la croix de gattigues – Page 6 – GPS track database, South-Central France

November 5, 2017April 11, 2018

Graveyard sheet steel

cemetary in La Vernarède — cemetary la Vernarède

According to different sources the little used french word “cabistous” is a regional term used in the Ardèche department meaning lean-to, small cabin or garden shelter. In the coal mining area around Alès, in the 19th century, many “ardechois” came to work in the booming coal industry. Towns were created where none existed before, and the ardechois settled in, bringing their regional expressions and their families.

In the mining industry, sheet steel was readily available, but marble gravestones would have been costly for modest families. As a result, many cemeteries (eg. those in Portes and in La Vernarède) contain small sheet steel structures standing over family burial plots. These structures were called “cabistous”. Some were very finely decorated, while others remained simple and basic. Many have been abandoned by the families who have no doubt left the mining area to seek fortunes elsewhere.
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October 2, 2017October 31, 2021

The Calanques of Marseille

Hiking distance : 1er jour : 15.5 km ; 2ème jour : 12.9 km km ; Hiking time : 1er jour : 07.00 ; 2ème jour : 05.00

Mediterranean shore near the Melette islet

In south central France, everyone has heard of the “Calanques”, a zone of low but craggy white limestone peaks, arid valleys and narrow sea inlets between Marseille and Cassis. Calanque refers to a particular type of narrow inlet or cove – typically deeply indented into the coastline. In 2012 a national park was created here covering an area of land and sea. The Calanques area is frequented by many different users including divers, climbers, and hikers. For hikers, a waymarked trail runs more or less parallel to the coast all the way between Cassis and the southern end of Marseille. The trail is a stretch for a single day walk (22 km and about 2000 m cumulative climb) but easy to complete in 2 days so you usually need an overnight stay near one of the trail heads and an arrangement to be picked up at the chosen endpoint. Continue reading “The Calanques of Marseille”

September 27, 2017October 31, 2021

Nineteenth century coal and the “plans inclinés”

Coal mines, railroads, businessmen and engineers

The story of the “plans inclinés” starts around 1853. Coal mining was already in progress in the Alès basin and coal was found in a number of localities, including La Vernarède – an off-the-track village in the shadow of the Portes castle. The village found itself in the middle of a coal mining boom when several deposits of coal were located in the Broussous valley. Mining coal is one thing. Getting it to market was quite another.
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September 27, 2017October 31, 2021

A coal mining valley

Hiking distance : 10.6 km km ; Hiking time : 03:00

La Vernarède was a coal mining town in the second half of the 19th century and is now a sleepy village at the bottom of a deep valley below the Portes castle. In a companion article, I provide the background to a remarkable coal transport system called “les plans inclinés” that started in La Vernarède and transported coal over 2 mountain passes and an intervening valley to a railhead at La Levade. In this article, I describe a pleasant walk through the Vernarède valley in September where we spotted a number of interesting trees and plants and a few vestiges of the coal mining past. Continue reading “A coal mining valley”

Hiking in south central France

This site is about walking, mostly in south central France, specifically the Cévennes “mountain” range, the Grands Causses area with it’s plateaus and canyons, the departments of Gard with the garrigue landscapes, the Vaucluse, the Herault, sometimes the Ardèche, the Avéyron and the Drôme. There are descriptions of interesting walks, but sometimes also the non-interesting ones. There are occasional articles about the hardware and software you might use while hiking and in particular handheld GPS devices and smartphones. There are also references to cartography both in the field and on the computer screen back home. The progress in the area of web mapping in the past several years, with the arrival of services like Google Maps, Nokia Here (now “Here we go”) and the OSM Open source map service, has been spectacular.

However, hiking in this region is more than just walking with eyes focused forward or concentration on the GPS screen. It’s also about observing and understanding the landscapes, villages, farms, ancient ruins and various geological curiosities. Often the subject of interest is not the “what”, but the “why”. Why did people settle here hundreds of years ago? Why did the ancient trade routes pass this spot?

In this region, traces of human activity are everywhere – in the still occupied villages and farms, but also in the undergrowth, on the riverbanks and and on the abandoned hillsides. This site aims to explore these subjects, traveling on foot, at about 3.5 km per hour.

This site is also for people who like maps. There are maps in nearly every article, often with interactive features. Try them out.

For every walk mentioned in an article, the site provides a downloadable gpx file suitable for use on a handheld gps device. The site provides additional access to a database of some 700 circuits also complete with downloadable gpx. It is worth noting however, that a gpx track is a perishable commodity. Over time waymakings change, land owners block walking routes, obstacles appear. For this reason, when available, dates of the most recent passage on the circuits are also provided. Use with care.

Everywhere you go on these hiking routes you are likely to see a field cross. They can be in iron, stone, or wood and can be simple or ornate. These field crosses are supposed to have protected travellers from bandits – as supposedly no bandit would dare attack near a symbol of the all powerful religion.

So the french word “croix” translates to cross and holds the connotation of the cross as a religious symbol. However, in the context of this site, cross means crossroad or intersection. “La Croix de Gattigues” refers to a crossroad in a hamlet in the Gard department at which, no surprise, there is also a fine an iron cross.