, I walk at last, on the true Régordane Way: a trail excavated on the stone with evident cart tracks which the legend (Le Charroi de Nîmes) ascribes to the passage of Guillaume d'Orange, with a cart full of armed men, directed to reconquer Nîmes (see first picture on this post). I stop for a bite at rustic B&B (Albespeyre) where I share the table with two couples from Savoy. It turns up that the men are two brothers of Italian stock. Descendants of old emigrants from the Italian Alps (near Bergamo). We have a nice and friendly chat and we discuss even the present distracted times of Italian politics. I pose with them for a photo. They start before me but I meet them later at La Garde-Guérin, a lovely medieval walled village.
Eventually, I spend the night in a pretty shabby hotel at Villefort, where I arrive exhausted after 22 Km. of walking manly on loose stones tracks. I am so tired and disheartened because of the pain from blisters ache that I am resolved to finish there and get the train to Nîmes the following morning.

The Cévennes

Friday, 17 September. The arnica ointment has done miracles: nearly no more pain from the blisters! So, I decide to continue the hike. But, instead of following the Régordane - which now runs mainly on a valley - I take the GR 68. I climb the steep ascent to the ridge where wonderful views open over the Cévennes. A sea of mountains and forests as the eye can see!
On the ridge the going is easy: always on tracks but for the peak of Le Bousquillou (1,115 m.) where I have some trouble in finding the path among dense brooms and in scrambling a rocky descent. At the end of the scramble I meet three middle-aged ladies bound to Villefort who ask me information about the difficulties of the route.
Eventually, in the late afternoon, after a very strenuous descent on loose stones mule track, I get to Génolhac: the end of my journey.

Génolhac

The leg (c. 25 Km.) has been particularly hard but worthwhile: probably the best of the whole hike.
I find a room at the at Le Commerce (€ 32 w.b.), a basic hotel where I feel back to the fifties.
 
All the following day I am excrutiated by a violent headache: too much gluten in French breakfasts? Sadly I cannot enjoy the lovely and lively city of Nîmes where I spend the afternoon before going to catch my flight at Lyon Airport.


LONG DISTANCE WALKING IN FRANCE AND BRITAIN COMPARED

It is probably wrong to compare but I cannot resist to put down some reflections I made on my journal.
The landscape I saw in this French hike is probably more varied (I am starting with the positive aspects) than the average one I saw during my walks in Britain. The weather is definitely drier! Grocer's shops are easier to find and, generally, they are better-stocked.

On the other end, while British villages are almost always well kept and harmonious, in the French area where I have walked the villages are a bit like in Southern Italy: old splendors mixed with buildings of any shape and style.

There are other aspects similar to Italy. During my hike in France I have never walked a path in a meadow among cattle or flocks nor in any evident private land. In Britain, even let alone the special custom of Scotland, one walks mostly on private land. The right of way seems something impossible in France or Italy. Probably, while in Britain there is a consolidated awareness of the citizen's respect for other's property, in France as in Italy there is a sort of mistrust and jealousy of landowners who, at least in the latter country, tend to obstruct even public footpaths (see the relevant topic on old post).

An other difference I have noted concerns wildlife: I have seen in France very few animals; it is like they were scared by humans. Besides, in some area, there were many hunters.
British dogs are different as well: in Britain I have very seldom heard barking while in France, like in Italy, each time I passed near a house or a farm I was welcome by furious barking. I passed even before a farm from whose open gates got out two big nasty looking dogs advancing towards me with threatening mien. Luckily they stopped in front of my aggressive insults!

Public transport is sparser in France than in England. Trains are equally expensive but, in Britain, one has the resource of a dense network of relatively cheap coaches and buses.
The I.G.N. 1:25 000 maps are fine but, apart of named trails (GR, GRP and PR) there isn't any indication of right of way. Ordnance Survey maps trace in green any right of way, even related to the smallest footpath.

In Britain there is such a wealth of on line information that planning a hike goes on so smoothly!
Let alone National Trail web site, one can find descriptions, maps, leaflets, etc for a huge number of other trails; from a couple of hours stroll to a thousand miles hike.  Let me only mention The Long Distance Walkers Association which, among other things, allows you to find walk through various queries, combining distance, area, etc.
Nothing comparable exists for French trails. Even planning hikes from scratch it is not that easy. Actually, IGN (Institut Géographique National) allows only text search for its 1:25 000 maps (by town or place or grid reference). Sadly, no visual search on scalable maps is available, as at Ordnance Survey. The only tool that might help is ITINERAIRES DE GRANDES RANDONNEES EN FRANCE, a 1:1 000 000 map showing all the long distance trails of France.

