This is a rewrite of the blog I did a couple of months ago and benefits from the work I have now done on the French part of the E4 itinerary and the more detailed planning I have completed for each stage.
The route is more complex than the E4 in Spain which largely followed the route of the Spanish GR 7. In France the route joins up sections of 9 different GR routes. When it comes to developing the itinerary some things are easier and some more difficult compared to Spain. In England, French maps are much easier to get hold of, particularly if you live in London, and indeed I found I already had a number of them from previous trips. The Federation Francaise de la Randonnee Pedestre, the national walking association, have been particularly helpful. Not only did they provide me (free of charge) with a map of Europe with all the E routes marked, they also constructed a table for me listing all the maps I would need to get. Brilliant, formidable or what!
What I haven't been able to find (yet) are the itineraries you get on the Spanish regional walking associations websites which give you a stage breakdown with estimates of how long it will take you to complete each stage. What I have found, as a substitute, is a site called GR-info which not only lists all the GR routes but allows you to display them on Google Earth. Using Google Earth you can then work out where the accommodation is and produce distance and amount of climb - almost all you need to plan an itinerary.
According to the GR-info/Google Earth method the E4 in France is 1186 kms long. This is 86 kms longer than the figure on ERA website. Not sure which, if either, number is right and to be honest I think the GR-info/Google Earth method straightens a lot of bendy lines and could itself understate the real extent of the route.
My itinerary suggests I could complete the route in 46 days - which translates into 26 kms or 15.5 miles a day. This looks OK but could be a bit more of a stretch when you start to take account of the ups and down. Roughly speaking it’s 49km up and not surprisingly and about the same amount down.
The route is very varied from virtually every perspective. It’s varied in terms of the walking itself, going from quite gentle, once your out of the Pyrenees and heading towards and beyond Carcassone, to really very tough, as you get into the Vercors and the foothills of the Alps. It’s varied in terms of the history and the mark history has made on the architecture of the towns (I’m particularly looking forward to those Cathar castles in the south-east). It’s also varied in terms of the geography, geology and to an extent climate as to travel from Alpine to Mediterranean and back to Alpine again. This is top walking country and French have celebrated this with a necklace of national and regional parks which almost join the entire route together.
Accommodation by and large looks plentiful and I shouldn’t need a tent or even a bivi bag. A number of the stopovers however involve a "Gite d'Etape" . The definition of what you get in a “Gite d’Etape” is not entirely clear, not to me anyway, and while some definitely come with half board others don’t which will mean carrying food for more than one day.
There are options for breaking up the route and at the moment I’m thinking of stopping for a day a Carcassonne, Villefort, Malaucene and Grenoble, 4 days rest, 46 days walking, which might not be enough. Anyway if I leave it time being that France will take 50 days, start France on the 14th May I should be ready for the Swiss section by the 2nd of July. Onwards and upwards!
Showing posts with label Walking in Vercours; E4 European Walk; Hiking in France. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walking in Vercours; E4 European Walk; Hiking in France. Show all posts
Stage 11 - Through the Vercors
Stage 11 looks like the toughest stage yet. It is 217 km and involves 9,000 metres of climb over 9 days. After what is essentially a linking day from Chateauneuf-du-Rhone to Dieulefet along the GR 429 the E4 heads north along the GR9 all the way to the Swiss border.
The toughness of the walk is a reflection, in part at least, of the change in geology. The younger mountains on the eastern side of the Rhone valley are different to the ancients on the west and the foothills of Alps and Jura come with deeper valleys, tougher ascents and descents than the Massif Central.
From Leoncel onwards the walk takes you through the Vercors Natural Park . The landscape has been described as a limestone "citadel" which dramatic cliffs and long gorges. It actually was a citadel against the Germans in the 2nd World War with the Resistance provoking a bloody response from paratroopers landing on mass in the area in gliders.
Day 1, probably after a rest day at Chateauneuf-du-Rhone, is a really long one, 39 kms. Can't find any accommodation on the route and it will be nice to get onto the GR9. Highlight of the walk, which is through fairly gentle, wooded countryside, is probably the 10th century abbey at Aiguebelle. Dieulefet, an ancient pottery centre, looks like a nice town and has plenty of accommodation.
It might be possible to walk all the way to Saillans on day 2 (33 kms, 1500 metres) but after such a tough day 1 that looks like a stretch. The alternative is a short walk to the small village of village of Bourdeaux, (13 kms) leaving Saillans for day 3.
Day 3 looks like a dramatic walk, 20 kms, 1200 metres of climb and 1300 of descent before arriving at Saillons. The climb involves ascending the Massif de Saou and the potential views from the top could be amazing with huge cliffs dropping north and east into what looks like a gorge below. It looks like a very steep descent into the small town/village of Saillons.
