Showing posts with label E4 through France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label E4 through France. Show all posts

Stage 10 - The E4 from Grenoble to the Swiss Border



By the time I got to Grenoble I was three days ahead of schedule.  Because friends had booked flights and were expecting to meet me at a particular place, I had to lose some days.  Some friends near Grenoble had offered to put me up so taking a few days out made a lot of sense.  I finished walking on the Wednesday and was back in Grenoble lunch time on the Saturday.  It rained almost continually for the three days so my timing for once was impeccable.
View across the Isere Valley

Getting to the Swiss border, where the E4 turns firmly east, involves a journey of some 245 kms, 10,500 metres of climb and 9110 of descent.  It took me 9 days with some long days where the accommodation was a bit limited.

Stage 7 - The E4 from Carcassone to Lodeve


In its own right, standalone, the walk from Carcassone to Lodeve has a lot going for it.  Both ends are easy to get to and sensible people would spend a bit of time at Carcassone which should be on most people’s must see list.  The walking itself is easy, pleasant rather than spectacular, and there is plenty of accommodation along the route in interesting French towns and villages.   The only downside is the long trip from Carcassonne to Mazemet, which really needs to be broken up with a taxi trip, and one or two bits of fairly dull walking through commercial pine plantations.  It’s good if not quite spectacular walking.

If you’re walking 5,000 kilometres you probably fail the sensible person test and I had decided that I didn’t want to stay in Carcassone.  Had done a huge walk the day before arriving, got there late, didn’t get my bearings and ended up in an expensive hotel.  I went through the walls, into the old town, and to me it felt 100 per cent tourist.  Don’t get me wrong I love going to see interesting places with lots of history but I struggle to flip from  the mode of walk walk walk to site see site see site see.  So apart from a perfunctory tick in the box I didn’t really see Carcassonne.

Sunday 26th June Lelex to Col de la Faucille

My luck has changed. Have walked to the top of a mountain hoping for great views for once I actually got them. The weather today was perfect and the scenery has been amazing.

Originally planned to go from Lelex to Saint Cergue in Switzerland but it but would have been a mega walk and, as it turned out would have meant rushing a spectacular stretch. Instead a nice leisurely 16 kilometre walk, with 1200 metres of climb, and, if I can find the way, an even more leisurely walk tomorrow.

The basic geography involves a ridge with the valley with Lelex in it to the north, north west, and an altogether bigger valley with Geneva and Lake Geneva in it to the south, south east. Beyond Geneva of course are the Alps.

I say leisurely but the first 40 minutes were really tough. Somehow got into a walking up a hill competition with two Frenchmen and a young French woman. They got right on my shoulder but wouldn't overtake and I wasn't going to stop so off we went. The men cracked after about twenty minutes but the woman was more persistent and only slowed down hill started to level of and after climbing 400 metres. I've been in training for over three months so don't intend to get overtaken now!




Climbing up to the Col de Crozet


Once you got to the top proper the walk took you right along the ridge. Mont Blanc dominated the sky line. I know it's not massive compared to peaks in the Himalaya but it is has a particularly commanding position. It towers above the plain below and dominates the mountains either side of it. Not sure if I was imagining it but I thought I saw its reflection in Lake Geneva.

I really needed an expert with me to tell me what else I could see. Pretty sure that a mountain to the east of Mont Blanc was Grande Combin which Christine and I got close to when we walked the Haute Route seven years ago. For a second I even thought I could see the Matterhorn but I'm sure I was being fanciful.




Lake Geneva and Mont Blanc


Geneva though was clearly visible, you could seen the airport with planes taking of and landing and of course the huge fountain. Funny to think that I was eating perch from the lake in a restaurant just of the beach along from Geneva only a week ago.

Even without the views the ridge itself was a splendid thing. For once I was on top of world and out of the trees. On a Sunday, I was of course sharing it with loads of other walkers but at least it meant that I could get someone to take my photograph.




Amazing views







On the Jura Ridge


With any luck today's views will be repeated many times over the next week. Tomorrow, if I can find it, I join the Crest Way, Switzerland's oldest long distance walk, connecting Geneva to Zurich, and taking me along an arc north of Alps and above the great central valley that runs east west across the country.

And for the very best view of the day the new addition.



Georgia


Sunday 19th June Le Sappey en Chartreuse to La Plagne

Definitely too far but also a contender for the best walk of the trip. 30 kilometres, 1900 metres of climb, stunning scenery, mud, slippery rocks as well as some really challenging climbing; good job tomorrow is a short walk as my feet and legs feel seriously battered.

