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.

Dieulefit

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.

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. 

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.

I packed my bag and in I put..... (4)

I think I might have suggested, in my last "pack my bag" blog  that Chris Townsend's reference to bare foot walking was a bit mad - shows how much I know.  It turns out that just because I didn't know about bare foot walking doesn't mean it didn't exist and that in fact bare foot running at least is very  popular.  Essentially, so the argument goes, if you don't wear shoes (with heals) you adopt a better gait which involves using your whole foot as suspension.  This in turn strengthens your foot and is actually the "natural" thing.  Makes sense to me.

Anyway bear foot running shoes are not the contradiction in terms they sound and are designed to stop you stabbing yourself on nasty surfaces while retaining the natural suspension of your foot.  Some really weird looking shoes have been developed as a consequence and Vibram (lots of walking boots use their soles) are one of the  suppliers.  Their five finger is a classic example of a weird looking shoe and has become so popular that fake Vibram five finger shoes are a real problem.

Of course running shoes don't bear directly on the issue of walking boots and the sort of footwear I need for the E4.  It is however becoming increasingly apparent that more walkers are looking for running rather than hiking based solutions, abandoning even modern "Scarpa" walking boots along the way.  A good example is Alastair Humphreys who walked in running shoes on his 965 km trek up the Kaveri River in India.

Roclite 390 GTX

Running shoes also take me back over 25 years when a party of us were led up Ben Nevis the hard way by a local guide, a fell runner, who wore his trainers.  Taking us down again, and nearly at the bottom, he met his father going out for a run, left us to join him and ran with him back to the top of Ben Nevis.  Ruined our day!

Thanks to Lone Walkers comments on my last blog I have now discovered Inov8.  Inov8, as the name suggests, is at the leading edge of footwear design, adopt some bare foot principles, and have developed a walking boot from a fell-running back ground.  Hard to get their boots at the standard hiking shops but they have agreed to send me a pair of their Roclite 390 GTX to try them out prior to potentially using them on the E4 walk.  Can't wait to try them out.

Stage 10 - Walking through the Ardeche

Leaving the Cevennes National Park, Stage 10 of the E4 takes you through the southern end of the Parc Naturel Regional de Mont d'Ardeche, cut through by the famous Gorge D'Ardeche.  Over four, fairly easy days, the route takes you through some stunning limestone scenary providing a link between the Massif Central and the pre-alpine Vercors.  The plan is to go from Villefort to Chateauneuf-du-Rhone which has excellent transport links.  This involves a distance of around 115 kms, a gain of 2,500 metres and a loss of 3,000.

Day one is a 29 km walk to Berrias-Casteljau. Leaving Villefort, heading east, and walking through the high Cevennes for about 15 kms you arrive literally at the edge of the Rhone Valley (could be views across to the Alps) before heading downhill steeply to Les Vans (22 kms).  Les Vans, which is the southern gateway the Parc Naturel Regional de Mont D'Archeche, looks great and has plenty of accommodation but in the interests of pushing on I plan to go a bit further.  Shortly after Les Vans (now tracking the GR 4) you start to follow to course of the Gorge d'Ardeche  and Berrias-Casteljau is located close to it.

Gorge d'Ardeche

Day two is a short 22 km walk to Vallon Pont d'Arc .  The first 10 km is through cultivated countryside after which you climb a bit and again track the Gorge d'Ardeche.  Although you could go further, Vallon Pont d'Arc is a famous Gorge beauty spot and a good place for a leisurely afternoon.

Natural limestone "bridge" at Vallon Pont d'Arc

Slightly longer walk on day three but 35 km of fairly flat countryside so not too bad.  Again your tracking the Gorge until after about 25 km you "emerge" at Saint- Martin-D'Ardeche.  There are lots of places to stay.

It should be possible to make Chateaneuf-du-Rhone on Day 4.  It's at least 33 kms but the countryside is fairly gentle with 700 metres of climb and descent.  If time is not pressing than Saint Montan would be a great place to stay after about 20 kms.

