Walking in Languedoc

Languedoc offers an abundance of remarkable hiking, rambling, trekking and walking trails. Here we have selected la creme de la creme.

A. The Stevenson Trail (GR 70)

Stevenson was in his late 20s and still dependent on his parents for support. Travels was both meant to raise money he needed to be with the woman he loved, and provide adventure Stevenson craved, being sickly much of his life.

Travels recounts Stevenson's 12-day, 120-mile solo hiking journey through the sparsely populated and impoverished areas of the Cévennes mountains in south-central France. The character of Modestine, a stubborn, manipulative donkey he could never quite get the better of, is memorable. It is one of the earliest accounts which presented hiking and camping outdoors as a recreational activity. It also tells of commissioning one of the first sleeping bags, large and heavy enough to require a donkey to carry.

Stevenson, a Protestant, was well-versed in the history and recounts various tales from The Cevennes Uprising in 1702 along the way. He notes that the Catholics and the Protestants, at the time of his travels, lived peaceably but with an absolute divide between the two communities. Both the geography of the Cévennes with its barren rocky heather-filled hillsides, and the history of religious strife that lay over the land, were familiar ground for the Scot native.

Today Stevenson fans retrace the route Stevenson took on hiking paths, some of which are transhumance routes taken annually by shepherds and their flocks.

Credits: This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes".

B. Roman Roads - The Via Domitia

The most important of such roads in France, The Via Domitia, joined Rome with Spain and traversed the south coastal strip of France along what is now called ‘La Languedocienne.’ It was constructed by Emperor Dominus Eanobarbus in 118 BC. .

A good part of the route still remains as it traverses The Region from Beaucaire in The Gard to Spain. Once it reaches the Pyrénées, it splits into two paths: the Eastern Route follows the coast down to Portus Vénéris (Port-Vendres) whilst the alternative path goes via Perthus Pass in French Catalonia, crossing Cerdagne by la Via Confluentana. Most of this is now covered by the RN116.

All along the route The Romans placed monolithic stones of around 2 metres in height called ‘borne Milliaires’ at a distance of one mile from each other. They were engraved with the name of The Roman Emperor. The first of these monoliths can be found 2 kms west of Beaucaire. The UK has of course kept faith with such an ancient measurement. Just like today, there were locations en route that served as staging posts and watering holes. Perhaps the most noteworthy along the route is the town of Salses. The surface of the Via Domitia was not paved or cobbled, except for the parts inside towns or at major crossroads.

Credits: This map is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. The map comes from the Wikipedia article "Via Domitia".

C. The Regordane Way

Its halcyon days were from the twelfth century onwards, when goods travelled along its course from the Mediterranean ports like Montpellier, Aigue-Mortes and Saint-Gilles to Parisian tables. An important pilgrimage route, linking to the Chemin de Saint Jacques (see below), its upkeep suffered with the lack of Church funds following the Albigensian Crusade. When Gaul spread eastwards, The Rhone Valley took precedence and, whilst it had something of a second wind at the time of the industrial revolution, it was short lived once railroads became the preferred means of shifting bulk resources. Some of the old route follows the Chemin de Fer and, whilst a good deal has been paved over, the preservation of this ancient jewel of French heritage remains a battle for the future.

D. Le chemin de Saint Jacques

The 'Way of St James' (Spanish: Camino Francés) are the most popular routes of the the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Besides the most important one that departs from Le Puy-en-Velay, the Languedoc route originates in Arles, Provence. It is an extension of the route from Italy, the Via Tolosana, and becomes the Arles Way or La voie d'Arles (Chemin d'Arles) in southern France. After Arles, it passes through Montpellier, Toulouse and Oloron-Sainte-Marie before reaching the Spanish border at Col du Somport in the high Pyrenees. There it connects to the Aragonese Way.

Credits: This map is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. The map comes from the Wikipedia article "Way of St. James".