Ideally I would have got away from the hotel that charged too much sooner but breakfast wasn't until 8.30 and I wasn't walking until just before 9. Drizzly start to the day but weather-wise it felt promising. Although it was misty the sun kept breaking through illuminating great views.


Chamechaude

The first big spectacular was the Dent de Crolles, first approaching it and then climbing up it's side. Approaching it involved a long slow muddy walk through trees (clothes quickly rendered filthy), followed by a stiff walk up an open hill and then a scramble through rocks and a bit of via ferrata.


Dent de Crolles




Heading down to the Col de Coq




In the scrambling queue

This was the big climb of the day, a 400 metre climb up to 1700 metres but the route then dropped a bit followed by another 300 metre climb up to 1900 metres. Just as I got to the col at the top the sky cleared enough to see Mont Blanc and the views all around were amazing. Both of these climbs were really busy but that just added to the fun.


Back to the Vercors




Ridge of the Roche de Bellefont





For the first time all day I now had some relatively easy walking but it was 3.00 and I was no where near half way. After following a long dry limestone valley gently down wards the scenery again became more dramatic and there was a final tough climb before I reached a wide grassy plateau full of cattle. It was now 6.30.


Roc de Bellefont




Upland meadow on the way to Col d'Alpette

The final challenge was an steep descent down to La Plagne. Had already fallen over twice and my legs were like jelly. An absolutely stunning evening I had soon dropped well below the cliffs which looked absolutely brilliant in the setting sun.


Evening sun on the rock face above the Col d'Alpette

Arrived at Gite d'Etape, at about 7.45, got a very quick shower and then had a great meal shared will a table full of French walkers - much more fun and better value than the hotel that charged too much. Great day.

Saturday 18th June Grenoble to Le Sappey en Chartreuse

Back on the trail again after three days when I barely put one foot in front of the other. Had a brilliant break and special thanks to Lesley and J-P. Had everything short of a blood transfusion although in a vain effort to make a noticeable impression on their wine cellar I suspect my blood has changed composition. I have also been holed up in their lovely house through a period of continued unsettled weather so walking would have been miserable.

Got back to Grenoble at about 2, it had been raining all morning, and I was starting to think that I might need to think about alternative ways of getting to Le Sappey en Chartreuse which is only about 14 kilometres along the GR 9 but involves about 1400 metres of climb. Was coming into Grenoble on a bus and to be honest if I had seen a bus which said "Le Sappey en Chartreuse" I would have jumped on it.

You get onto the GR9 via the Vauban fortress which sits above the city and there is a funicular up to it which would save about 200 metres of climb. By the time I had walked round to the lift the rain had eased of and to avoid the queue I walked up the road. After the fortress you climb up to about 800 metres, follow a ridge through trees, and then drop down the little village of Le Chateau Pillon. You then have a really steep 500 metre climb up, taking you to 1300 metres, to another hill top fortress. This was really hard work made worse by a runner steaming past me just before the summit.


Climbing up through the Foret dom de la Tronche

The views from the top were great. You could see the whole trail back down to Grenoble and the route I had taken on my last walking day including the La Sure ridge.


Looking back to Grenoble


The walk then went along the a ridge for about 5 kilometres looking over the Isere valley with great views east to snow topped mountains on the other side.


La Grande Pic de Belledone




Across the Isere Valley

Eventually the route turned west and away from the ridge heading down to Le Sappey en Chartreuse. Got to the Hotel, which looks budget busting, just before the heavens opened up. Considering how bad the weather was this morning I've been lucky and have had a good day. The forecast for tomorrow is good and the walk looks amazing, so fingers crossed.

Saturday 11th of June la Vacherie to Bouvante-le-Bas

Really good walk today despite a navigational cock-up and cloudy cold weather.

Was really cold in the night and multiple blankets didn't seem to make much difference. Looking south out of the bedroom window the weather was perfect, completely blue sky and fresh. Leaving the Gite the first thing you noticed was a bitter cold wind and the second was the cloud hanging over the tops of the mountain in the northerly direction I was heading. Wasn't long before I had to surrender and put a fleece on as well as gloves and two t-shirts, a thing I have only had to do a couple of times on the whole walk.

The cloud also spoilt the view. la Vacherie is set in a wide valley, with limestone ridges on either side which narrows as you approach Leoncel the next village along the route. The valley was full of long grass waiting for hay making.