St Montan

Stage 9 - Lodeve to Villefort

Stage 9, from Lodeve to Villefort takes you through the Cevennes and the Cevennes National Park.  The Cevennes are on the eastern side of the Massif Central and run from the Montague Noire (Black Mountains) already crossed in Stage 8, through to the Monts du Vivarais.  If you drive through France it's the place where signs on the side of the motorway point out the watershed between the rivers which flow west to the Atlantic (the Loire and Allier) and those which flow into the Rhone and south to the Mediterranean.  With its limestone geology the area is also famous for its massive gorges in particular the Gorge du Tarn.

In France the Cevennes have a reputation as a hard and austere place.  Some of this is to do with the geography, with the limestone producing dry, sometimes barren uplands (known as the causses), and some of it is to do with the people.  The locals are  mostly Protestant with a history of conflict against the Catholic French majority.  Indeed there are definite echoes with the Cathars (see Stage 7) further south with the Camisard revolt (an Occitan word for shirt) a less bloody version of the Albigensian crusade.

Legends also reinforce the feeling that the Cevennes are really another place.  La Bete du Gevaudan was a wolf-like monster (a she monster) that terrorised the area, killing 100 people, between 1764 and 1767.  This is a huge story in France, possibly an influence for the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood, and which has not secured the international reputation it deserves.  Despite the best efforts of the French Dragoons, the monster was never captured or killed and its precise nature remains a mystery.  Thanks to Adam for spotting the connection with the film "Brotherhood of the Wolf"

Artist's Impression!

Although the E4 route crosses the famous Stevenson trail it is generally some distance from it (further to the south in the Cevennes).  It's a shame because "Travels with a Donkey" is a classic long distance walking book,  the first perhaps to promote hiking as a recreational activity.  It also established the Cevennes as one of the world's iconic walking destinations.

Stage 9 goes from Lodeve, which is about 20 kms outside the national park on its southern border, diagonally across the park to Villefort which is just inside the national park on its north eastern border.  The route continues along the GR7 until Pont du Tarn where you walk along the GR 72 into Villefort.  After  Villefort you head east on the GR4.  The Stage is 164 kms long, goes from 163 metres at Lodeve to a high point of 1543 metres at Mont Aigoual before dropping (eventually) to 550 metres at Villefort.  In total you climb 5100 metres, loose 4600 and the plan is to complete the walk in 6 days.

Leaving Lodeve, the walk takes you up from the valley into gentle wooded countryside.  Your heading north mainly along a ridge which at times reaches 500 metres before arriving at La Vacquerie St Martin after 17 kms.  There is accommodation there but the plan is to go on into the national park to Saint Mauric.  As you approach St Mauric the landscape gets more "causse" like and the trees all but disappear.  St Mauric Navacelles is 30 kms from Lodeve and about 700 metres higher.  It's a small village with a choice of accommodation..

Day 2, heading north, you drop down 250 metres into a dry valley, walk along the bottom of the valley (gorge?) for several miles to the small village of Navacelles.  After Navacelles you climb a zig-zag path back onto the plateau at 600 metres onto the villages of Blandas and La Lavagne and then after about 10 km Montardier (which has accommodation). After another 7 kms or so you descend sharply from the causse into a wooded valley, down through Aveze and, after a total of 30 km for the day, into Le Vigan.  Le Vigan is a small town with a range of accommodation to choose from.

Mont Aigoual

Day 3 is a shorter walk (20 kms) to L'Esperou but it does involve a 1300 metre climb.  From the bottom of the valley at Le Vigan (at about 160 metres) you walk up the wooded side to about 800 metres where the landscape starts to open out but you are still climbing.  Not until 1,200 metres does the path start to level out a bit peaking at Montague de Lesperou (1305 metres). You then drop down to the village of L'Esperou which has a hotel.   

