Brison – la croix de gattigues

In september of 2016, our club hike took us to the upper Beaume river valley and the mountain village of Laboule. We stayed in the area 2 days to hike a couple circuits on the Tanargue. The Tanargue is both a peak and a ridge-line oriented roughly west to east in the southern Ardèche – about 2 hours from the croix-de-Gattigues. The average altitude of this ridge-line is around 1200 m, but one section, called the Cham de Cros reaches an altitude of around 1400 m. This “Cham” (cham is an old french word usually used to name a small plateau surrounded by deep ravines) is visible from a long way off. From a variety of lookouts near the croix-de-Gattigues the distinctive skyline of this plateau is easy to identify. When we reached the top of the Cham, we could see, to the south, a prominent but lower peak with a tower and a beacon. No one could identify the site that day. So we had to find out. Continue reading

Hiking in south central France

This site is about walking, mostly in south central France. South central France means the Cévennes mountains, 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 Aveyron and the Drôme. There are descriptions of interesting walks. And a focus on technology – namely the hardware and software you might use while hiking. There are also references to cartography both in the field and on the computer screen back home.

Hiking in this region is about observing and understanding the landscapes, villages, farms and ancient ruins and the 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.

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 500 circuits also complete with downloadable gpx. It is worth noting however, that a gpx track is a perishable commodity. Over time waymarkings 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.

Tag: Brison

The tower of Brison