I hope I have not been too biased in my comparison. Anyway it has been a wonderful hike!

THE GEAR

When I look back to the 8 Kg. gear of my first long distance walk, I can appreciate the progress I have made along the way to ultra light backpacking: on this hike I have carried a rucksack a little bit heavier than 5 Kg. but with camping gear included and the luxury of Stevenson's booklet.
For more details you can look at list below and compare it with that of my first long distance walk.
Let me add here just some comments about the lightening process which results from my experience and that of others as well.

• Eliminated anything not absolutely indispensable: map case, pedometer, pyjama, shorts, spare glasses, emergency blanket, shirt, dental paste and floss, dried apricots and sesame bars.
• Reduced the number of items: 1 t-shirt instead than 2; 2 pants instead of 5; 1 ricecakes packet instead than 2; 2 pairs of socks instead than 6.
• Replaced some articles with less heavier ones: Quechua heavy fleece (551 g.) by Montane Prism 2.0 Jacket (420 g. and windproof extra!); Quechua 40 l. rucksack (1,800 g.) by Jam 2 Golite (51 l. 700 g.); Quechua torch (75 g.) by Photon Micro-Light II LED Keychain Flashlight (9 g.).
• Replaced two items by one multifunction item: e.g. waterproof jacket and rucksack rain cover by a poncho.

Now, if somebody took pains to calculate the balance between the two configurations he would find more than only 3 kg. The early greater difference, due to the above lightening process, has been reduced by the items I have been obliged to add in order to camp. Beside, the mentioned poncho (wich actually works as a tent as well) now I carry also: tent harness, pole and pegs; metal mug; solid fuel tablets; lighter; mat (which works as rucksack stiffner as well);  sleeping bag; towel; an extra fleece for cold nights camp and, finally, thermometer-compass.

For the sake of details eager backpackers or of anybody else, I conclude this post with the list of gear I have carried during this last hike.

Item	Weight per unit	Number worn	Number in rucksack	Total weight worn	Total weight in rucksack
Camera	121	1		121	0
Camera battery spare	15		3		45
Canteen	29		1		29
Cell phone	77	1		77	0
Cell phone battery charger	43		1		43
Chocolate bar	106		1		106
Cleenex	27	1	1	27	27
Coffee (instant)	2		10		20
Cutlery	39		1		39
Documents (guides, maps, etc.)	424		1	0	424
Fleece light (Montane)	231		1	0	231
Fleece light Active (Montane)	257	1			257
Hat	107	1		107	0
Jacket (Montane Prism 2.0)	421		1		421
Lighter	10		1		10
Mat (Thermarest Z-Lite)	387		1		387
Medicine	120		1		120
Mug (Tibetan Titanium 450)	75		1	0	75
Notebook	32	1		32	0
Pants	28	1	1	28	28
Pen	11	1		11	0
Poncho-Shelter (Gatewood Cape)	323		1	0	323
Rice cakes	124		1	0	124
Rucksack (Golite Jam 2)	700		1	0	700
Sewing kit	8		1	0	8
Shoes (Inov-8 Roclite 318 GTX)	636	1		636
Sleeping Bag (W. Mountan. HighLite)	499		1	0	499
Socks	78	1	1	78	78
Solid Fuel (Esbit)	85		1	0	85
T-shirt	134	1	0	134	0
Tent Harness	20		1	0	20
Tent Pegs	10		6	0	60
Tent Pole	55		1	0	55
Thermometer-Compass (Recta Micro)	10	1		10	0
Tooth brush	15		1	0	15
Torch (Photon Micro-Light II)	9	1		9	9
Towel	48		1	0	48
Walking trousers	374	1		374	0
Wallet	143	1		143	0
Water 1 l.	1,000		1	0	1,000
Total (in grams)				1,666	5,286

South Downs Way

From the 6th to the 12th of April, I walked the South Downs Way from Winchester to Eastbourne.

The main novelty of this last hike is that I didn't do it solo but with my youngest daughter Beatrice.

Unfortunately, for lack of suitable prior training, we weren't fit enough. So, at the end of the 5th day we were so tired that we skipped the next leg (from Pyecombe to Lewes).

Apart from one whole misty day under heavy rain, we had always fine weather. Fresh but good for walking.

We met nice people and we stayed in beautiful inns and hospitable B&Bs.
As we advanced we were accompanied by the delightful song of skylarks and chaffinches.

I really don't know why but, in the end, I found the South Downs Way the less exciting of all the hikes I've done in Britain.

