The French Hikers’ Guide to Hiking in France ™

The Cevennes mountain railroad, the Cevenol, is a fascinating journey across valley and viaduct on the “line of 100 tunnels.” The ‘axe of economic rationality’ hangs over the line, so ride it today and help keep it open!

Walking in Languedoc is proud to be associated with the Cevenol and to play a part in its preservation via an eco-friendly tour that features tailored hikes laced together by short train-rides.

We asked a friend of the family, and ardent all-year-round hiker, Gilbert Haon, for his reflections on Walking France by Train…

The journey from Nimes to Ales is nothing special and I always hold my breath as we pass over Le Gardon river at Le Pont du Ners, having seen the devastation caused by the floods of 2002. To see the rails suspended over the river below after sections of the bridge disappeared was “impressionant” to say the least. Happily, however, such floods happen only twice a century and it’s not everyday that 60 cms of rain falls in 48 hours! When it does, it is likely to be in September, which is one of the reasons why I prefer to walk with the Cévenol in spring.

Last year I started a bit early and caught the end of the winter snow falls of late March that covered the high Lozerian prairies with a thick white blanket as far down as the granite cité of Pradelles. Still, paths were mainly clear within a day and the site of statue of The Virgin Mary on the enveloped in a white cape was a sight worth savouring.

I was out to test the latest addition to the Walking France by Train tour and I was suitably impressed by what I walked and saw. The circular walk is expertly crafted, with a climb in the morning, little elevation variation after lunch and a nice gentle incline back to the hotel late afternoon – and that after a fabulous ramble around medieval Pradelles. Even the selected location for lunch even had a bar/restaurant for those allergic to packed lunches. Such are the advantages of circular walks over the more conventional straight-line ones, where the only tailoring available is often the day’s length.

What I particularly enjoyed on this day’s hiking was the chance to walk a section of the original medieval Regordane that has been ignored by those responsible for developing the GR700 of the same name. This is a real shame and demonstrates that the GR700 project is all to do with tourism and little about the preservation of an important part of French heritage.

The highest point of your journey is at La Bastide, an altitude of 3339 feet, confirming the line’s status as arguably France’s last remaining working mountain railroad. La Bastide is where the line crosses the watershed between The Atlantic and The Mediterranean. It is a junction of historical standing, where The Cevenol meets the medieval Regordane Way and the 131-year-old Stevenson Trail. I really enjoyed the 300-metre climb to Moure des Estombes via the Stevenson Trail – the yellow thickets of brum make for such a wonderful sight and I was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of a couple of deer that crossed my trail at breakneck speed.

Back on the Cevenol the next morning, the view across Lake Villefort was something special before you disappear into another tunnel in anticipation of one of those heart-in-the mouth experiences across the Altier Viaduct - lying at 630 metres above sea level, this 257-metre viaduct crosses the River Altier at a height of 72 metres, the highest stone viaduct in France.

Feet back upon terra firma, I enjoyed the hike around the lake and remembered the stories of how it was created at the expense of the village of Bayard, the ruins of which lay submerged below the dam. Castanet castle never disappoints and I was pleased to see that its restoration following the recent internal fire had done nothing to alter its outward appearance as one of Le Midi’s finest castles. And the view from the other side of the Altier is magnificent.

The last hike on my four-night tour was the chance to walk a notorious Huguenot trail from Genolhac to Vialas and back via Monclar Pass. It’s a fabulous figure-eight hike that takes you deep into Camisard country. Small wonder that Louis IV’s dragonnades had so much difficulty tracking enemy movements during the War in Cevennes.

Just down from Genolhac, on the way back to Ales, the stunning 410-metre long

Chamborigaud viaduct is a suitable grand finale to what is one of the most eco-friendly and memorable walking holidays in France today.

I wouldn’t be French if I didn’t finish with one gripe: if you can avoid it, don’t travel up/or down the Cevenol first thing Monday morning and last thing Friday evening! It’s full of incredibly boisterous

French adolescents who use the service to get to and from their agricultural boarding schools. Okay, they are helping to keep Le Cévenol alive, as well as the schools, but the history of the Cevenol and its master class of trails, seems lost on the lap-top tapping, MP3 wearing and i-phone using Lozerian literati.