Key Facts
1. Theme Walking the Cevennes by Train is a fascinating criss-cross journey across valleys and over viaducts on the "line of 100 tunnels." This is your chance to enjoy a stimulating hiking vacation laced together by short train-rides. Le Cévenol is a diesel train linking Nîmes to Clermont-Ferrand. For those that want to get away from the car, there isn’t a better way to do it than participate in a hiking tour of a lifetime. Enjoy the picturesque scenery from your modern and comfortable SNCF seat, delight in the changing Cevennes landscape and get a sense of what you are about to experience upon arrival at your next destination. 
Built over a century-and-a-half ago to facilitate the transport of wine and coal to Paris, the line bears testimony to man's engineering ingenuity as it wends its way up its course from Alès to Villefort to La Bastide, through innumerable tunnels and across some breathtaking viaducts.
Walking the Cevennes by Train brings you memorable hiking trails along the land linked together by Le Cévenol.
Read our article on Le Cévenol. Read our article on The Cévennes. For an alternative approach to hiking the Cevennes, see Walking the Cevennes. 2. Model 7-night Walking the Cevennes by Train hiking vacationDay 1. Ales. 
Arrival and hotel check-in. Explore the picturesque market town and enjoy a pre-hiking tour wellcome briefing at your hotel.Night in Ales. Day 2. Langogne. 11 kms- 7 miles. Take the morning train to Langogne, check in and enjoy an historic hike to the fascinating medieval fortified town of Pradelles. Night in Langogne. Day 3. Notre Dame de Neige Abbey. 9 kms-6 miles, with optional extensions. Morning train to La Bastide. Check in and Hike to Notre Dame de Neige Abbey, celebrated for its liquor and where RL Stevenson stayed whilst trekking the Cevennes in 1879. Approx. 6 miles with options. Night in La Bastide. Day 4. Tour de l'Ardèche or Lozère. Walk options from 6 kms-4 miles to 14 kms-9 miles. If you like heights, then you can reach the giddy altitude of 1361 ms today at the Moure des Estombes via the Stevenson Trail. Alternatively, you depart for la Coulet de Pecoyol (1264 ms) and a panorama on the Cevennes Ardéchoises and the Alpes.Night in La Bastide. Day 5. The Regordane Way.14 miles-21 kms, with shorter option available. An unforgettable walk through French history, along hill crest and volcanic plateau to a medieval village on the Chaussezac gorge and then onto Villefort. Night in Villefort.
Day 6. Lake Villefort.Walk options from 6 kms-4 miles to 14 kms-9 miles. Today you enjoy a 4-mile hike round the lake with optional extensions to Castanet castle or via the Mont Lozere trail. Night in Villefort. Day 7. Montclar Pass. 10 miles -15kms. Morning train to Genolhac. The final day's walking brings you back into Le Gard and into the heart of Hugeunot country. After a criss-cross of a climb up an ancient drovers' trail, you reach a picturesque plateau, a scenic pass and, for the brave, a short, steep climb that will reward you with views no camera can reproduce.Night in Genolhac. Day 8. End of Tour. Transfer to train station after breakfast and train to Ales. Post hiking tour de-briefing followed by departure. 
Note: We reserve the right to alter the programme. 3. AccommodationsYou will stay in five different places en route, in four comfortable 2-star hotels and one excellent chambres/tables d'hotes.These locations are: 1. Ales - one night;2. Langogne - one night;
3. La Bastide Puylaurent - two nights; 4. Villefort - two nights; 5. Génolhac - one night.
5. Prices 2008
Click to go to Booking and Costs For more fine photos of Le Cevenol Railway, please visit: |
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Note: if you would like a guided version of this tour for you and your group, please 