The walk is now tracking along the western side of the Vercors Natural Park and the last four days of the walk look particularly dramatic. The day of the four (day 6) starts with a hard climb out of Saint-Martin de Colonel up to 1300 metres, over the Col-de-la-Machine, along a ridge walk with potentially great views to both the east and west, before a really steep drop down to Pont en Royan. This is a 25 km walk with 1200 metres of climb - something around an 11 hour day.
Pont en Royan is a famous beauty spot, a medieval village where houses are built into a cliff and suspended over a river - would be a good place to stop but I should in Grenoble in two days time so will probably press. Pont en Royan is also the gateway to what looks like the most dramatic part of this stage, the Massif des Coulmes.
Day 7 is a 22 km walk but mainly uphill. Walking firstly up along the Bourne Gorge and up its side along what must be a steep path you get to the top at around 1300 metres. The scenery should be dramatic. Having won the height the hard way you then loose 500 metres dropping down to the small village of Rencurel which has accommodation and is the target for the day.
Day 8 is another day with a lot of climb. An initial 500 metre climb and a small descent takes you past the small ski resort of Autrans. After 25 kms in total and some 1,500 metres of climb you arrive at the Refuge at La Sure
After three tough days the last day involves a march, mainly down hill, into Grenoble. 16 kms, 500 metres of climb, 1700 descent, so should be there for lunch. Grenoble will be a good place to stop and recuperate.
The toughness of the walk is a reflection, in part at least, of the change in geology. The younger mountains on the eastern side of the Rhone valley are different to the ancients on the west and the foothills of Alps and Jura come with deeper valleys, tougher ascents and descents than the Massif Central.
From Leoncel onwards the walk takes you through the Vercors Natural Park . The landscape has been described as a limestone "citadel" which dramatic cliffs and long gorges. It actually was a citadel against the Germans in the 2nd World War with the Resistance provoking a bloody response from paratroopers landing on mass in the area in gliders.
Day 1, probably after a rest day at Chateauneuf-du-Rhone, is a really long one, 39 kms. Can't find any accommodation on the route and it will be nice to get onto the GR9. Highlight of the walk, which is through fairly gentle, wooded countryside, is probably the 10th century abbey at Aiguebelle. Dieulefet, an ancient pottery centre, looks like a nice town and has plenty of accommodation.
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| Dieulefit |
Day 3 looks like a dramatic walk, 20 kms, 1200 metres of climb and 1300 of descent before arriving at Saillons. The climb involves ascending the Massif de Saou and the potential views from the top could be amazing with huge cliffs dropping north and east into what looks like a gorge below. It looks like a very steep descent into the small town/village of Saillons.
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| Massif de Saou |
Day 4 is a 20 km walk to Plan-de-Baix, 1068 metres of climb and 551 metres of descent. Most of the climbing is at the end of the day and after you have gone through the village of Beaufort sur Gevanne. Plan-de-Baix is a small village but it looks it has a family activity centre (as well as a Gite D'Etape) so there should be some accommodation.
Most of the climbing has been done on day 4, so day 5 is 28 kms of fairly high level walking, a climb near the end near the Col de Tournoile, and then a steep descent to Bouvantes-le-Bas where there is accommodation. On the way you go through Leoncel, a small village with a Cistercine Abbey.
The walk is now tracking along the western side of the Vercors Natural Park and the last four days of the walk look particularly dramatic. The day of the four (day 6) starts with a hard climb out of Saint-Martin de Colonel up to 1300 metres, over the Col-de-la-Machine, along a ridge walk with potentially great views to both the east and west, before a really steep drop down to Pont en Royan. This is a 25 km walk with 1200 metres of climb - something around an 11 hour day.
Pont en Royan is a famous beauty spot, a medieval village where houses are built into a cliff and suspended over a river - would be a good place to stop but I should in Grenoble in two days time so will probably press. Pont en Royan is also the gateway to what looks like the most dramatic part of this stage, the Massif des Coulmes.
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| Pont en Royan |
Day 7 is a 22 km walk but mainly uphill. Walking firstly up along the Bourne Gorge and up its side along what must be a steep path you get to the top at around 1300 metres. The scenery should be dramatic. Having won the height the hard way you then loose 500 metres dropping down to the small village of Rencurel which has accommodation and is the target for the day.
Day 8 is another day with a lot of climb. An initial 500 metre climb and a small descent takes you past the small ski resort of Autrans. After 25 kms in total and some 1,500 metres of climb you arrive at the Refuge at La Sure
After three tough days the last day involves a march, mainly down hill, into Grenoble. 16 kms, 500 metres of climb, 1700 descent, so should be there for lunch. Grenoble will be a good place to stop and recuperate.
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