Wind swept grassy plain north of la Vacherie

As the valley got narrower, turned into a gorge, trees dominated and provided some welcome protection from the wind. Was following an obvious forest trail, listening to music too embarrassing to name, and didn't notice that the red and white markers had disappeared. Decided that going back would have meant a lot of step retracing and assumed that the real track just went down to the road at the bottom when in fact it crossed the valley and went high up the other side. When I eventually got down to the road I decided that I somehow needed to get on the right trail as I might be missing something. I found a path up the other side, hit the GR 9 and walked back to the top of the trail to check for hidden gems. Although the path got much higher it stayed mainly in the trees and as it happened I could have saved myself the climb.


Along the valley north of Leoncel

It was on the way down that the views started to open up and would have been spectacular on a really fine day. Huge limestone cliffs in the distance with meadows and trees in the foreground.


From the Rocher de l'Aiguelle looking north east




Looking down from the Rocher de l'Aiguelle

The real surprise was the stunning gorge at the bottom of the valley, not mentioned in the Topoguide but something which in most places would qualify as a 5 star beauty spot, be the destination for coach journeys from the other side of the country, and be full of people taking pictures. Given that it's a Saturday, a bank holiday weekend, I can only conclude that the French haven't found it yet, or inexplicably don't like long trips on coaches.

My pictures don't do it justice. It was in fact two gorges merging with the divide formed by a narrow curtain of limestone. In the first picture below the limestone in the middle ground is the curtain with the limestone behind the wall of the second gorge. The route took you along the edge and then right down to the meadow at the base of the gorge. There was supposed to be an echo but despite shouting several times I couldn't make it work.


Pas de l'Echo




Looking down




At the bottom

After the gorge bonus it really was a steady climb up to Bouvante-le-Bas, although on the way had to go through the tiny village of Les Sables, which should have been called Les Kennels because it had at least thirty dogs in it and they were all barking at me, felt very welcome.

Thursday June 2nd Pont de Montvert to Villefort

Guest blog by Christine

We have arrived at a fantastic but slightly cranky hotel in Villefort after a wonderful day's walking in the Cevennes. We were greeted by the proprietor in the bar on arrival. He's both owner and chef, ex Paris, has been running the place for 27 years. Cooking smells are coming up the stairs and I for one am having the menu gastronomique.

We have walked 30k with 900m ascent and over 1000m descent. The weather has been much better than yesterday and the freezing cold north wind has veered to a softer westerly.

First stop this morning was the boulangerie for food, then along a road for a bit out of Pont de Montvert, then up a steep winding trail past little hamlets and farmsteads till we were away from the upper Tarn valley and high on heather moorland, walking over granite. The ground was good on the feet, soft and peaty, and it reminded me of Wales. We kept steadily climbing up and, after a while, miraculously joined the Tarn again only this time it was the very upper reaches. A small weir had allowed a wonderful stretch of lazy headwater to build up in a shallow moorland valley high high up near one of the Tarn's sources (evidently not the one we saw the other day). A sign instructed fishermen to ensure they only took one trout per day and only then if the tail was over 25 cms.




La Plain du Tarn


We followed the stream for a while and had the sun been out I'd have definitely stripped off for a swim.
A bit later we reached an old transhumance hamlet and stopped for lunch. 3 of the buildings had been converted to rustic holiday homes and a small procession of annoying 4 by 4's reminded us that this was the start of the French bank hoIiday weekend.




Bellacoste


We finally reached our highest point and eventually struck off on a path going north through lovely beech, oak and ash forest, starting to gently descend after a while with fantastic views of the Cevennes to the north and the Alps in the distance to the East.




Forest trail


After a few miles of this the trees gave way to heather and gorse moorland with huge granite outcrops, still dropping down slowly but lots of ups and downs over various lumps of granite.




Moorland above Villefort


The final leg of the walk felt like it was never going to end, straight down on a steep stoney track which was tough on the feet after a long day. Finally reached some tarmac and then an easy stroll into the pretty old town of Villefort and our hotel.




Steep down to Villefort


PS from John

Christine didn't mention that she nearly came a total cropper. Flying down the mountain and going through a rocky patch with beech trees, she put her foot on a stick, it flew up and caught her other foot. For the next 10 metres she resembled Tom from Tom and Jerry with legs spinning on some butter except that this was sloping butter. Amazingly she managed to stay on her feet but it was a scary episode. Too slow with the video mode on the camera I'm afraid.