Day 4 involves an initial climb over the Pic de L'Aigoual, which at 1541 metres is the highest point on the stage, and then on for a total 32 kms walk to L'Hospitalet and a Gite d'Etape.  Much of the walk looks like a ridge with the ground falling away on one, sometimes both, sides of the trail.  The landscape again looks "causse" like, exposed, dry with just some vegetation.  

Barre de Cevennes

Day 5, via Barre de Cevennes and Cassagnes involves a 32 km walk with 1,000 metres of climb to Pont de Montvert where there is plenty of accommodation.

The last day is 28km walk to Villefort.  The first 10 km involves a 700 metre climb, more classic "causse" countryside, but after that it's a sharp descent, sometimes a steep down hill,  into Villefort.  Choices of accommodation which means I won't be staying in a gite d'etape.

Stage 8 - Carcassonne to Lodeve

Please see latest version published in October 2010 

Stage 7 - Alp to Carcassonne

Stage 7 of my E4 walk is from Alp in Spain through to Carcassonne in France.  Walking east and then north along the GR 36 the route takes you through the departments of Pyrennees-Orientales and Aude within the region of Languedoc Roussillon.

The walk looks special from a number of different perspectives.

The area has a really complex history with associations with both Catalonia across the border (Pyrenees-Orientales roughly corresponds to an area the Catalans describe as North Catalonia) as well as Occitania which extended right across southern France and into Italy.  Both traditions have produced a distinct linguistic legacy which still echoes today.

Particularly interesting is the Cathar history and the Albergensian Crusade which saw the destruction of the Cathar version of Christianity in the early 13th Century.  Some estimate that 500,000 people were killed as a result of this crusade which transformed the area from one of the richest at the time in Europe (with a particularly rich cultural tradition - home of the troubadours) to one of the poorest and most marginalised.  The walk takes you through a number of places of particular significance to this Cathar history, including lots of hill top forts.

The route takes you east through the high Pyrenees, then descends north into the foothills of the Pyrenees before finally crossing a more agricultural landscape as you approach Carcassonne.  Some claim that the foothills of the Pyrenees provide some of the best landscapes in Europe and indeed the "light" has made the area famous for artists.

Although the area has lots of micro climates it is also noted for it's good weather.  EDF operated it's experimental solar power plant at this end of the Pyrenees because the area has the highest number of cloud free days in France.

Special mention to the Yellow Train which takes you all the way from Villefranche-de-Conflent up to Mont Louis.  A great way of getting to the start of this stage of the walk.  It climbs to 1.593 metres at Bolquere-Eyre, the highest railway station in France.

The little Yellow Train

Much of the accommodation will be in gites d'etapes which look like Austrian "huttes" and I guess the equivalent of a youth hostel in the UK (although there seems to be a lot more them).  I stayed in some when I walked the Haute Route across the Alps and on the Alta Via 1 in the Dolomites and they are good fun but with very variable (interesting) sleeping arrangements.

For the first four days of the walk the route follows the same route as the famous GR 10 "coast to coast" and is the toughest part of the walk.

Day 1 starts at Alp in Spain, crosses the border at Puigcerda/Bourg Madame and after a steady 26 km climb gets you to Eyne, a ski resort with plenty of accommodation.  Another 2 kms to Planes, which looks like a pretty little town with a gite d'etape for refuge.

The next two days take you over the highest points of the E4 walk in France - possibly the whole of the E4 walk.

The target for Day 2 is the Refuge Caranca and to get to it you have to go over the Col Mija which is around 2300 metres.  The whole walk is about 18 kms and involves a 1300 metre climb.

Day 3 involves climbing over the Col du Pal followed by a big drop down a long way to Py and then up again to the Refuge Marialles.  Quite a tough 10 hour walk involving 19 kms and 1628 metres of climb.  The option would be to stop at Py.

If I can get to Refuge Marialles on day 3, then day 4 is in effect the last day in the high Pyrenees. Another tough walk, 20 kms but with another 1600 metres of climb followed a steep down to Vallmanya.  The GR 36 stays with the GR10 until just past Cortalets where it splits and starts to head north.  The views could be spectacular including views across the coastal plain to the Mediterranean. If I don't make it to Valmanya I could always stop at Cortalets.