I took the opportunity of this last walking to improve the reduction of the gear weight.
I have gained 250 g. shifting from Ferrino Cumbre 35 l. rucksack to the Golite Jam2.
I found the latter less comfortable. But being frameless it needs something to stiffen it; e.g. a mattress which I didn't carry.
I gained some more grammes replacing the waterproof jacket and the rucksack cover by a poncho and a very light windproof.

Thus far I have always stayed in B&B or inns. In the future I would like to be more free and not to be bound to legs depending on accommodations booked longtime beforehand.
Therefore I am considering to carry a light camping gear: a poncho-tarp, a foam mattress and sleeping bag.
But, before embarking in a tough trek abroad (e.g. Highlands) I would like to do some experiments near home in order to stop easily in case something should go wrong.
So, next Autumn I would like to walk a section of the Apennines trail (Grande Escursione Appenninica) from the southern border of Tuscany to Florence.

As usually, I have taken some photos which are now available through the relevant links in the Trail Pictures section.

Why England - Conclusion

To see no other verdure than its own;
To feel no other breezes than are blown
Through its tall woods with high romances blent

J. KEATS

In the last post I tried to explain why I didn't choose my home country (Italy) for my first long distance walking experience.
Today I am going to tell wherefore I preferred England to other nearer countries.

Probably there are many fine long distance walks in other European countries but, as far a I could understand exploring Internet, no other country offers like England (and Wales) such a rich choice of trails managed by an official organization (National Trail) providing - through a dedicated website and guide-books - a comprehensive support to walkers for planning their trips: maps, distances, accommodation, photo galleries, etc.

Nowhere else I have been able to find such a help which allowed me - absolute beginner - to choose the best fit trail and smoothly organize my trip.

Moreover what pleasant surprise when - perusing some maps of England - I discovered that, beside the 4,000 km covered by the 14 national trails, the whole country is reticulated by a grid of public footpaths allowing to actually go everywhere on foot.

Thus, practical motives were determinant in choosing England but this choice matched a preexistent inner inclination.

It is not that I don't like France or Germany but England has something undefinable which strikes a chord with me.

Well, how to say?

One almost magic aspect deals with the relative intactness of England: since medieval times - excepted some bombings in World War II - she has scarcely suffered from war destructions not in the least comparable to Germany or Italy. Actually it is the fire which has been the main ravager.
This aspect is also due to her inhabitants who generally don't throw away things just because they are out of fashion.
I have been fascinated by pubs where one expects to suddenly behold Tom Jones or Falstaff.
Even the very fences or signposts are quite discreet in this country, barely impacting on the landscape.

I could resume my feelings saying that, walking in England, I rarely get a clashing sensation. My sharp aesthetic sensibility is seldom upset and I feel at peace.

In the next post I going to tell why I chose the Peddars Way and Norfolk Coast Path among the 14 national trails.

Why England continued

Why not Italy (continued)

Environment

Another essential issue is the state of the environment which sadly is rather blighted in Italy.
Of course this cannot be generalized. There are still some unspoiled areas in this country but they are not situated as to form a system which one can walk a long distance across without interruptions.

The first destroyers of the Italian environment (here I don't take in consideration the pollution) are the real estate developers.
The concrete is unrelentingly spreading everywhere. The most aggressed area is the seaside: hundreds - if not even thousands - kilometers of coasts are no more than long rows of concrete.
But nothing seems to resist the concrete: countryside, Alps, Apennines, archaeological sites, national and regional parks.

An other cause of nature and landscape spoiling is the unrelenting tracing of roads. The Apennines are particularly stricken by this fever: roads everywhere; for hunting, for second homes, for skying, for gas pipes maintenance, etc.

Last but not least the damage done to the environment by the citizens themselves. Sadly, the average Italian - regardless of his assertions, is often disrespectful of the environment.
One cannot walk - even in the woods - without stumbling across illegal buildings or rubbish of any type (even old fridges, gas stoves, toilet bowls, etc.).

Luckily this situation is not absolute: there are still scattered areas of excellence although things get worse as one moves southwards.

Let me give some real life examples.

I live just near a volcanic lake bordered by a primeval wood with some remnants of Roman works. Two footpaths make the circuit of the lake: through the wood and along the shore.
When I moved in this area 16 years ago, I eagerly tried to walk those paths but I gave it up soon: rubbish, stray dogs, mountain bikers at full speed, etc.
Mind you, it is a "Regional Park"!

Later I tried some trails described in a regional (Lazio) footpaths guide hoping that - away from urban areas - things might be better: unfortunately I found the same situation.

Somebody could say this is not true for the whole country. I already said above that it must not be generalized but even in the very refined Tuscany (where I lived for 30 years), although the situation was far better than here in Lazio, I had unpleasant experiences.

