Longwalk 2011 ~ Chemin d’Arles, part 1

Books & Trail Guides

In 2011, we plan to return to Europe for several weeks of walking in France on the long-distance GR hiking trails, called les sentiers de grande randonnée. The exact route(s) are still being considered, as is the departure date, but we are currently planning to walk along the ancient series of trails known as the Chemin d’Arles (the road from Arles), starting in early Spring. This article covers the FFRP topo-guides, trail guides, and books about the various sections of the GR 653 route. (more…)

Waymark on the trail to Drache, France, 2007.”

French Trails and the FFRP

FFRandonnée Leads the Way

The FFRP®, now re-branded as FFRandonnée®, is the administrative heart of the vast web of French long-distance hiking trails. If you’re planning to take a walk in France, this is prime resource dedicated to providing information to all randonneurs (hikers). The FFRandonnée Centre d’Information is in a nondescript office building not far from the Paris Métro station Bibliothèque François Mitterrand, on Line 14. (more…)

Path to Saugues, Chemin du Puy, France, 2009.

How to use a French Topo-Guide

Part 2 ~ Tips for English language walkers

English-language walkers without much familiarity with French may have an extra challenge when hiking the long-distance trails of France. But it is by no means impossible, and may be both educational and fun. Imagine how impressed your family and friends will be when you return home being able to say “kwarh-SOHn” instead of “crah-sahnt” when you order a croissant. With a little effort, and a small dictionary, it is not too hard to figure out the maps and instructions of the French-language topo-guides (trail guides) published by the FFRP, (the French long-distance trail association). (more…)

The FFRP Topo-Guides® of France

Part 1 ~ Introduction to the Best French Trail Guides

How do you find your way?

How do you keep from getting lost?

I’m often asked these questions about my long-distance walks in France and Spain. The reason I rarely lose my way, is that I use one of the many superb trail guides, called Topo-guides® (pronounced “TOH-Poh-Gheed”) that are produced by the FFRandonnée, also called the FFRP, for Fédération Française de la Randonnée Pédestre (French Long-distance Hiking Association). These excellent trail guides contain detailed maps, pathfinding instructions, lists of useful resources along the GR® routes (sentiers de grande randonnée), and a wealth of history, culture and wildlife information about the various sections of the trail. (more…)

Cirque de la Solitude on the GR 20; photo by FrayMan, Corsica, 2008.

Trails ~ Corsica

The GR-20

Here’s a first footstep into longwalking through Corsica.

French Trail Maps ~ the IGN

The Espace IGN in Paris

The Institut Géographique National (French National Geographic Institute), or IGN, as it is commonly known, is the principal government mapping agency of France. The IGN creates, updates and publishes a wide range of map products that are available to the public. There are several of particular interest to long-distance walkers who are planning a hike through France. These are described below, but first a few facts: (more…)

On the GR-3 along the Loire River, France, 2007.

Tips on Planning a Route

Organizing Waypoints

When I was planning my six-week 2007 walk, I began looking for information about the various places along the route. Sometimes I came upon information like this, outlining a trail in paragraph form: Orléans, La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin, Saint-Ay, Meung-sur-Loire, Beaugency, Tavers (hors), Lestiou, Avaray, Muides-sur-Loire, Seuvres, Saint-Dye-sur-Loire, Chambord, La Chaussee-le-Compte, Cellettes, Saint-Gervais-la-Fôret, Blois, Chailles, Candé-sur-Beuvron, Chaumont-sur-Loire, Rilly-sur-Loire, Souvigny-de-Touraine, Amboise, Lussault-sur-Loire, Montlouis-sur-Loire, Vouvray, Roche-Corbon, Tours.

That may be a tasty mouthful of French, but it soon becomes a bewildering mess if you try to find information about any of these waypoints. (more…)

A brief rest on the trail from Lyon to Le Puy-en-Velay, France 2009.

Longwalk 2009 ~ Lyon to le Puy-en-Velay

Warming up for the oldest walk in western Europe.

I set off in late April, easing into the rhythm of the trail, and reached Le Puy in eight days. During that first week, I saw virtually no other walkers, aside from a few French day hikers on the weekend. I walked through one long day of rain, and only strayed from the path a few times. (That’s why it’s called a shakedown). Quite a bit of the trail follows an ancient Roman road, parts of which are still paved in stone.

Several guidebooks describe the eastern approaches to le Puy-en-Velay. I chose the excellent, though sometimes hard to find Chamina guide #207. It presents two routes – the one from Lyon (le chemin de Lyon au Puy-en-Velay in 9 stages (étapes)), which meets the other from Cluny, (le chemin de Cluny au Puy-en-Velay in 14 stages) coming down from the north. (more…)

The French section – 2009 walk from Lyon, France to Burguete, Spain.

Longwalk 2009 ~ Overview

“Don’t Stop Me Now”

Okay, okay, it’s more than a passing fancy, more than a hobby… when the stars align just so, what else can you do? Something gets into you when you walk so far. By late 2008 I was yearning once more for the Camino… But I’d been studying French… so I decided to put it all together on the most famous trail in France, the original pilgrimage road from Le Puy-en-Velay to St-Jacques-Compostele. For a shakedown, I decided to start in Lyon. This is the route of the French section I walked in 2009. The last part, from Montreal-de-Gers to the Spanish border at St-Jean-Pied-de-Port, is the same trail I walked in 2005 on the Voie de Vezelay (more…)

Longwalk route, France, 2007 – Paris to Bordeaux.

Paris to Bordeaux

I guess I was hooked… After arriving home from my three month ramble in 2005, I set about planning (along with dreaming, working, saving, studying, training) to stretch my legs again on the trails of Europe. Before long, I focused on returning to France in 2007.

As it turned out, Autumn worked best with my schedule, so I headed off to “the Hexagon” in late September. From my earliest thoughts of walking in France, I was curious about departing from the very heart of Paris. And so I did…

I walked from the zero-point in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame south across the Beauce to Orleans and the Loire River valley, west through chateau country to Tours, and then south into the Aquitaine to Bordeaux. My muse, Eliza, likes to remind me that it took 42 days to walk from Paris to Bordeaux; but my return trip on the TGV high speed train took only 3 hours! “Keep that in mind, next time”, she tells me…