On Day 5 you descend from the high Pyrenees down into the foothills dropping 1,000 metres in a 27 km walk to Sournia.  On the way you pass the line carrying the Yellow Train just to the west of Vinca.  Sournia is a village with a gite d'etape.

Sournia

Day 6 is a 25 km walk through a series of small villages (le Vivier, Saint Martin), past hill top forts, along the bottom and over a limestone (looks like it) ridge and through to Caudies-de-Fenouilledes.  Can't find accommodation at the moment but the commune web site certainly suggests that there is some. 

The next day's walk is 28 kms to Duilhac-sous-Peyrepertuse.  Again the scenery looks amazing with more sharp limestone ridges, a chapel literally built into a gorge, and some great views across the valley.  Duillac-sous-Peyrepertuse has an old ruined Cather hill top fort and, if I can't find anywhere else, a gite d'etape.

Castle at Duilhac-sous-Peypertuse

Day 8 is a long walk, 41 kms, all the way to Lagrasse.  There is an option to stop at Termes half way along the route, which has another hill-top Cathar fort, but at the moment I plan to make it to Lagrasse.  Lagrasse is regarded by some as the most beautiful village in France, has a famous abbey some well preserved medieval bridges.  Looks like there is a choice of accommodation.

Lagrasse

The last day of this stage involves the 36 km walk to Carcassonne where I plan to stop for a an extra night.  The route takes you out of the Pyrenees foothills and into a broader agricultural valley in the middle of which sits Carcassonne.  Carcassonne has been fortified since Roman times, held out for a time against Simon de Montfort in the Albigensian Crusade (didn't end well though), and then became a border citadel between France and the Kingdom of Aragon.  It's now a UNESCO world heritage and there is lots to see and plenty of places to stay.

Carcassonne

So, 9 days, 244 kms, lots of castles, amazing and varied scenary, Carcassonne at the end, a perfect walking week (and some).

E4 through Spain - missing miles

So based on the plan so far it looks like I can walk the Spanish section of the E4 in 69 days (thankfully it's not a race).  I say "plan so far" because there is a good chance that I have got (a) bits of it wrong and (b) will have to adjust it to fit in with available accommodation.

On the length of the route I have say that my calculation is a bit different to some of the others I have seen.  I make it about 1,860 kms whereas the European Ramblers Association Website has the number at 2,750.  Much of the difference is probably explained by the inclusion in the ERA figure of all the variants (for instance and extra 450 kms for both options in Andulucia) but there is still a gap.  Anyway if I'm right (I think I am) than the daily average is about 27 kms or 16 miles which sounds OK.

On accommodation there are 4 or 5 places where at the moment it looks less than straightforward. Perhaps the worst of the these are around Benali in Valencia and Segas in Catalonia - the other ones just involve leaving the trail.  None of this is enough to suggest to me that I have to carry a tent.  I want to be more specific on accommodation as I get nearer the walk - it would be nice to see if accommodation could play some part in the fund raising efforts for the walk.

I will need some rest days and at the moment I'm planning to spend a day at Alcala la Real on the northern stretch of the Andalusian GR7; a day and a night at Cazorla (which has a parador); a day and a night at Moratalla in Murcia and then go all the way to Morella in Castillon.  Walking to Morella will involve 23 days without a break and will take me through the more remote parts of Valencia.  After Morella the next rest day will be Tarrogona and then perhaps another stop at Montserrat 4 days later.  If I stick to this plan it would add another 4 days to the 69 and the walk through Spain will take a total of 73 days.

The plan is to start at the beginning of March and follow spring up through Spain.  If I start on March 1st at Tarifa than I should be in Puigcerda on the 13th of May.  As the 13th of May 2011 is a Friday than it will probably be a case of the best laid plans of mice and men etc ....