Monday 30th of May Le Vigan to L'Esperou

There are definitely more accommodation options if you're walking across France rather than Spain. Perhaps a similar number of small hotels but in France you also have Chambre D'Hote and Gite d'Etapes. The downside for is that you get charged by the room whereas Spain it was often by the person making it a cheaper place for travelling alone. There are also more food options and to be honest the food has been generally better in France than Spain.

Last night at the Logis in Le Vigan was the exception. Was a bit worried about their priorities when I saw the large pink toy rabbit on the bed. Initially the large number of customers in the outside restaurant, and the traditional menu, made me think we were in for a treat but the food was just awful, over cooked and really bland. I think this was the the only outside restaurant in Le Vigan open on a Sunday night and the smokers who had descended on the place were not bothered about what the food tasted like.

Not a long walk today, about 20 kilometres, but with 1300 metres of climb it was a tough one. Instead of the blazing heat of yesterday today was cloudy and humid, not ideal for a tough climb. The walk was almost completely within trees and even when there was a longer view the humidity meant that it was not very clear.

It was hard work keeping Christine moving. Walking on my own I have got into a habit of not stopping, stopping just for food once or twice a day depending if it's a standard or a very long day. Christine is a frequent stopper and constantly on the lookout for a village with a bar or a coffee place.

The first place which should have had a cafe was Aulas which was an hour out of Le Vigan reached after a steady climb up through hillside suburbs. Unfortunately the cafe was shut so no choice but to press on. A cherry orchard just above Aulas provided some temporary relief but after 40 minutes more we had to stop for a first lunch. Things really got tense when 10 minutes later another stop opportunity came up with a cafe on the side of a road the route crossed and, so soon after stopping for lunch, I insisted we press on. 40 minutes later we stopped for our second lunch and had only walked a painful 8 kilometres. My suggestion that it would be dark before we got to Esperou was not well received but I plugged her into the IPod and with the worst of the climbing done things went better. In the end we got there by four.


Aulas








Humid Weather

A lot more walkers on trail at the moment which is nice and they usually stop to ask where you have come from. A group of Frenchmen who spoke perfect English, opened the conversation by saying that they had already done 250 kilometres, so being able to respond with ' Oh really? I've just done 2500 kilometres' was the perfect putdown.

L'Esperou is, believe it or not, a ski resort with several hotels and a development of chalets which look very Swiss. Just as we arrived it started to rain but the sky is now blue and things feel a lot fresher. It's about another 300 metres of climb to the top of Mont Aigoual which we go over tomorrow and apparently on a perfect day you can see Mont Blanc in the Alps and Canigou in the Pyrenees.

Sunday 29th May Navacelles to Le Vigan

Shouldn't moan as I know that not everyone is experiencing blue skies but here the heat wave which disappeared for a couple of days has now come back full force and temperatures were again up into the 30s. Surprising how much the heat takes out of you and although the walk was only 22 kilometres we both felt drained at the end of it.

Essentially the walk involved a climb out of yesterday's gorge, a walk across some classic causse countryside through a couple of villages along the way, and then a long walk down through an oak and sweet chestnut forest to Le Vigan.

Setting off it wasn't too hot a Christine took a picture of yours truly on the bridge on the way out of Navacelles. Notice that I'm now wearing full anti-tick gear.


Leaving Navacelles

The walk up the side of the gorge gave increasingly spectacular views of the Cirque de Navacelles and you can even make out the waterfalls where the "new" river route goes.


Cirque de Navacelles

I know people rave about the causse scenery but when it's hot like today the arid, desert like characteristics come to fore. Very little cover and everything baking under the sun. That said there were still lots of wild flowers in particular orchids and honeysuckle.


Classic causse vegetation




Honeysuckle

Went through three villages before we got to Le Vigan, Blandas, Montdardier and Avese, all with accommodation options, although Montdardier where we had hoped to escape the heat and have lunch was being completely dug up to lay new water pipes and everything was shut down.

Saw our first couple walking in the style of Robert Louis Stephenson with a donkey. I'm with Nicholas Crane who suggests that Travels with a Donkey is responsible for more cases of donkey abuse than other book. The donkey was keener to eat than to walk and it difficult to see where the accelerator peddle was.


Donkey abuse

After the heat a walk down through the trees was a welcome change. The local guide book describes the young oak trees as pubescent, something lost in translation perhaps. Because she'd missed out on lunch I took pity on Christine and let her borrow my iPod and she was soon waving her arms about to Pavarotti singing La Boheme.

Still hot when we got to Le Vigan not helped by the fact that the hotel we are staying in turned out to be on the edge of town and a kilometre or so in the direction from which we had just walked.