For instance, when after a 4 hours mountain trekking, I reached the source of Arno, the first thing watered by the rivulet springing from the rock was a Coca Cola can!
Of course I don't think it was dropped by somebody who, like me, had walked so many hours. Unfortunately, a freshly opened road, allowed people to come by car a few yards from the source.

I want to conclude this post with an anthropological consideration: I think that Mediterranean peoples have a problematic relationship to Nature!
When the average Mediterranean moves from the sweetish fake imagery into the true real life Nature he feels it as a threatening entity.
How to explain otherwise the customary violence he inflicts to Nature. I mean gratuitously not for gain which is an universal behaviour.
I finish this post with a challenge proposed to my gentle reader:

How to interpret that the average Mediterranean (or at least Italian) scarcely goes out into Nature (countryside, seaside, woods, etc.) without his panoply of gadgets (branded garments, I-Pods, etc.) and, when possible, motor vehicles he hardly parts from (how often I have seen people picnicking beside their car on the very border of a road skirting a wood or meadow).

I could go on a great deal with such sad stories but it would be very gloomy. So, enough with this topic.
I promise to be positive in the next post: I am going to tell, at last, why I chose England for long distance walking.

Why England?

This precious stone set in a silver sea

One could wonder why I went to a foreign and relatively distant country to undertake a long distance walk.
As a matter of fact, it is the very question my wife Chantal was put to, whenever a friend or some other acquaintance knew that I was walking in Norfolk: "Why going so far?! Couldn't he walk here?".

This question must be answered following two implicated approaches:

1. Why not Italy
2. Why England

Why not Italy

Public Rights of Way

Excepted Alps and other mountains, it is actually impossible to walk a long distance in Italy.
I mean that it is not possible to walk long distance trails forbidden to motor vehicles. Obviously, if you want, you can - at your own risk - travel on foot on any road not expressly forbidden (like motorways) to walkers.
Of course, there are footpaths even outside mountains but they are short and not interlinked as to cover hundreds of kilometers.
Italian trekkers would probably protest in reading this. But what I am intending here is that in this country - outside mountains - there are no trails not even in the least comparable to such as e.g. England's Offa's Dyke Path (285 km) or South West Coast Path (1,014 km).
Mind you, length is not the only aspect weighed here; what makes the difference is that England's trails - such as those above mentioned - allow people to travel across the country on ways reserved to walkers!
That is, without being disturbed (and threatened) by motor vehicles (even though some stretches may be shared with horse or bike riders) and, at the same time, never losing contact with the main aspects of the genuine country: towns, villages, monuments, etc. Although, of course, many sections may be retreated and amid woods, heathlands, meadows, farmlands, etc.

Why this lack of long distance trails in Italy?
Well, in my opinion this results from the combination of several causes.

One reason is probably the very lack of demand: citizens do not put enough pressure on the government (local and central) to preserve public rights of way, reinstate illegally obstructed ones and negotiate new passages with owners.

A second reason - partially related to the latter - is the endemic "culture of illegality": frequently public ways are obstructed by bordering real estate owners.

I will never forget the first (and last) time I went to Monte Argentario (a circular headland in south Tuscany) with the rosy expectation to swim in one of its beautiful coves (such appeared to me from photos, films and guides). Well, although - riding a scooter - I had a very distinct perception of the ground, I made the whole tour of the headland (c.a 30 km) without finding any access to the sea. They had been all obstructed by the villa owners.
Consider that this is not an exception in this country!

What difference with the 1,014 km of public footpath of the South West Coast Path (UK) or - known by personal experience - the 75 km of the Norfolk Coast Path where one is never shut off from the sea.
Or, giving an other example directly experienced: Concarneau in Brittany (FR), where the local gevernment has managed to set free access to the whole spectacular coast path.

Beside the above "objective" impediments to long distance walking in Italy I would like to tell about personal motives as well.

I already mentioned that in Italy it is still possible to undertake long journeys on foot in the mountains but it is more like climbing than walking (probably - although there are no standard terms - one might say "trekking"). This is rather hard (especially for over-sixties like me); landscape and environment are very particular; accommodation is mainly on shelters (no sharing everyday life with local people). Of course, this is a question of personal taste. I won't contest the pleasure and the beauty of mountain trekking but, I insist, it is a quite different experience than the long distance walk I had in England (the very object of this blog, whose gentle reader I pray to have some more patience).

But look! This post is becoming too long. So I publish it as it is, promising to continue - in the next one - the story about why I didn't choose Italy for hiking.