Climbing high tomorrow, over 1,000 metres, so should be cooler. We then spend three days in the Cevennes National Park which could be amazing.

Thursday May 26th Ceilhes-et-Rocozels to Lodeve

It's official, I'm in the middle of a heat wave. It's supposed to be a around 25 degrees but today it was hitting 32, even at attitude.

Very hot day for Christine to start walking with me but the good news was that instead of 37 kilometres I thought we were going to have to walk to get to Lodeve all we had to was 22, in this heat this seriously fortunate. Actually we have decided we like these shorter walks so have rescheduled things a bit for the next few days so that instead of 8/9 hour days we will be limiting things to 5/6, it is Christine's holiday after all.

Not the very best walk, not just the heat but quite a lot of road walking and indeed a lot more than my route on the GPS and the topoguide, which Christine brought out (together with new walking shoes and socks) were telling us. Shock horror, the topoguide, the official publication of the French Randonne Association, was also different to markings on the ground, we didn't know who to believe.

The heat meant that the views were covered in a heat haze and that all you really wanted was the shade offered by the trees.


Above Lodeve




First day in France for Christine

The most exciting thing to happen, really exciting in a sad nerdy sort of way, is that we met three people in red t-shirts marking out the route. It was like being a child waking up and finding the tooth fairy. They had secateurs, pots of paint and baskets full of gardening equipment. They were from the Randonne Association d'Herault, although we couldn't quite work out if they had a relationship with the regional or departmental government. Anyway we challenged them about the inaccurate topo guide maps and they informed us that despite it being a new edition, and published by the national body, it was out of date and did not incorporate the changes they have to make on the ground. The maps are more likely to be up-to-date but even they suffer from the fact that it is difficult to keep up with changes made on the ground.


Marking the route

As they had walked the route to Lodeve we had no trouble in finding the markings all the way into town and the Hotel du Nord. Like Mazamet this town felt a bit run down and passed by, which given the new motorway going round it is perhaps exactly what has happened.

Christine writes: John is in good form, relaxed and tanned. The scenery round here is very green and tamer than I expected. The wild honeysuckle, broom and dog rose all smell good which is just as well as John's T shirts are distinctly sniffy.

Sunday 22nd May Mazamet to Angles

A rest day yesterday and given my sore feet it was just as well that there is nothing to do in Mazamet. One web site claims that it is one of the 10 prettiest towns in France but trust me it isn't. Once an important textile centre making uniforms for the army the empty factories line the route into town. The town centre itself is a dismal place with lots empty shops.

Left the lovely Chambre D'hote at about 8.30 fully laden. After running out of food last weekend I had stocked up with enough food yesterday for two days. Really annoyed to find a Sunday market and that open bread shops. Je ne comprends pas!

The weather had changed from hot and sticky to cloudy and cloud. It wasn't really problem as it was a route through trees and a least it wasn't raining.

Having travelled north from the Pyrenees I'm now travelling east until I get to Lodeve in four days time.

Today continued the sort of walking I had when I came down from the Pic Noire the day before yesterday. Having negotiated the suburbs of Mazamet and gone past Leclerc supermarket (which is probably the culprit in the murder of the town centre), the walk involved a fairly gentle climb up to about 900 metres through a forest which occasionally opened up into flower laden hay meadows and patches of broom.


A meadow in the trees




Endless broom

The forests are a mix but with a lot of sweet chestnut, beech and the most enormous pine. The pine are truly enormous I guess at least 100 feet high and today with their tops reaching into the low cloud they looked like giant sentinels on the hill side.


Huge mist laden pines


The other interesting feature of today's walk is that just to the north east of Mazamet the E4 leaves the GR 36 (which I think carries on up to Normandy) and joins the GR 71/GR 653 which is the main French feeder to the St James Way which comes down from Le Puy. In addition to the usual brilliant French way marks you now get the extra treat of scallop shells to keep you on the right route.

After 26 kilometres and 900 metres of climb I got to Angles at about 4. Staying at a Gite d'Etape, which is a cross between a Chambre d'Hote and a Refuge. You get your own room, you share a bathroom, but you also get lots of rules. Can't bring your sticks in the house and your shoes have to go in a special rack. Actually the landlady was savage with my shoes banging them on the wall outside which given the increasingly delicate state they are in was really unnecessary. Both pairs know have holes in the soles and still four days to go before a new pair arrives from London with Christine. Can't wait for the new shoes and can't wait to see Christine.